{"id":165031,"date":"2025-12-02T22:55:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T22:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/165031\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T22:55:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T22:55:09","slug":"online-shopping-and-quiet-cbd-force-whangarei-pharmacy-to-close-after-80-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/165031\/","title":{"rendered":"Online shopping and quiet CBD force Whang\u0101rei pharmacy to close after 80 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Customers favouring online shopping<\/a> was the main reason for the pharmacy\u2019s decline, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrescriptions and medicines \u2013 along with the retail market for cosmetics, fragrance, skincare, gifts and sunglasses \u2013 has changed substantially, including a shift of retail sales to online shopping.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foot traffic in Whang\u0101rei CBD has also dropped as offices move out of the downtown area and into surrounding suburbs, taking some of the vibrancy out of the central city, Lornie said.<\/p>\n

On top of this, behaviour in the CBD has deteriorated<\/a>, with groups sometimes gathering and intimidating the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CBD needs support when challenging behaviours occur \u2013 a multi-agency response is required.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ThereThere is a lack of vibrancy in the CBD and behaviour that puts people off, says pharmacist Dave Lornie. Photo \/ Denise Piper<\/p>\n

Parking and the lack of free car parking is another bugbear, impacting visitors\u2019 easy access to the CBD, Lornie said.<\/p>\n

In recent consultation run by Whang\u0101rei District Council<\/a>, the pharmacy supported two hours of free parking and affordable full-day parking for workers. The council is yet to decide on a new parking management strategy.<\/p>\n

Lornie said while Chemist Warehouse is another new pharmacy<\/a> in Whang\u0101rei CBD, with a less hands-on model, its retail products are very different from the pharmacy. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the change in the prestige cosmetic and fragrance market that has most impacted Life Pharmacy Orrs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pharmacy explored a number of options to stay open, including considering downsizing, but was unable to find the right-sized store, Lornie said.<\/p>\n

\"LifeLife Pharmacy Orrs is preparing to shut, with its dispensary closing on December 24 and the shop closing on January 31. Photo \/ Denise Piper<\/p>\n

Other Orrs pharmacies will remain open to serve their communities, he said, including Maungaturoto, Ruawai, Dargaville, Kaikohe, Maunu and Rust Ave.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as patients and customers value personalised care and service, community pharmacy will remain relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the pharmacy\u2019s 13 staff, including Lornie, will relocate to other pharmacies but the cosmetic salespeople will be made redundant, he said.<\/p>\n

Ken Orr said the change to the way people buy their cosmetics was not only hurting Life Pharmacy Orrs but also other Life pharmacies, as well as stores like Ballantynes in Christchurch<\/a> and the now-closed Smith & Caughey\u2019s in Auckland<\/a> . <\/p>\n

CBD safety and economy top of agenda for new council<\/p>\n

\"Whang\u0101reiWhang\u0101rei Mayor Ken Couper says a new taskforce will aim to address concerns about the city centre’s safety and viability. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Whang\u0101rei Mayor Ken Couper<\/a> said there was a long-standing need to make the city centre safer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely think that there is an element in the CBD that makes people feel uncomfortable \u2013 rightly or wrongly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a really complex problem and it comes down to funding for appropriate Government agencies, policing, lighting and the facilities around helping homeless people.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Couper\u2019s first moves as new mayor was to set up a committee called the Mayoral Taskforce for City Centre Revitalisation, which will help support economic revitalisation of the CBD, and make it a social and safe place.<\/p>\n

The committee includes Couper and councillors Scott McKenzie, Crichton Christie, Brad Flower and Marie Olsen.<\/p>\n

But he said the council cannot do this work on its own and will need support of business owners, NorthChamber, police and central government, especially K\u0101inga Ora.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult when central government has asked council to get back to its core activities but the community has asked us for help. Central government has to be involved too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denise Piper is a news reporter<\/a> for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Customers favouring online shopping was the main reason for the pharmacy\u2019s decline, he said. \u201cPrescriptions and medicines \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[88233,74,95,682,138,31426,1853,42584,651,6789,7557,5760,27135,111,139,69,1642,3194,28142,39157,1243,61,60678,12025,1869,57767,1530],"class_list":["post-165031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-88233","tag-after","tag-and","tag-being","tag-business","tag-cbd","tag-central","tag-cited","tag-close","tag-closing","tag-district","tag-force","tag-lack","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-online","tag-pharmacy","tag-quiet","tag-reasons","tag-shopping","tag-to","tag-vibrancy","tag-wellknown","tag-whangrei","tag-whangreis","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}