Kmart fans line up from 3am for new Ashburton store
From reporter Kristie Boland:
Natasha Grant’s daughter wanted to start queueing for the opening Kmart’s new Ashburton store at midnight, but they compromised and turned up at 3am instead.
They weren’t the only eager customers already lining up at that time for the district’s first Kmart store.
“We saw one car here and thought, ‘oh cool, we're not the only ones’,” Grant said.
The doors of the new 3650m2 store officially opened at 8am on Thursday, with a long line of keen shoppers ready to snap up some new items.
The first customers were welcomed with applause by staff while Ashburton College and Tinwald School students sang waiata at the front entrance.
“It’s just the excitement of having something new in the town,” Grant said.
She stocked up on candles and said she looked forward to bringing her grandchildren back for some Christmas shopping, at a more reasonable hour.
Tinwald School student Nellie Clay, 8, had some shopping to do after her performance. She had just one thing on her list: a dragon costume.
She found what she was looking for straight away.
“It's well stocked and there's a good variety of things,” mum Kirsty Clay said.
Seventeen-year-old Darnell Lima said she normally ventured north to Christchurch for her shopping, but on Thursday she was on a clothes and makeup buying spree in her hometown.
Store manager Kim Spooner said she the new store had been “a long time coming”. Having worked in both the Riccarton and Papanui stores in Christchurch, she was ready to start her new role in the Ashburton store.
“There's just pure excitement. It's going to be great for Ashburton,” she said.
The store had about 88 staff, with more roles to be filled in the coming weeks. Spooner estimated about 200 people had applied for roles.
“The store gives people better access to affordable prices, and it's just in time for Christmas.”
Best way to use leftovers?
I'm sure you've got some excess ham at home or cold roast potatoes.
What are some of your favourite ways to use leftover food from Christmas day? Share below.
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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62.4% Summer
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36.2% Winter
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1.4% Other - I'll share below
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