Council weighs up third Woolworths for Wānaka

An artist’s impression of the proposed Wānaka Three Parks Woolworths supermarket. Image: supplied

Woolworths is planning its third - and largest - supermarket for Wānaka.

A resource consent application for the development at Three Parks was lodged this month and is still being vetted by Queenstown Lakes District Council staff.

The Queenstown Lakes district plan for Three Parks offers a range of commercial and business mixed use zones.

Woolworths has requested the application be processed without public submissions or a public hearing.

Woolworths New Zealand director of property Matthew Grainger said the company was always looking for new opportunities to better serve its customers.

"This would be a state-of-the-art, full-service store designed to meet the needs of the growing local community."

Woolworths, formerly Countdown, opened its first store in Wānaka in 2021, bringing national competition to the Foodstuffs South Island chain.

Woolworths’ second store, Fresh Choice, opened in October this year at Lake Hawea, next to the independently owned Hawea Store and Kitchen.

Documents on the Queenstown Lakes District Council’s Edocs website show Woolworths Three Parks would be built on the same side of Sir Tim Wallis Dr as Wānaka Mitre 10.

The new supermarket would face the big box retail park occupied by New World Three Parks (Foodstuffs SI), The Warehouse, Noel Leemings and a range of other retailers.

Traffic consultant Stantec said in a report the supermarket’s gross floor area exceeded 1000sq m, which triggered the "high trip generating activities" rule for restricted discretionary consent.

Woolworths has advised there would be about 10-15 truck deliveries per day, with up to three being 23m-long truck and trailer units.

Stantec’s calculations suggest combined activities on the site could generate about 620 movements per hour (total in and out) across two driveways.

The Stantec reports also discusses future scenarios once Three Parks has been developed more extensively.

It estimated delays departing the new supermarket carpark would likely last between 25 and 35 seconds, generating queues of up to six vehicles within the carpark.