Despite a prime site beside the town library, the loss-making Ōpōtiki Hospice Shop will close when the current lease expires at the end of the year.

The Church Street business is to shut its doors on November 24, four months following the loss of nearby Hiona St Stephens Church Op Shop, which closed following an adverse seismic report.

Eastern Bay Hospice shops at Whakatāne and Kawerau are making their budget and so are not threatened.

It is understood the Ōpōtiki operation has been running at a loss for months and efforts to negotiate more favourable lease terms with the landlord, Ōpōtiki District Council, reached an impasse.

“Our board decided we needed to either find a solution or close it down,” Hospice Eastern Bay of Plenty chief executive Bryce Sheedy said.

“Telling our dedicated manager and volunteers this decision was the hardest thing I’ve had to do in this job. But my role is to ensure that we deliver the best palliative care to patients in our community in their homes, so a retail business that is not going to make money does not work for us.

“We would love to still have the shop there but since it is not breaking even, we just can’t.

“First, we went to the council to discuss renewal of our lease, which was coming up in December.

“We requested a shortened lease for six months until June next year – just to see if we could turn things around in this time.

“They took this to their property advisory committee and a week later came back to say they were unable to do that. The strategic long-term plan demanded a two-year lease; however, they were able to offer a month-by-month lease option with a 20-day out clause either way.

“We couldn’t accept this as it would be impossible for us to close the shop within 20 days. That was when we made the decision to close; there were no more things to try.”

Hospice Eastern Bay of Plenty is funded 42 percent by the Government and the rest of the money has to be found through fundraising.

“The shortfall is about $500,000 a year out of our community and that was the hard thing about contemplating another two-year lease on the Ōpōtiki shop.”

“Continuing to operate would be taking away from our core business of serving people with their palliative needs. We are very passionate about this.

“We understand that it is more than an op shop - it is part of the community. Our much-loved volunteers and manager there give their life and soul to that place; they are a little whanau dedicated to serving the community.

“My role is to ensure that we deliver the best palliative care to patients in their homes.  A retail business that is not going to make money will not work for us.”

Mr Sheedy said in his view the worsening economy was the underlying problem.

“So, I don’t think this is anyone’s fault. People just don’t seem to have the money they once had three, two or even one year ago.

“Ōpōtiki’s main street has had a bit of a tough time in the last little while; we noticed it when the street was closed off for a few weeks earlier this year. Then we had to have some work done on our building.

“When our building was being worked on, the shop was hidden away behind all the scaffolding; we noticed this (in financial returns). But I also think the world has changed since the shop was set up.”

Operating costs have now gone far beyond rent, including building insurance, including public liability, electricity, WiFi, point-of-sale and compliance costs. Some of these have gone up exponentially in the last few years. The rent was significant – over $30,000 a year.

“Just the increases in the cost of building insurance over the previous five years would equal about nine weeks of takings from our Ōpōtiki Shop.

“All this adds up to a significant risk when considering taking on a lease for another two years to just to see what happens. On paper such a move could mean a $40,000 loss, which was a risk we just could not take.”

The Eastern Bay of Plenty Hospice had a vast area to take care of – running from Waihau Bay to Matatā and inland to Ruatāhuna and Murupara.

“Every referral which comes into us from across this area is a person we will look after in their own home with palliative carer services.

“It all works because of the generosity of our community and the dedication of our staff.

“There are 136 volunteers and about 30 staff, including a clinical team with nine nurses, a doctor and a couple of support workers. In total, team members drive about 16,000 kilometres a month.

“Everyone who works here does so because they care – they could all earn a lot more money working at the hospital, for example.

We have a grants writer here out of joy and love really, working for a cheap rate accessing grant money for us.

We have other fund raisers. The Ōpōtiki Gold Club raised $8000 in a day. A tournament at the Ohope Golf club a couple of months ago raised $20,000 in a day.

“Two weeks ago, the Mata Brewery launched a craft beer with 8 percent of the proceeds from sales going to the hospice. We even had a band who donated their time to perform after we looked after their parents who passed under our service earlier this year.

“We encounter goodwill from a wide part of the community. We have come a long way as we had some bad press a few years back, hence we changed the model from a business to a service one. We have gone from having three nurses to nine nurses.

“I feel terrible about the op shop in Ōpōtiki because I understand how Ōpōtiki works. But again, we must make decisions that support what we do, and our core business is looking after people in the homes during their last days. We only get one shot at it, so we want to do it well.”