Regular shopper Chance Bartlett headed in on Thursday morning to buy what she could before the lights go out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI come here every time I get paid,\u201d she told Hawke\u2019s Bay Today.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe closure is sad because there aren\u2019t many good shops here, especially for jeans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another regular customer, Shelby Lewis, said she \u201chated\u201d the news and rushed in after seeing the closure notice on Facebook.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came to get some deals before it\u2019s gone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Hawke\u2019s Bay Today approached Cotton On\u2019s national media team for comment, but had not received a response by publication time.<\/p>\n
Hastings City Business Association general manager Lucinda Perry said Cotton On had long been a valued part of the city\u2019s retail mix.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny long-standing store\u2019s closure is disappointing for the business community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
However, she says the overall sentiment among Hastings\u2019 businesses is \u201cincreasingly positive\u201d for 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seeing more activity and a lot happening behind the scenes that will continue to lift the CBD,\u201d Perry said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe KiwiRail and council redevelopment work on the fountain and city mall area is under way now, and together with private developer investment, we will see more of a positive impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perry said that, during the development phase, the association plans to bring the ice rink back to the city centre, rolling out street-based campaigns in the coming months, and working closely with local businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re focused on making sure the city centre continues to evolve into a vibrant, attractive place to shop, dine and experience.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Regular shopper Chance Bartlett headed in on Thursday morning to buy what she could before the lights go…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270878,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12635,1853,39426,24179,5194,15973,52058,111,43,139,69,2735],"class_list":["post-270877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-area","tag-central","tag-clothing","tag-departs","tag-hastings","tag-longstanding","tag-mall","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-store"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270877","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=270877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}