Staff at The Warehouse in South City have been told about a proposal to close the store.

In an email sent to staff by management, it said “later this year, our lease at The Warehouse South City will come to an end and we’ve been considering our next steps.”

“There is a proposal to close the South City store in line with the lease end in October.”

It said “with the continuing shift in our customer’s shopping habits, particularly as a result of COVID-19 and many customers choosing to shop online, or in larger stores nearby, making sure we have the right people and stores in the right place is an important consideration.”

The company was now beginning the “consultation process”

The consultation process would be open until Monday 16 May, with the proposed store closure date being the end of September 2022.

 A spokesperson from The Warehouse confirmed the proposal to Chris Lynch Media.

“We have 5 other The Warehouse stores in greater Christchurch and if the proposal goes ahead, we will work with the South City team on redeployment options across our TWG store network.”

In March, the Warehouse Group reported a decrease in sales of 7.4% to $895.4 million for the half-year due to COVID-19 related store closures throughout Auckland and New Zealand.

It said customers pivoted to shopping online with The Warehouse’s online sales increasing “a staggering” 93.6% to $119.0 million making up 13.3% of total sales, while the retail store’s Click & Collect service increased 122.3% making up 47.3% of all online sales.

The report said the remainder of FY22 “will not be without bumps.”

It said “moving through the acute phase of Omicron as well as opening our borders to tourism will have important positive downstream effects. However ongoing uncertainty created by COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine remain significant impacts for the global economy and our own. Shipping and freight costs as well as inflation are also contributing factors for New Zealand.”