Tuesday, January 9, 2018
GRAPHIC designer Steve Hodge has moved from Auckland to Opotiki’s CBD epicentre, where he has set up shop. Photo Sven Carlsson OB4110-01
Sven Carlsson
LEAVING Auckland’s Karagahape Road for the Church and King Street intersection in Opotiki was an easy call Steve Hodge says.
“It just felt right.”
While Mr Hodge still has staff working at Illicit, his clothing and graphic design company in Auckland, he didn’t want to use the brand name as his store name in Opotiki.
“I wanted to go a bit more mainstream, so I’m calling it the Opotiki General Store,” he said.
Selling T-shirts, hats, jandals and vape gear and mixing it with bicycle hire in Opotiki from this week, Mr Hodge said he had no regrets about leaving Auckland behind.
“I had been thinking about leaving for a while,” he said.
“Auckland shops are getting too expensive.”
Mr Hodge said he had travelled to Hawke’s Bay, but there were no shops available there.
“I stopped in here a month ago, on the way back from Hawke’s Bay,” he said.
“My best friend told me her mother had just bought this place in Opotiki and there’s a store in the building.”
Mr Hodge made up some Opotiki-specific streetwear, packed up and shifted to the Eastern Bay.
“I opened the store on Saturday, so this is my first weekday,” he said yesterday.
Mr Hodge said his brand is popular in South Auckland.
“I have a big following there with what I do,” he said. “I’m known in the MMA fight scene and the tattooing scene.”
However, Mr Hodge is not all about graphic design and streetwear.
He has also been working for the Auckland Council with community centres and activities.
“I want to bring that here also,” Mr Hodge said. “The kids need something to do.”
The move to Opotiki had come easy and Mr Hodge said he hadn’t been worried about it.
“It kind of found me,” he said.