page_title: Kaiapoi
section_title: Commerce
hierarchical_section_title: Kaiapoi / Commerce
caption_attribution_description: English: Blackwells in Kaiapoi; demolished after the earthquakes.
context_page_description: Kaiapoi is a town in the Waimakariri District of the Canterbury region, in the South Island of New Zealand. The town is located approximately 17 kilometres north of central Christchurch, close to the mouth of the Waimakariri River. It is considered to be a satellite town of Christchurch, although in the Waimakariri for statistical purposes it is part of the Christchurch urban area.
  In the 2006 census, the population of the town was 10,200, with a further 1,700 residents in the surrounding area. This represents a growth rate of 11% over the previous five years.
  Kaiapoi suffered extensive damage in the 2010 Canterbury and also the February 2011 Christchurch earthquakes, which rendered many homes uninhabitable and businesses inoperable. Large areas were condemned as part of a residential red zone covering uninhabitable
context_section_description: Kaiapoi is also known as the 'River Town' after the Kaiapoi River, a tributary of the Waimakariri River that flows through the centre of the town. This was originally the main arm of the Waimakariri River, but extensive flooding led to a diversion so the majority of the water travelled down the South arm of the Waimakariri.
  Kaiapoi was well known for the woollen mill run by the Kaiapoi Woollen Manufacturing Company, and many woollen items produced at the mill can still be found throughout the world.
  A freezing works (meat processing plant) was also a major employer in the town, and once this and the woollen mill had closed there was some economic turmoil in the town, and concern over its future. It, however, has survived and prospered, and although there is some local industry, a large percentage of the population works in the neighbouring city of Christchurch. One optimistic politician of the 1800s had even predicted that Kaiapoi would outsize its neighbour Christchurch. In some counts of the latter city's population, Kaiapoi is included as a suburb of Christchurch but most people from the area would maintain that it is a town in its own right.
caption: Blackwell's department store, shown in 2006, is an institution and landmark in Kaiapoi
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