Auckland businesses hopeful this holiday season as CBD foot traffic surges – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

The upgrade here on Queen Street was finished last month and Auckland Council’s next focus is on upgrading the midtown area which includes landmarks like the Auckland Town Hall, Civic Theatre and Sky Tower.

“You’ll see substantial changes to the midtown area by the second half of next year with trees and wider footpaths and it’ll be substantially different from what it is now,” Auckland Council head of city centre programmes Jenny Larking said.

Despite investments in the city centre, the cost of living is still biting for some businesses.

“Our regulars have been saying to us ‘sorry we haven’t seen you for a while, our mortgage rates got hiked’,” Perch owner Krishna Botica said.

“We are discretionary, there’s no way around that, we always will be for Kiwis. So moving forward we’ll make the most of the tourism over summer and see what plays out next year.”

Sites that had been sitting empty are now filling up with new retailers.

“We’ve got actually demand outstripping supply in the lower part of Queen Street now,” Beck said.

Perhaps it’s not the heady days of the 60s and 70s but we could be heading in that direction.