\u201cWe initially thought that the stadium\u2019s going to open and we\u2019re going to have more crowds,\u201d Tandukar said.<\/p>\n
Sanila Tandukar. Photo \/ Indiana Bell<\/p>\n
In the week of its opening, Flame 5 began preparing its Indian and Latin street food one week in advance, ordering extra stock in expectation of thousands of visitors passing through the area.<\/p>\n
But the opening week was a major disappointment. <\/p>\n
Twelve roads were temporarily closed to traffic, restricting access before and after events at the stadium, including parts of Tuam, Madras, Hereford, Barbadoes, Cashel, Lichfield, High and Worcester streets.<\/p>\n
This not only kept new customers away but made it hard for their regulars who pull up on Tuam St to collect their takeaway meal.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody [on the street] was hoping for the stadium and it just went the opposite way for everyone,\u201d Tandukar said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not only about us. It\u2019s about the whole street. The supermarket is losing money and the cafe is for sale because everybody was hoping for the stadium.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flame 5 was not the only business that failed to see the expected boost.<\/p>\n
Blissful Brew, a Tuam St cafe, also \u201cdidn\u2019t get much benefit\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ramandeep Kaur said the biggest challenges the stadium brought were during its construction.<\/p>\n
She said the roads were closed, and traffic was low, which \u201caffected our customers\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat time was tough. We suffered for the last one-and-a-half years because of the construction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now that the stadium is open, she has seen little benefit to her cafe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no impact from the stadium on our business. It\u2019s still the same before the stadium and after the stadium,\u201d Kaur said.<\/p>\n
She said customers often ate inside the stadium rather than at nearby businesses.<\/p>\n
But not every business has shared their experience.<\/p>\n
Scott Walklin, who is the strategic director of Sign Network Ltd on Saint Asaph St, said his business has been unaffected.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been impressed,\u201d he said, \u201cconsidering our proximity to the stadium, we haven\u2019t actually had any interruptions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scott Walklin, strategic director of Sign Network Ltd on Saint Asaph St, said the stadium had not adversely affected their operations. Photo \/ Indiana Bell<\/p>\n
He thinks the stadium is \u201cawesome\u201d for Christchurch and has loved seeing the influx of foot traffic in the area.<\/p>\n
Although \u201cit doesn\u2019t make much of a difference to our type of business, I have definitely seen some of the uptake in local cafes and bars and it\u2019s just great to have that vibe in the city\u201d.<\/p>\n
Venues \u014ctautahi chief executive Caroline Harvie-Teare said it understands the traffic management plan may have had some \u201cunexpected consequences\u201d for local businesses.<\/p>\n
Venues \u014ctautahi has been working with these businesses to reduce the footprint of the traffic management plan and the time that the plan is in place.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want the stadium to have any kind of negative impact on anyone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
However, Tandukar said the reduced trade has left her questioning whether continuing the business is worth it. Alongside fewer customers, three break-ins this year have added further pressure.<\/p>\n
She said the thieves would have got maybe $3, $4 from her truck, since little money is kept in it.<\/p>\n
But this has not stopped thieves from stealing a gas cylinder, chairs, tables and food from the freezer, including beef and fries and leaving the owners to pay to fix the damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not making any money. We\u2019re putting money in from our own pockets to serve the community good food.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tandukar hopes businesses like hers will eventually see the benefits they had expected when the stadium opened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe opened this food truck to connect with more people … to make a place where people can come, sit and enjoy good food. That\u2019s why we\u2019re still here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe initially thought that the stadium\u2019s going to open and we\u2019re going to have more crowds,\u201d Tandukar said.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[9869,53893,1558,2033,11783,138,10166,4487,50545,74059,13023,10668,2082,25901,64800,9222,440,12235,36564,111,139,69,10521,766,544,16674,3502,8229,100545,23330],"class_list":["post-585470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-arrival","tag-bag","tag-been","tag-bell","tag-brought","tag-business","tag-businesses","tag-christchurch","tag-christchurchs","tag-covered","tag-deemed","tag-economic","tag-for","tag-hasnt","tag-hoped","tag-indiana","tag-local","tag-mixed","tag-muchanticipated","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-opening","tag-reports","tag-some","tag-stadium","tag-success","tag-they","tag-widely","tag-windfall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585470","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=585470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}