The former Foodtown Supermarket building in Cameron Road is being gutted ready to be turned into retail outlet for Harvey Norman.

All walls and partitions are gone from the old supermarket. Photo: Bruce Barnard.

Harvey Norman spokespeople are not commenting on the conversion at this stage and will not give a possible opening date for the chain's second Tauranga outlet.

Neighbours say the Cameron Road Harvey Norman is going to concentrate on the television and electronics side of the business. At Harvey Norman Mount Maunganui the bulk of the store is taken up with the furniture display.

The company website states that Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd is a public company granting franchises to independent business operators, as business owners who retail products for the home and office in the following categories: Electrical, Computers & Communications, Small Appliances, Furniture, Bedding & Manchester, Home Improvements, Lighting and Carpet & Flooring.

There are Harvey Norman stores in Australia, New Zealand, Slovenia, Ireland, Singapore and Malaysia.

What was once one of Tauranga's largest supermarkets opened on June 28, 1983, and closed on May 1, 2011. During the interim it was bought by Countdown owners Progressive Enterprises, so some of the 49 former Foodtown staff found work across the road at Countdown Cameron Road.

The Foodtown building was vacant until the Rena Struck Astrolabe Reef on October 5, 2011. Two days later Maritime NZ moved its rapidly growing Rena incident command centre into the vacant supermarket building.

Tauranga communications company Enternet Online worked overnight installing capacity for 100 phone lines using Voice Over Internet Protocol, and doubled that a few days later.

At its peak the Cameron Road ICC housed 300-400 people and had high-speed wireless broadband for up to 350 computers and more than 200 separate phone lines using its EOL's VoIP.

But the Rena crisis passed and Maritime NZ downsized in early 2012, moving to Glenlyon Place in late January.

Since then the only use of the building has been for the Tauranga Rotary Club's 26^th Easter book sale this year.