{"id":494545,"date":"2026-06-25T08:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T08:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/494545\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T08:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T08:09:11","slug":"woolworths-opens-25m-flaxmere-store-80-jobs-filled-by-locals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/494545\/","title":{"rendered":"Woolworths opens $25m Flaxmere store, 80 jobs filled by locals"},"content":{"rendered":"

To celebrate the opening, GoBay bus services 6 and 7 to and from Flaxmere are free from today until Sunday, June 28.<\/p>\n

The opening follows New World\u2019s exit from Flaxmere in 2024<\/a>, which led to the independent Flaxmere Supermarket setting up in its place last year.<\/p>\n

Last week Flaxmere Supermarket announced its plan to close in early July<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There was initial opposition by Health NZ and police to Woolworths\u2019 liquor licence for the new store, but it was granted in May<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cultural groups from Flaxmere Primary School and Flaxmere College performed at the opening, with Flaxmere College\u2019s kapa haka group giving a thunderous performance of the haka Tika Tonu as Hastings Mayor Wendy Schollum cut the ribbon to formally open the store.<\/p>\n

Woolworths New Zealand director of property Matthew Grainger said it was the biggest crowd he\u2019d seen at a store opening in his 12 years with the supermarket.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis one really has been off the charts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WoolworthsWoolworths Flaxmere store manager Shannon Sibley (left), Hastings Mayor Wendy Schollum, TW Group chief executive Terry May and managing director of Woolworths New Zealand Sally Copland cut the ribbon to open Woolworths Flaxmere. Photo \/ Jack Riddell<\/p>\n

Managing director of Woolworths NZ Sally Copland was at the opening and said it was a privilege to be there.<\/p>\n

She said the local community, council and Woolworths had an incredible partnership bringing the store to life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are grateful for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richard Waina, a 20-year-plus Flaxmere resident, was one of the first inside the new building and said he\u2019d never seen as many smiles as he did during his first shopping foray around the new supermarket.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got all the typical things \u2013 oranges, bread, milk. Everything you need to keep you going,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n

\"FlaxmereFlaxmere resident Richard Waina at the opening of the Woolworths Flaxmere store. Photo \/ Jack Riddell<\/p>\n

The new supermarket was within walking distance of Te P\u0101 Harakeke<\/a>, Hastings District Council\u2019s new housing complex for seniors.<\/p>\n

Waina said it was great that older residents would no longer have to catch the bus into Hastings to do their supermarket shopping.<\/p>\n

\u201cI helped them get on and off the bus and help them carry their stuff home, and it\u2019s come to this time now where they can just push their trolley down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he was off to tell his community about the new store \u201cbecause they\u2019re going to enjoy it\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mayor Schollum said the supermarket was the anchor to the wave of development coming to Flaxmere.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unlocked a new town centre, it\u2019s unlocked confidence for other developments and so much more housing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis really is Flaxmere\u2019s time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councillor for Hastings District Council\u2019s Flaxmere ward Henare O\u2019Keefe said the new Woolworths just \u201cchanged the course of history\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s changing lives already with our people in there working \u2013 they\u2019re earning a good honest pay. They\u2019re going to put food in their bellies, clothes on their back and a roof over their head.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to pull our weight and this is a symbol of all of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no community like this. Warts and all, we\u2019re special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke\u2019s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in the UK, Germany, and New Zealand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To celebrate the opening, GoBay bus services 6 and 7 to and from Flaxmere are free from today…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[654,88233,138,3595,38115,9850,27509,19724,24176,232,20829,37107,111,139,69,5493,2680,384,2735,97,1361,92],"class_list":["post-494545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-25m","tag-88233","tag-business","tag-by","tag-filled","tag-flaxmere","tag-gathered","tag-given","tag-hundreds","tag-jobs","tag-locals","tag-multimilliondollar","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-open","tag-opens","tag-people","tag-store","tag-supermarket","tag-that","tag-woolworths"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494545","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=494545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}