Crime sparks safety concerns among Newmarket stores

A top Auckland shopping precinct is struggling as many businesses shut their doors and foot traffic diminishes in the once bustling Newmarket streets.

Newmarket businesses say increasing retail crime, problematic landlords and the reopening of the Westfield mall have all contributed to the decline of the shopping district.

Recent reports have counted 54 empty stores in the surrounding streets of Westfield Newmarket, with some linking the vacancies to high rent rates and the mall’s redevelopment.

Business owners say the vacant shops and rising crime are making the area uninviting and often stopping customers from shopping there.

Long-term Newmarket retailer, Brendan Shipman, witnessed a security guard get stabbed in 2024 which sparked serious concerns about the safety of his store’s team.

“There’s a lot of really violent crime that happens in Newmarket; our local security caught a blade in the neck late last year.

“I have never felt more uncertain about the safety of myself and my team in Newmarket than I have in 2023 to 2025,” says Shipman.

According to Retail NZ’s COMS Retail Crime Report 2024, more than 140,000 incidents of retail crime or anti-social behaviour were reported across Aotearoa.

Newmarket Business Association (NBA) Chief Executive, Mark Knoff-Thomas, says that crime is an ongoing issue and said efforts are underway to address it.

“We started Newmarket security back in February 2023 as a response to the increase in crime, I called it the post-COVID crime wave.

“We went from having one security guard patrolling Newmarket five days a week to a team of six working full-time, seven days a week”, Knoff-Thomas says.

Despite the increased security presence, many business owners remain pessimistic that things will improve.

Shipman says his shop has been struggling for the last few years, with customer numbers taking a huge hit.

“You couldn’t have told me in 2017, when I joined my role, that my store was going to lose 20 per cent foot traffic every year after a global pandemic.

“It used to be this prestigious place, I used to be really proud to work at Newmarket, and I still love the place but it’s a shell of its former self,” says Shipman.