Trev Terry Marine Ltd, a retailer and boat repair shop which had branches stretching from Auckland to Invercargill, was placed into receivership in February.
While the marine industry continued to have "a hard time", the focus of the new owners would be getting a marine business up and running again and servicing the town’s strong boating community.
"It’s been a well-served region and a popular business for a long period of time so I’m confident that we can improve on the past and service the community better than before.
"I’m comfortable with where the place is and the clientele.
‘‘It’s a bit of a bubble down here," Mr Johnson said
‘‘We’ve had people coming in here saying, what’s going on?
‘‘We need this place.’’
Mr Watts said the Trev Terry signage had been taken down last week and while they were still settling on a new name, they would likely go for Marine & Sport Wānaka.
Prior to Trev Terry’s acquisition in 2022, the previous business on the site had been named Wānaka Marine & Sport.
Once they were up and running, Mr Watts said he hoped the store would be able to employ "five people in the busy period".
Neale Jackson, joint receiver and manager at Auckland-based Calibre Partners, said Trev Terry’s Wānaka branch was the only one they had managed to transfer to a new owner.
Stores in Turangi, Napier and Invercargill have all closed and their stock largely auctioned off.
The original Taupo Central store, the only remaining Trev Terry location, closed permanently on July 7.
A receivers report produced in April revealed Trev Terry owed approximately $16.58million to creditors.
Following a period of aggressive expansion between 2021 and 2022, the Taupo-based company had employed 67 staff across all of its branches.
Mr Watts said while he was relieved the Wānaka branch had been saved, it was "quite sad" to see so many staff impacted by the closures.
"It’s sad.
‘‘It’s sad for those communities that had people you know, Invercargill, and the amount of people without jobs now."
