Ray Macleod, Project H director and developer of the Fresh Choice Lake Hāwea opening on October 22, told the Wānaka Sun it was "a privilege" to be bringing three new services to the town.
"This is way overdue in terms of … I know we’ve had a shop but this is the first supermarket service and we’ve introduced a gymnasium and a consultancy space.
"They’re all new to Hāwea, and I’d have to say we’re pretty chuffed about that."
Situated between Parry Cres and Bodkin St, the entire ground floor of the two-storey structure will be dedicated to the new supermarket, including a 40sq m foyer and 325sq m main retail space.
Mr Macleod said while Fresh Choice was targeted at customers making regular convenience purchases, it would be a "full service" supermarket with features such as an unmanned deli, a beer and wine section and a Lotto counter.
"If you have a look at some of the new houses around here, they’ve got their laundry in their garages and their garages full of ski gear, they’ve got nowhere to put their fridges.
"So they convenience shop a lot more."
Upstairs, space has been made for two commercial tenants — 71sq m for a consultancy firm and 142sq m for an NRG Gym.
Mr Macleod said the consultancy firm was expected to move into their new premises in early November, while the NRG Gym was expected to open in December.
He said the building, which stands at 7m at its highest point, was no taller than any of the surrounding houses in the neighbourhood and had been designed to minimise its overall impact.
"We’ve had a lot of support from the community and we’re pretty privileged to get that support.
"We’ve been really careful to build this building … to keep it looking right for the receiving environment.
"It’s basically residential so we didn’t want to build something that was a big shed with a fancy front wall so we took a lot of care to make sure it fitted as much as we could."
Outside, the development had made room for 23 parking spaces, including three accessible parking spaces.
"The story behind that really is well, you can’t really run a business like that without car parking — it just doesn’t work," Mr Macleod said.
"You force your car parks on to your neighbours, and they just get pissed off with you as well.
"It was all part of designing and working in such a way that it fitted with how people lived here."
With construction nearing completion, Woolworths will officially begin its fitout of the store on Monday next week.
While the new supermarket represents a number of firsts for Hāwea, Mr Macleod was particularly proud to point out one of the less obvious ones as he made his way through the store’s entryway.
"These are the first electric sliding doors in Hāwea. Historic."
Fresh Choice Lake Hāwea will open its doors with an official ceremony on Tuesday, October 22.
The store will be open from 7am-9pm, seven days a week.
