Photo: RNZ / Lucy Xia
Auckland shoppers and transiting travellers have continued to flock to the city's newest outlet mall - Mānawa Bay - despite traffic woes over the precincts' first weekend since opening.
Thousands of shoppers visited the outlet - just three kilometres from Auckland Airport - causing long delays along the main highway to the airport on Saturday and Sunday.
Around midday on Monday, the mall's 1400 car parks appeared to be nearly fully occupied, long queues remained outside a boutique chocolate store, and the food court was bustling with people.
While some told RNZ that they picked a working day to avoid the traffic, others like Avi, who had popped in over his lunch break, said traffic was still slow coming off the nearest motorway exit.
"Coming in, obviously there was a bit of a wait to get off the motorway, so immediately the traffic starts, and car parking was pretty full, and pretty hard to find parking, but you expect that - it's a new entity that's opened up," he said.
Treza Mekhaiel, who had driven over from the North Shore, said it was great to have a local outlet on par with ones she had visited overseas.
"We usually go to the Gold Coast and Brisbane, and the outlets there and it reminds us so much of that, so I was just telling my husband there's no point going to the outlets there anymore, we've got it here which is fantastic."
Several shoppers told RNZ the outlet was an "upgraded" version of Onehunga's Dress Smart, and one said it was "glorified Onehunga".
Rachel Brennan, right. Photo: RNZ / Lucy Xia
However, some who were making a stop at the outlet before taking a flight, said the lack of a free luggage storage service was disappointing.
Rachel Brennan had just come off a cruise and had a few hours to kill before her flight home to Christchurch.
She and her friends felt it was not worthwhile paying $16 to store a single luggage case.
"If they really wanted to attract lots of people travelling back to the airport, if they did a receipt - if you spend money you get your bag held for free - it would be huge," Brennan said.
Others were questioning if mega stores and shopping precincts like Mānawa Bay and Costco were a good thing for New Zealand.
Mt Eden resident Dallas Young, who had come to check out what the hype was about, said he wondered how long the buzz would last.
"Does New Zealand really actually need another one of these? I mean, does that place there, another Rodd and Gunn, is that still gonna be there in two years' time, or are they gonna find it very hard, because the gloss will wear off and the buzz will wear off?"
Photo: RNZ / Lucy Xia
Meanwhile, a spokesperson speaking on behalf of both Auckland Airport and Mānawa Bay said they were well prepared to manage the increased traffic flow during this period.
They said they believe traffic volumes will ease in the coming weeks.
Restrictions have been placed on Auckland Airport's construction workforce's use of the airport roads heading south during peak periods, they said.
Auckland Council's head of resource consents James Hassall said the resource consent submitted to council for Mānawa Bay had included a "detailed transport assessment".
He said the council required a number of conditions to be fulfilled, relating to access, parking and traffic circulation within and around the site.
Hassall said they would continue to monitor the site to assess whether the consent conditions need adjusting - but the council did not expect to see the level of traffic seen over the weekend long term.
Photo: RNZ / Lucy Xia
