Roadwork-fuelled fury appears to have simmered into quiet optimism two years since Dunedin’s new-look George St debuted.

While challenges remain, international retailers are getting in on the action as local businesses seize opportunities to expand. Business reporter Tim Scott checks the pulse along Dunedin’s main drag.

It was the day the roadworks were finished along his slice of George St that Simon Oswald opened his new business.

Nearly three years later and the owner of second-hand clothing and collectables store Static Age Vintage says the business is doing well — so well, ‘‘it’s like a dream come true’’.

‘‘My business just keeps growing and growing,’’ Mr Oswald said.

‘‘You read a lot about other people having downturns and stuff like that, but mine’s just flourishing.’’

At the far end of George St’s ‘‘Knox Block’’, in the same neighbourhood as the Rob Roy Dairy, Mr Oswald considers it ‘‘the perfect spot’’.

With the right balance of rent and location, the business would not have been as…