New Hunting & Fishing store opens in Whitianga

Hunting & Fishing New Zealand has opened a new store in Whitianga. 

The new store officially opened its doors to the public in early December, marked by a grand opening event with special guests and a cook-out.

Store manager, Alex Reynolds, says the occasion was a big event for the whole hub, with a few hundred people through the doors. 

The new store has eight staff, all with experience in the outdoors. 

“All our staff are locals apart from one, who has come up from Queenstown, so we've got some good local knowledge and people that are embedded into the community already. We've got a diver, a fisherman, a hunter – they're all outdoorsy, knowledgeable people,” says Alex. 

“So they'll be able to provide good knowledge to people either visiting the area or locals wanting to just get some good information,” he says.

The new store has been a long time coming.

“So 18 years ago, my father bought the territory for Hunting and Fishing for the Coromandel, up from his store in Thames at the Kopu bridge. It was always a plan to venture into other areas depending on the population growth,” says Alex.

“And with the growth we’ve seen at Whitianga, the population is big enough to support a store here. So my dad asked if I wanted to open a new store here, and I jumped at the chance. 

Alex has managed the Hunting & Fishing store in Thames for the last seven years.

“Whitianga is a wicked place for hunters and fishers. It's got the deep wide ocean out there, and there are quite a lot of hunters in the community as well, which we weren't quite aware of at the start,”
Alex says. 

“But we've seen a lot of local interest in the hunting sector, so that's a bonus. The magnitude of the boats out here. Everyone's got a boat, everyone goes fishing
or swimming.”

“We’re a proud, Māori family-run business going hard. We’re excited to cement our place in the Whitianga community.”