What a time we’ve had opening our very first Hudsons on the Kapiti Coast in June 2021, in the Coastlands Shopping Centre. The last six months have been like a roller coaster ride. We had a great response when we first opened the store and customers kept coming in curiously to check us out and absolutely loved our coffee (just like we do!). Then within two months of opening, we had to close our doors under the full lockdown period. We emerged from the changing pandemic Alert Levels and are now celebrating our first Christmas in Kapiti, which is very exciting! We would like to give a warm thanks to everyone who helped make it happen and to everyone who has come to visit us at our new store.
The launch wasn’t without its challenges, with the Greater Wellington region getting plunged back into Level 2 during our planned opening date. But despite the changing alert levels, we were blessed to have a really successful opening, with our coffee being an instant hit with the locals.
“Coffee was great! Will become my regular coffee stop! Highly recommend A+++”
“It has become a regular spot to stop for a good coffee now”
“We will definitely be regular customers in the future”
Customer reviews
Following a soft opening on June 22nd, our grand opening on July 29th was opened with a Māori blessing ceremony by Rawiri Rikihana.
Our four-day opening event drew in the crowds with kids facepainting and a free small coffee also on offer, we enjoyed showing off our different blends of coffee, our wide range of cabinet food and making relationships with people who are now regular clientele.
We were also lucky enough to be invited to be guests on Beach FM, Kapiti’s own radio station to discuss the new store opening. It was a great experience to get the word out about our love of coffee and to share that with the Kapiti community. We hope to be back on the airwaves in the near future.
We’ve brought some amazing promotions to Kapiti, like our “Three’s a Charm” hot chocolate platter that won the Sweet As Challenge 2021 competition for our Queensgate store as well as our hugely popular smoothie promotion where we have focused on fresh fruity summer flavours and these have been a massive hit.
We were also proud to be a part of Super Saturday giving away 50 Hudsons Vouchers to people who got a Covid-19 vaccination. It was a pleasure to be a part of helping New Zealand get to our target of being 90% fully vaccinated.
Opening a new store means an exciting opportunity to grow the Hudsons family. We welcomed some amazing new staff members from the local Kapiti community. These staff quickly learned the Hudsons way and are now delivering a great experience for our customers. We couldn’t do what we do without their hard work and positive attitudes so thank you for choosing to work with us.
We feel lucky to have come together recently for our Christmas party, with staff from both the stores Hudsons Queensgate and Hudsons Coastlands. A great way to finish the year connecting, reflecting and moving on with higher spirits than before.
Season’s greetings to all and wishing everyone the best of health and happiness as we move into 2022. The pandemic challenges continue, nonetheless we are excited to continue building on our successful opening and serving our wonderful customers.
