Pak'n Save Highland Park opens on Pakuranga Road on Tuesday. Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
A new Pak'n Save in Auckland is attracting thousands of job applicants hopeful to work at the North Island's biggest supermarket.
Pak'n Save Highland Park opens on Pakuranga Road on Tuesday. The 6000 square metre supermarket will include a dedicated drive-through area for customers collecting online shopping orders.
Its owner said the store has attracted around 2500 to 3000 applicants in just one week.
"[It's] quite a phenomenal amount of people applying for the jobs," owner Wade Brown told First Up.
It comes as unemployment has rose to a four-year high of 5.1 percent.
Stats NZ figures show around 32,000 jobs were lost over 2024, the largest annual fall since 2009.
Brown said job applications for the new supermarket have come from a mixture of people from all around the Auckland region, with and without a background in retail.
"In more recent times, we've seen people from other industries that are looking to get in employment in supermarkets perhaps because their sectors been effected," he said.
"It's an industry that if you start in it and get sort of bitten by the bug... You just love it, and people just love working in the industry."
He said Pak'n Save Highland Park would hire around 250 people, with around 210 jobs offered so far.
