Street vendors ‘harming’ legitimate businesses in South Auckland

Street vendors at Ōtara Town Centre are being accused of taking business away from legitimate shop owners who have higher costs and pay rates.

However, the Ōtara Papatoetoe Local Board says it wants to empower street vendors in the South Auckland suburb rather than get rid of them.

Simona Lautasi's lamb buns help increase his income and support his family in New Zealand and Sāmoa. Photo / LDR Mary Afemata

Sāmoan street vendor Simona Lautasi has been selling lamb buns for the past year and a half at the Ōtara Shopping Centre.

The Papatoetoe local lives with his daughter who helps him prepare the lamb buns, keke mamoe, which he sells at the Ōtara shopping centre throughout the week.

Lautasi says he is saving the money to help his family here and in Sāmoa.

But it's street stalls like Lautasi's that the Ōtara Business Association wants the local authorities to clamp down on.

Association chair Amit Narchal says street trading is "causing significant harm to ratepayers" in the Ōtara Town Centre, particularly to shop owners within the Auckland Council's Business Improvement District (BID) programme.

BID supports economic growth, but issues arise when non-contributing street traders operate within its boundaries, Narchal said.

“Shop tenants pay commercial rent, council rates, and other expenses, which already places a heavy financial burden on them.

"These legitimate businesses are struggling to remain viable, while street traders, who do not have to pay rent, power bills, or targeted rates, compete directly with them," Narchal said.

The unfair competition makes it difficult for existing shop owners to sustain their businesses and discourages new retailers from setting up in Ōtara, he says.

Ōtara Business Association Chairman Amit Narchal says street vendors are unfair competition, making it difficult for shop owners to sustain their businesses. Photo/Ōtara Business Association

The association raised the issue of street vendors with the Ōtara Papatoetoe Local Board earlier this year.

The association asked the board to not grant licences to the street vendors.

However, Board chair Apulu Reece Autagavaia said the board would rather support the vendors than get rid of them.

“We want them to be legitimate and provide income for their families or whatever else.

“In Ōtara, there are people, there are families that are really on the breadline. They're really struggling.

“As a local board, we didn't want to look at it as an issue of trying to get rid of the families or the groups. But how do we empower the groups?”

Chair of the Ōtara Papatoetoe Local board, Apulu Reece Autagavaia, says they support entrepreneurship and empowering the street vendors to be legitimate in their trade. Photo/Auckland Council

The board used leftover funds from last year's budget to set up a programme for vendors.

Council officers “work with these groups, get their licenses up to scratch, and see how we can support the entrepreneurs,” Apulu says.

The board has considered street vendors working with Ōtara Kai Village (OKC) as a solution instead of being in front of shopkeepers and supposedly taking money away from their shops, he says.

Leauanae Zeprina Fale, director of Bluespur Consulting Ltd, is working with street vendors to assess their situation and address any barriers to their trading.

“The problem they're facing is with a street trading team, because if you're trading there, you not only need to get a food licence, but you also need to get a street trading permit," Leauanae says.

Leauanae Zeprina Fale is working with the street vendors around the Ōtara Town Centre to help get their licences. Photo/SPREP

“I'm at that point now working with the Auckland Council street trading team to identify what the barriers are, what are the concerns, why have these permits been declined in the past, and how can we work that through.”

Auckland Council Licensing & Compliance manager, Mervyn Chetty, says the council knows the community has mixed views on street vendors at the Ōtara shopping center, but this hasn’t led to any licences being cancelled or not renewed.

“The council is currently in the process of reviewing a street trading licence application for a vendor at Ōtara Shopping Centre," Chetty says.

"As with any application, it is being reviewed against the relevant Auckland Council and Auckland Transport bylaws. This includes an assessment of any impacts around public safety and nuisance."

The Ōtara Business Association will present a petition to the board, opposing street trading licences for non-ratepaying vendors, on Tuesday 17 September.