It's the one-stop shop in the heart of Ngāpuhi territory — Kaikohe. A gas station that also doubles as a merch shop, decked out with traditional Ngāpuhi themes throughout.
It's a business that's been owned by Ngāpuhi Asset Holdings, a subsidiary of Te Rūnanga-Ā-Iwi-O-Ngāpuhi, for well over a decade. Now, it's been made official — the iconic iwi-owned service station will be sold for $1.6 million.
The settlement for the sale is set to take place on August 28, despite attempts from board members to keep the gas station under the ownership of Ngāpuhi.
Chairman of the Ngāpuhi ki te Hauāuru Takiwā Hirini Tau said important history and wonders of the tribe are held in the store.
"Te mutunga iho ā o mātou nei kōrero i roto i tō mātou nei takiwā hui-ā-marama, me whakakorengia mātou te whakahokohoko i tēnei whare o mātou ki roto o Ngāpuhi (The end result is, we decided at our monthly takiwā meeting, to try and stop the sale of this commercial building here within our territory of Ngāpuhi)."
Māori businesswoman Billie Jo Ropiha, who also descends from Ngāpuhi, said the store is an important asset of the iwi.
"We are in the heart of Ngāpuhi so we don't want any of our assets, especially in town, being sold.
"This is our stronghold, if anything we should be buying up more shops in our town," she said.
Te Rūnanga-Ā-Iwi-O-Ngāpuhi said they were informed by Ngāpuhi Asset Holdings of their intention to sell the station in April 2022. Chairman of the rūnanga Wane Wharerau said he was then shocked to learn on May 5, 2023, of the imminent sale as there had been a lack of progress reports from the business branch.
"I had been informed that the deal had been done but moving forward, as I understand it now, the sale had not been completed at that stage."
Chairman of Ngāpuhi Asset Holdings Nick Wells said he thought there had been many there were points of engagement throughout the process, but that somehow the messages hadn't gone through to the rūnanga.
Wells said they weighed up the lack of profitability of the gas station, along with health and safety issues as a small business, plus the environmental footprint of the service station, in making their decision to sell.
"One of the things that Wayne and I had both agreed is that we need to have a review of what went on."
By Ethan Oneroa, Harata Brown
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