Supporting company

Press, 23 October 1984, Page 23

Supporting company

G.U.S. Properties, Ltd, was incorporated in 1954 as a property investment and development company to support the wholesaling and the retail grocery and hardware operations of the G.U.S. Group, by securing prime property locations throughout the South Island. The retail groups sponsored by G.U.S. are Super Value supermarkets, IGA Super Discounter, Super 7 Convenience Stores and Value Rite hardware centres. Since its beginning, G.U.S. Properties, Ltd, has become involved in numerous commercial, industrial and resi-. dential developments, and has taken an active and leading role in the development of shopping centres throughout the G.U.S Group’s trading area. The most successful and ambitious development has been in the expansion of various shopping centres into malls, thus accomplishing the company’s desire to provide a one-stop shopping complex for local residents and others from outlying districts, and eliminating the need to travel to town. The first such expansion undertaken was the Hornby

Shopping Centre. The surrounding area of Hornby was at the commencement of an extensive growth period with rapid industrial activity under way. Subsequent stages of development of the Hornby Shopping Centre saw the opening in September, 1977, of an enclosed mall, and, in October, 1978, a new Super Value supermarket, with additional retail shopping space and professional offices. The mall also provides parking for 600 vehicles. From its beginning, the Hornby Mall has received outstanding public support. With the selective choice of tenants in the mall, to provide a wide range of merchandise and services, the mall has catered for patrons from a large area extending from Avonhead, Yaldhurst and Riccarton through to Tai Tapu, Lincoln and Dunsandel. The most dynamic of the company’s achievements has been in the expansion of the Garden City Supermarket, in the suburb of Merivale, into the Merivale Mall. In 1978 construction began on expanding the Super Value supermarket and enclosing this, along with 34 new retail’* stores and a

mezzanine floor offering additional accommodation for retail or professional tenants. The addition of piped music and heating-air conditioning, and a selective choice of tenants, has resulted in the Merivale Mall being heralded by many as a “design masterpiece.” With a fully computerised checkout system, the supermarket achieves one of the highest turnovers of any supermarket in the Christchurch area. Merivale Mall has 67,000 sq ft of let space and Hornby Mall has 84,000 sq ft. G.U.S.’s next largest shopping centre is Barrington Mall at 27,800 sq ft. G.U.S. has acquired adjoining land to the Barrington Mall and extensive expansion is planned for the next few years. Merivale Mall, being the most recently constructed, contains many of the features that will be included in the Linwood City centre. G.U.S. is also head lessee of smaller shopping centres — the Ham Mall, the Ashburton Shopping Centre, and the Highfield Centre in Timaru.