Simon Smuts-Kennedy: Hill's Hats owner on the rising popularity of Jackson St

An opinion piece in the Herald reckons Wellington's Cuba St has a rival for the title of the region's coolest strip.

Lifestyle writer Joanna Wane says Petone's Jackson St has Cuba St beaten out for restaurants, cafes, pubs and boutiques.

Hill's Hats owner Simon Smuts-Kennedy says there's plenty available for visitors - and there's something for everyone.

"There's virtually everything available, and it's pumping. It's great...there's plenty for you."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
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Speaker 2 (00:16):
There's a controversial call in the Herald today in an
opinion piece, which is that Patoni's Jackson Street is now
cooler than Cuba Street in Wellington, CBD, which of course
is famously very very cool.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Now.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hell's Hats is a retailer on Jackson Street and the owner,
Simon Smarts Kennedy, is with us on this.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
I Simon, hello, how are you well?

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Thank you sell it to me because I don't believe this,
so sellid to me.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Well, we opened up Atlantis, which was it's around the corner,
and the difference with the foot traffic and so on
is huge, and we looked at going into town. We're
really thankful that we landed just around the corner in

(01:00):
Botany with the foot traffic is fantastic. And it's also
the caliber of those that have that are walking and
coming out to Potani. You know that they come out
to be entertained, whether it be in one of the
sixty eateries and all the other little sort of boutique
stores that are there. I mean, there's virtually everything available

(01:22):
and and it's pumping. That's great. Now.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
I don't want to be unkind, but it feels like
is Jackson Street not just a whole bunch of oop
shops and vegan bakeries.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
We've got all of that, so certainly come out for that.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
That's the prime.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
I don't want to.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Well, there's plenty for you. There's plenty for the caliber
of the restaurants out there, all the different cuisines and
so on. I mean, there's something for everyone, whether it
even just be your pubs, your breweries, you know, right
through from high end Italian restaurants to Indian restaurants to
you know, your kebab stores, and then there's all the

(02:00):
little cafes as well. So I mean there's there's certainly
if you're if you're a foodie, there's certainly something there
for you.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Simon. This is just what I reckon has happened here,
is that there are a whole bunch of like you know,
older millennials my age who are having kids priced out
of Wellington CBD. So they've all gone and lived in
Potoni and now because they have the power to tell
people what they think is cool this and this is
their local place Jackson Street is cool. That's basically what's
happened is just where all the mums and dads live nowadays.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
I mean, certainly there's a lot of people moving out
to the valley and we've certainly noticed that, but I
mean there's people that also drive out. I mean, we've
got some pretty big superstares out here now. They're down
one end, which is nice. And so the actual Jackson
Street still has that old style, that old flavor. I mean,

(02:49):
I mean it's sort of like a little beach community
to a certain degree. And you know, like we've we've
decided to go there. You know, our store would fit
anywhere worldwide on any sort of high end street. And
like you know, we've got everything from you know, the
House of Knives, We've got pitched framers, we've got boutique

(03:10):
chocolate makers. You know, there's there's a lot of people
there that have you know, their artisan businesses that are
set up store and I mean in this day and
age and not it's not all online. We're noticing people
actually want that contact people and this is Simon.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah, I appreciate you running us through it. Thanks man,
and best of luck with the hats at Simon Sparts,
Kennedy Hills hats and I'm gonna tell you why Why
I call BS on this and just a technical We'll
get to it.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
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