A NEW ERA
With more stores, more experiences and more reasons to visit, Tauranga Crossing continues to grow with its community.
With more stores, more experiences and more reasons to visit, Tauranga Crossing continues to grow with its community.
WORDS JO-MARIE BAKER
Tauranga Crossing is a shopping centre that has always had one eye on the future, and those dreams are now coming to fruition. With around 4,000 homes soon to be built in Tauriko West, and the suburb’s industrial estate continuing to expand, Tauranga Crossing is at the heart of one of our biggest growth areas.
“There is further development to come,” promises centre manager Janet Vincent. “Geographically, we’re right in the middle of the Golden Triangle and overseas retailers see that. With our new Farmers extension, we now have one of the largest retail footprints of any mall in the Bay of Plenty and we have plenty of room to expand. Plans are already underway.”
An additional 8,100m² of space at the north-east end of the mall opened in October, anchored by a two-storied flagship Farmers store alongside an expansive Toyworld, Stirling Sports, Stirling Women and Farmer Autovillage showroom. More retailers, including JB Hi-Fi, will be arriving in 2026.
“The Farmers extension is a huge milestone for us,” Janet says. “It’s a lovely, uplifting anchor to that end of the mall. It’s definitely the next generation of Farmers stores with beautiful details and finishings throughout — everything from the tiling to the lights, the dressing room décor and the shop-floor displays have been thoughtfully done and look incredible.”
Just as much care has gone into sustainable planning and design, with 714 solar panels installed on the walls and roof above a hedge that wraps around the extension’s exterior. It will generate enough clean energy to offset the same amount of carbon as growing 1,800+ trees annually or avoiding nearly 170,000km of car travel (four times around the earth).
ChargeNet has also installed the largest collection of EV charging stations in New Zealand in the carpark — 10 fast charging points, including one campervan and one car and trailer.
Janet says Tauranga Crossing is designed to be a place where people feel welcome. And that’s never more apparent than at Christmas. “We really embrace Christmas. Being a shopping centre, there’s obviously a commercial side to it, but we want to celebrate the community side too and make it a magical space to come and visit and really immerse yourself in the Christmas spirit and excitement.
“Christmas is such an important time for retail but we’re also mindful that this can be a pressured time for people. Which is why we also provide opportunities for our community to help each other and show some Christmas generosity.”
Tauranga Crossing is hosting its second annual Trees for Charity campaign in partnership with Tauranga Community Foodbank. The public help to decorate 30 Christmas trees which will be on display throughout the centre before being donated to a family in need across the region, along with a $500 PAK’nSAVE gift card.
“We’re also collecting Foodbank donations to help bring joy and provide the essentials for everyone to enjoy a happy Christmas,” Janet says. “It’s really lovely to see how much comes in and how much the community want to be involved. It’s very special.”
With over 120 stores now spread over 50,000m² of retail space and more development on the horizon, there’s no doubt Tauranga Crossing is a significant player in our regional economy.
“We’re always listening to what customers want, and what brands they want to see here, and we’re excited for what’s to come. We still have significant development opportunities ahead including a Lifestyle Centre and Stage 4 expansion where we are actively in discussions with household-name tenants.
“But our intent is to create a space where you can experience a thriving community hub where everyone feels welcome.”
Surfing for the soul
Bay farmers are learning to take the beach back to the paddock
Bay farmers are learning to take the beach back to the paddock.
Words Hayley Barnett
It’s fair to say the past few years haven’t been kind to our farming and horticulture community. Economic conditions and labour shortages have really taken their toll on a once-thriving industry. But a small group of people have been working hard to bring a little bit of sunshine back into the lives of the people holding together our country’s backbone, with an initiative called Surfing for Farmers.
The idea is self-explanatory – getting more farmers and orchard workers out onto the beach and into the waves. The free programme runs over the whole of summer and offers surf lessons and an evening out for the whole family to enjoy.
“The theme this year is to take the beach back to the paddock,” says BOP board member Sarah Hickey. “We want to encourage anyone working on a farm or in the horticulture industry to get out there into the surf then take that experience back to work, talk about it with their colleagues, or just feel better in their day-to-day life. We want that ripple effect to happen once you’re off the beach, to spread that good feeling.”
This will be the fourth season that Surfing for Farmers has run in Mount Maunganui, but the programme itself has been running since 2018. The founder, Stephen Thomson, who worked in the farming industry himself, started the project after watching a documentary on returned soldiers using surfing as PTSD therapy.
“Something just clicked and he was like, ‘I could do that here for farmers’,” explains Sarah.
A year later, Sarah was sitting with a friend, who had been teaching her how to surf, when they came across a newspaper article about Stephen.
“That’s when I realised that, hey, we could do something here in the Mount,” she says. “It kind of snowballed from there and now we’re running in 28 locations around New Zealand.”
Each region operates slightly differently, but the main aim is the same. In the Bay, friends and family of the team, who surf themselves, volunteer their time to coach, and the boards and wetsuits are borrowed from local surf schools.
“It’s about sharing knowledge and getting everyone out here,” says Sarah. “It’s really fun. We always have a barbecue afterwards, so it turns into quite a community event.”
The feedback, says Sarah, has been overwhelmingly positive. “We’ve definitely had some amazing stories. We've had one guy who was a farmer his whole life but had stopped working. He came along for one session and got hooked on surfing. And that became his way to still be connected to the industry. Now, he's retired and this has become a hobby that himself and his son do together.
“It’s about connections and people. They come along, and then suddenly, three weeks in, they've got this new surfboard and wetsuit and they're grabbing their neighbours and inviting them to come down. Or they're discussing things on the farm and giving each other tips and tricks because it's a real mixture of young and old. We like to get the children involved too.”
And that ripple effect Sarah was talking about earlier comes into play throughout not just the farming community, but the wider community as well.
“Farmers’ families often tell us that their dads have come home much happier,” says Sarah. “We had a daycare sponsor give us some money and we were like, ‘What's a daycare doing sponsoring Surfing for Farmers?’ And they said it was because they notice that the kids are happier. When the dads have been out for a surf, the kids are happier at the daycare. So it's a win-win for everyone.”
But it’s not just the men getting amongst the waves. “It is mainly men but we do get quite a few women. One night we had females outnumber the males, which was a really cool night.”
So far, around 4000 to 5000 farmers are taking part every year, and Sarah says they’d like to increase that number substantially. “Our goal for 2026 is that by the end of summer 2026, we will have moved the needle for 25,000 people.”
To participate, all you need to do is turn up at any session and register. Session times are posted on the website for each region. “Just show up. That's all you need to do. We cover the rest.”