Mosgiel will be home to the only dedicated British food store in Dunedin when Union Jacks Groceries opens its doors and the bunting comes out on February 1.
The store will sell food British migrants would be familiar with, including sweets, mushy peas and British tea.
Owner Andrew Lavelle investigated the option of opening the store in Dunedin but settled on the Gordon Rd location after coming to the conclusion it was the best place.
‘‘We looked at some places in town, but where we were looking there were a lot of empty shops around and the rent was a bit higher.
‘‘Out here we have a wonderful high street which gets plenty of foot traffic and the parking is easy so we settled on here,'' Mr Lavelle said.
He hopes the shop will attract people from Dunedin and the Clutha area.
After moving to Mosgiel with his wife and children from Yorkshire six years ago, Mr Lavelle said he was looking for a change when an opportunity to open the store came out of the blue.
‘‘I was up in Christchurch in the Piccadilly Circus store and was talking to the owner Rob [Savage] and he was saying they were looking for someone to open a store down here and now here we are.''
There were plenty of British migrants in the area for the shop to succeed, as well as New Zealanders who had lived in England, he said.
Union Jacks Groceries will not be the only international store in Gordon Rd - Deep Creek Deli founder Simon Tiefenbach opened his third European›style butcher's shop in the main street in December.
Mosgiel Business Association chairman Blair Arthur said he was unaware of the new store but it was ‘‘fantastic'' to have another business opening in Mosgiel.
Mr Arthur said new businesses had slowly been opening in the Mosgiel and Taieri area as the population increased and there were very few empty stores in Gordon Rd now.
The only thing that would put some businesses off from moving to the town was the small size of the stores, he said.
Mr Arthur hoped Union Jacks Groceries would get people coming to Mosgiel from ‘‘over the hill''.
‘‘It's one of those attraction stores so people should travel to get there, and that's great for Mosgiel.''
