Providing about 250 jobs, Queenstown's proposed Pak'n Save supermarket would become the district's second-biggest employer, commissioners heard yesterday.
Supermarket operator Foodstuffs lodged a resource consent application for the multimillion-dollar Frankton Flats grocery and fuel station facility in February.
Speaking yesterday at day one of a two-day consent hearing at the Crowne Plaza, Foodstuffs property development manager Rebecca Parish said she believed Pak'n Save would be second only to NZSki - "and that is seasonal".
The 6603sq m facility would be part of the proposed $100 million Shotover Park retail development.
Giving evidence in opposition today will be appellant Queenstown Central Ltd, which Foodstuffs South Island Ltd counsel Lauren Semple said was in "direct competition".
"Mr [Tony] Gapes is a director of Queenstown Gateway [former Five Mile site] and has a close association with Queenstown Central."
The competition comes in the form of Mr Gapes' proposed $125 million retail and entertainment complex proposal, a revamp of developer David Henderson's abandoned project.
Confirmed tenants there include a 4200sq m Countdown supermarket, and construction may begin as early as next month.
Ms Parish said the appellant would put forward any legal and planning argument they possibly could, "to ensure that they delay the Pak'n Save opening, or ultimately, ensure it never opens".
"If they are successful, then the community will not be served with the affordable grocery option they are eagerly awaiting and that they deserve."
The proposal is dependent on the outcome of several other plan changes and consent applications, and if approved, Foodstuffs expected it would draw customers from as far afield as Alexandra and Cromwell.
