10am and 4pm

We have opened a pop up shop at 386 lincoln Rd …inside Snowride at the Hagley park end.Hours there this week are mon/tues/wed 10-5.Thurs 10-6pm.Fri 10-5.Not open this Saturday but we will be the following week and so forth until Christmas.

The hours at both stores are subject to change.

sat 11-3

The homewares store owner lost her Beckenham and Lichfield St stores to the earthquake but is determined to keep her business alive – so much so she got her husband, Andrew, to convert the garage of their Birdwood Ave home into a new, albeit much smaller, store.

Carpeting, lighting and a set of French doors were installed and the walls painted – and Wheeley was up and running. And while the garage may lack the grandeur of her previous stores, it had a certain charm, she said.

“People are really enjoying it,” she said. “We’ve gone from 250square metres to 18 square metres.”

The couple managed to retrieve all their stock from their Beckenham store – more than enough to fill the new space, with extra stock stored in the house.

The Beckenham store has been red-stickered and the Lichfield St store is within the no-go red zone.

Wheeley has tried to drive online sales but said that was proving difficult as there were already established online businesses.

“Clearly it’s not going to be a magic bullet.”

But she was working on developing her website further and had already had a bit of activity at her new garage store.

“We have had a constant trickle of familiar faces from our old stores,” she said.

She needed to move her old stock so she could order new items to keep up with the latest trends, as customers were always looking for something new and things they had not seen before.

Whare used to employ four people, including her husband, but now Wheeley runs it singlehandedly.

And because she is now a sole trader, she no longer qualifies for the government wage subsidy, which excludes sole traders from the second round of the government support package for quake-affected Canterbury businesses.

The couple are relying on savings and income Andrew is earning from new part-time employment.

Wheeley said she was determined not to give up as she felt a strong obligation to her suppliers, who needed to be paid.

So far the store’s creditors had been very understanding.

“My creditors from all over the country have been incredibly patient.”

Wheeley said she was keen to clear the stock she had retrieved and was offering discounts to Christchurch residents who needed to replace items lost in the earthquake.

Due to the earthquake we lost both big, beautiful stores…

However we refuse to succumb to Gaia and demoralization so have recreated.

All your favourite Whare products are being loaded onto this webshop,albeit slowly,so keep watching!

As of today you can visit us at “Whare Goes Home”…Our glamourous garage at 18 Birdwood Ave Beckenham Christchurch.Hours 1-3.30pm Mon-Thurs and all day Saturdays 10-5pm.