Corner dairies face struggle to survive

A police raid in the seaside suburb of Ocean Grove this week put an end to a fraught few weeks for Dunedin dairy owners.

Three people were arrested in relation to three aggravated robberies over the past month, targeting dairies in Musselburgh, St Kilda and Maryhill. All three robberies were carried out by a masked man and woman. The man allegedly carried a pistol during the attacks.

The robberies were the latest in an ongoing series of dairy-related crime in Dunedin, and when the Otago Daily Times  visited dairies across the city this week, those running them were wary.

Many said the threat of armed robbery weighed on their minds, while punishing hours and diminishing profits also placed them under pressure.

One South Dunedin dairy owner said she was calling her agent that day to sell the business. The pressure of working 7-day weeks with a young family, coupled with the ever-present risk of violent crime, was finally too much.

Others said they, too, were considering moving on.

Wakari Dairy and Post Centre manager Jo Stacey was philosophical about the risks, saying she felt relatively safe working at the On the Spot, given its proximity to a busy intersection, and tight-knit cadre of regulars watching out for them.

"You can’t live your life in fear."

In her nine years working at the dairy, things had become harder and margins tighter, especially as sky-rocketing tobacco taxes meant smokers had less money to spare.

"People don’t have the disposable income they used to."

Down the hill in Northeast Valley, Quarry Store owner Jimil Patel said that although  the ever-increasing price of cigarettes had made dairies more vulnerable to crime, stopping tobacco sales would sound the death knell for his business.

Of his store’s total income, 60% to 70% came from sales of tobacco products, he said.

His store bristled with CCTV cameras and he had also shelled out for a wireless panic alarm system.

Mr Patel wanted the ODT to answer one question: what were his rights when it came to defending his store from an assailant?

Dairy owners should "think very carefully" about confronting armed robbers, University of Otago faculty of law Associate Prof Colin Gavaghan says.

"A big guy’s not much use against a shotgun."

But Prof Gavaghan said the courts in New Zealand "have been quite understanding ... of people who use force, even if it turns out in the calm light of day that it might have been more than was strictly necessary.

"The individual needs to make an assessment of the situation: do they believe their life is in danger [or] in danger of serious injury?

"If you genuinely believe ... the only way to make yourself safe is to use force, then you’re allowed to use such force as is necessary."It must be when the threat is still active.

"It must be in a situation where there’s no other reasonable means to make yourself safe.

"And if these conditions are satisfied then you’re probably going to be safe as houses really."

It is becoming increasingly difficult to run the traditional Kiwi corner dairy. Retail NZ general manager, public affairs, Greg Harford says margins are "certainly being squeezed substantially".

"Petrol stations, for example, have very much developed into convenience stores over the last 10 or 20 years."

Echoing Mr Patel, he said tobacco products accounted for about 60% of turnover in some stores.

"That’s an element of the market that’s being squeezed, with tax increases bringing less demand."

The mounting pressure placed on convenience stores meant they needed to diversify, or risk closing.

"Some will disappear entirely ... but others will seek to diversify."

Dairies were well-placed to offer a range of products and services different from what they might have traditionally, he said.

"There’s dairies around the country that are now doing everything from gourmet coffee to postal services ... and all sorts of weird and wonderful things."