St Pierre’s Sushi Ashburton is the first food establishment to open its doors in the River Crossing development at the southern end of town.
It opened yesterday with 500 giveaways, just in time for lunch.
Company co-founding brothers Nick, Perry and Costa Katsoulis were all on site for the opening; their 13th store in the South Island.
The Ashburton store is run by franchise partner Yoshi Taniguchi.
Site developer company Tricroft Properties is thrilled River Crossing has finally opened; today is the official opening of anchor attraction Kmart and Coupland’s Bakery.
River Crossing is a brand new shopping and hospitality precinct located in Ashburton on the corner of Cass and South streets.
Other operations also opening at the site from late 2022 through to early 2023 are Sal’s Pizza, The Ottoman, Coffee Culture, Joe’s Garage and Amigos.
Tricroft Properties owner David Williams was ‘‘excited to see the River Crossing vision become reality, after more than ten years of acquiring land and developing the project”. The precinct also provides a great business ownership opportunity as local franchise operators are being recruited for Coffee Culture and Sal’s Pizza, he said.
There is seamless parking between Kmart and the adjoining Countdown Ashburton South and was projected to create around 150-plus jobs.
Ashburton Kmart manager Kim Spooner said the Ashburton store would provide around 100 jobs to the community. It was the newest and brightest Kmart store to open across the country.
‘‘We’re expecting it to be quite busy,’’ Kim said.
‘‘I’m just super excited to open the store, it’s looking good … and the team are really excited.’’
Kmart south zone manager Emma Hedin said across the brand nationwide stores were organised the same to give each customer the same experience.
‘‘This is our newest concept which is super exciting, so you get all the new signage, the new kind of technology, so it’s kind of a new and exciting Kmart, but from a range perspective it’s all exactly the same.’’
‘‘We’re all very excited … it’s always good to see in the community what affect it has as well, and we’re happy to open our doors to Ashburton,’’ she said.
‘‘Every day low prices for our families. I think it’s always great to have a low-cost prices that’ll help the Ashburton community out.’’
The shop opens today, but ‘click and collect’ services will be delayed until October 30.
The River Crossing name is inspired by the site’s history dating back to the mid-1800s when the only way across the Ashburton river was by ferry. An accommodation house and ferry station once stood on the east bank where this major new precinct is now open for trade.
