Welcome everyone. On Thursday 18 April, we opened our latest new shop, in New Plymouth!
Our downtown Gover Street shop and partner manager Sooin have been very successful since opening in 2015. Thanks to strong support from the Taranaki community, we’ve added a second shop, in The Valley Mega Centre. Located in the suburb of Waiwhakaiho, this bustling retail centre features many major stores – now including St. Pierre’s!
New shop manager Jessie reflected positively on the opening, saying that
“I’m so happy and proud to be the opening Valley manager. I’ve been with St. Pierre’s Gover Street since August 2019 and have been working towards becoming a shop manager for several years now. I was Bento Bowl manager before, but Sooin supported me moving to the sushi department to get ready for the new shop. I’m really grateful for his support, and the support of head office and our area manager Lili.
The opening rush has been hectic, but thankfully we were able to train new staff at Gover before moving across town. Even after a couple of weeks, we’re already recognising regular repeat customers. It’s great that the locals are making a healthy St. Pierre’s lunch part of their shopping routine.”
Director of Property Costa Katsoulis was very happy at the successful opening, commenting that
“With the success of the Gover Street shop, we have been looking for another site in New Plymouth for some time. Gover Street has a strong position in the vibrant downtown business area, whereas the Valley Mega Centre is a different market, with big box retail and supermarkets. It’s very much complementary to the Gover shop, and early performance trends for both shops have been great.
Even though our Valley shop is small compared to the nearby big stores, it has a large presence thanks to the striking yet welcoming interior design. People are drawn to the attractive, modern space that our team has created. A big thanks to GM of Property Steve, Facilities Manager Cris and Design Manager Alina for their great work – again!”
It’s a St. Pierre’s tradition that Director Nick Katsoulis fires up the crowd before the opening day sushi giveaway. After missing the Wellsford opening with illness, Nick was back on the megaphone and in top form. The smiles from the staff and crowd are all the evidence we need!
The Valley shop is our first new opening for 2024, and the locals already tell us it’s great. Stop by and see Jessie and her team sometime – and look out for many more shop openings in 2024!
Glen McCabe
stpierresmagazine
awesome opening!