Placemakers is closing its Marsh Street store Tauranga as the business focuses operations on its MacDonald Street hub in Mount Maunganui.

The store closure is for December 23, but comes with no job losses as its seven staff are being relocated to the Mount Maunganui operation.

This Placemakers branch is closing.

Placemakers chief executive John Beverage says the store near the Chapel Street lights has struggled for business since the completion of the Harbour Link Project.

This is due to reduced traffic and lack of accessibility caused by the construction of the second harbour bridge and various on and off ramps.

'It has been winding down for some time,” says John.

'The Tauranga branch is not as accessible as it used to be.

'Its capacity to handle the business has already dwindled.”

Since the bridge's opening in December 2009 John says the Tauranga outlet has become more of a 'call in service depot” with many local businesses choosing to undertake most of their business through the Mount Maunganui branch.

John recalls when it used to take 30-40 minutes to get from the Tauranga branch to the Mount Maunganui branch, and says with it now only taking 5-10 minutes, there is no point in operating a second branch so close.

'The whole configuration between the Mount and Tauranga stores has changed with the bridge.”

Despite this closure, John is not ruling out a Placemakers expansion in the Western Bay of Plenty in the future.

He says Tauranga is one of the biggest growing areas in the country and has always been a successful part of the Placemakers business in New Zealand.

'We are looking at where the best place to open a new branch in the Tauranga area would be.”

The lease on the Marsh Street building owned by Tauranga City Council ends next month.

John expects all operations and clearing out of stock to be completed by January 31.