As soon as the leases are up, Skyline will tear down the arcade to ready the site for a new commercial building, Skyline managing director Ken Matthews said.
"The remaining leases are up this month.
"We are looking at commencing the removal of Wakatipu Arcade towards the end of this month," he said.
The contract for building the Arcade's two-storey replacement has been put out to tender.
Skyline is also planning to construct a two-storey building on the corner of Rees and Beach Sts, which has been empty since the Opal Centre was gutted by fire in the early hours of November 14 last year.
Several tenants told the Queenstown Times they were looking forward to the new challenges ahead once their leases ended on November 23.
Several stores are relocating but at least one business is planning to close permanently.
Lakeside Cafe owner Joan Walker will sell all her plant in a "demolition sale" next weekend.
"I'm going to take a break and look at things again next year.
"I could be doing something completely different," she said.
Having run the cafe for six years, she will miss the regular customers but she was ready for something new.
"It is a shame, but we have known for a year - ever since the fire, really," she said.
Elliott's - the Art of Travel owner Elaine Elliott was unpacking new stock which had been ordered "months ago" and she was selling it now "at a good price". However, she is looking at several options and hoped to keep the business going.
"We will still be selling bags in Queenstown," she said.
She, too, was sad to be leaving but the building had "had it" and needed to be replaced.
"In some ways [it is sad] - but I've been in numerous buildings in town which have since been taken down."
The owner of Habebe, Anne Halson, said she would have to close temporarily but would reopen as soon as she found new premises.
She was looking forward to a fresh start.
"I have been here 10 years," she said.
"It is good in a sense because otherwise it gets a bit stale."
