Ashburton retailers are urging an end to street closures for market days, citing plummeting sales and theft spike.

But Carol Johns, the organiser of Ashburton’s Market Day, is crying foul.

Johns was gutted that retailers were again trying to block her annual East Street Market Day.

"I’ve fought and fought to bring this event that brings thousands of people to our town,’’ Johns said of her all-day market on the fourth Monday in September.

It attracted many visitors from the wider Timaru area because it took place on South Canterbury Anniversary Day.

"They (retailers) are trying to stop anyone from doing anything in the CBD,’’ Johns said.

"Do the retailers have that right?”

Inner-town Ashburton retailers, led by Jolene Laxton, of Sparrows, told the Ashburton District Council that CBD streets were not the place to hold markets, and they want them to end.

When the CBD was closed off, the majority of businesses suffered financially, she said.

"Trading is down between 30% to 50% on these market days.”

Laxton also alleged a spike in shoplifting on the market days.

"A number of businesses are reporting a dramatic increase in theft on these days.”

But businesses didn’t bother reporting the shoplifting because it wasn’t worth the recovery cost, she said.

Johns was swift to denounce the shoplifting claims, which she had never heard of or seen any police reports corroborating it.

A police spokesperson also said theft increases "isn’t something our local staff were immediately aware of” after this year’s event.

Laxton admitted that Market Day events brought people into town but "do not bring customers into our local business that work hard to support our local community''.

"We are closing our roads and limiting our access to run an event that has more out-of-town stall holders than it does local stall holders and is held on a public holiday for another district.

"The main street of our town is not the prime position for these activities anymore.”

The retailers are suggesting Baring Square or the Ashburton Domain as being better Market Day locations.

Originally asking for all road closures making the CBD a no-event zone, the retailers agreed some "community events” were still welcome.

That’s because short-term events in the evenings or weekends had less of an impact, Laxton said.

"Any community event that is for our community, that brings our community together is a positive.”

But the Market Day was a private event and "most of the money on that day goes out of our community”.

Boulevard Day had run on Ashburton’s main street for 45 years before the CBD was a construction zone in 2021, forced it to be held in the Ashburton Domain that year. That event then folded, with Carol Johns starting her Market Day in 2022.

The CBD retailers opposed the road closure for the 2022 event, but the council granted it, with a raft of conditions.

Johns said she had followed all the processes to secure the Market Day road closures, which was publicly notified without objection.

She also said the Market Day was utilised by a number of Ashburton Community Groups to fundraise and this year about 50 of the 115 sites were run by locals.

But if the traditional section of East Street was to become a no-go zone, then Baring Square just down the road could work, she said.

The domain wasn’t an option because part of the event was "creating the atmosphere and vibe of being in the centre of town”.

Council chief executive Hamish Riach said a report would be compiled, looking at all the issues and options around road closures under the legislation and bylaws. That report was expected to take around a month, he said.

By Jonathan Leask