The retailer will consolidate its Dunedin operation at its Andersons Bay Rd site, resulting in five voluntary redundancies.
Smiths City, which also operates appliance retailer Powerstore, had been reviewing its Dunedin operations for several years.
Under the restructuring, two redundancies will be from the Filleul St branch and three from the Princes St appliance retailer, Powerstore.
Most of the Filleul St staff would be absorbed into the Andersons Bay site, Smiths City Group Ltd managing director Rick Hellings said. After a consultative process, five staff opted to take voluntary redundancies.
In November 2005, Mr Hellings told a Dunedin City Council consent hearings panel that the retailer would stay in the central business district, despite wanting to open a larger store in Andersons Bay Rd.
‘‘We are committed to Filleul St - it is a damn good provider. But it can't provide the space we need,'' he said then.
In September, 2006 the retailer moved into the 4000sq m former Mitre 10 site, and continued to operate the 2500sq m Filleul St site.
Mr Hellings said the future of Smiths City was not in the CBD.
‘‘We have tried to run two Smiths City stores in Dunedin, but the customers are telling us they prefer the Andersons Bay Rd site. In this business, the customer is always king.''
A lack of parking and a need to restructure Smiths City's distribution network were other reasons for the closure of the Filleul St branch, he said.
The company employed more than 60 people in Dunedin, and the Andersons Bay store was the company's third largest site.
Christchurch-based Smiths City Group Ltd is a publicly listed company, in its 80th year of trading.
In December the company announced an after taxation operating surplus of $1.759 million, an increase of 1.3% on the previous year.
