City Traders reject sales failure claim
December 30, 2011By BEN PISCIONERI
MILDURA City Traders manager Tess Lane has rejected claims that the central business district failed to perform over the Christmas period.
Her comments follow criticism of the mall this week by Mildura Rural City Councillor Max Thorburn, who said the mall was “deserted” on Boxing Day, while 15th Street traders were inundated.
However Cr Thorburn’s comments have been slammed by several CBD traders.
A number of businesses in the mall say they broke sales records on Boxing Day, while Ms Lane said some stores had customers lining up during the day to cash in on Boxing Day sales.
While conceding that not all central business district traders enjoyed a successful Boxing Day – one store failed to cover wages for the day, and another questioned whether they would open on the same day next year – she said many recorded positive results.
Surf Crew owner Kate Stafford was among them.
“We have opened every Boxing Day for the past five or six years and this was our busiest one by far,” Mrs Stafford said.
“At Surf Crew we notice that a lot of the same friendly tourists and locals alike pop in at Christmas time year after year and it’s always nice to see them come back. This year was no exception.”
Sportsgirl store manager, Josie Bowes also said this year’s Boxing Day was more successful than previous years.
“We opened at 10am and about 11am things just took off and we didn’t stop,” Ms Bowes said.
“We were supposed to close at 3pm and we didn’t get out of here until 5pm, and we were up on the previous year in terms of sales for Boxing Day.”
She said her store made more sales this Boxing Day than it would for an entire week throughout the year.
Ms Lane said The Warehouse, based in Lime Avenue also recorded increased sales year-on-year for both December and Boxing Day.
She said ‘young fashion’ stores appeared to be among those who fared best.
Ms Lane highlighted that due to the diversity of stores in the central business district, including hairdressers and banks, Boxing Day sales weren’t suitable for all outlets.
However, she estimated about two thirds of stores were open on Boxing Day.
Ms Lane stressed the need for individual businesses to help themselves.
“We tried to push it from a Mildura City Traders perspective, and tried to get behind them with an advertising campaign, and we offered traders marquees so they could have market-style stalls and things like that,” Ms Lane said.
“But it’s also about what traders put into it, their own self promotion.
“Those that help themselves generally do well, and the traders that plan for it and promote themselves do really well on Boxing Day.”
Cr Thorburn made reference to a packed Centro Plaza in his comments this week, however Ms Lane cautioned that high foot traffic doesn’t always translate into sales.
“People say Centro was flat out, but a lot of our CBD traders have affiliations with businesses at Centro and although it may appear they’ve got foot traffic out there – which they probably do with the climate control that they’ve got under one roof – but were they spending?” she asked.
“Our sources there tell us they’re not trading any better than our CBD traders.
“Although it may be comfortable to sit out there in the air-conditioning, it doesn’t mean people are spending money.”
Looking to the year ahead, Ms Lane said there would be a push from the Mildura City Traders committee to bring more consistency to trading hours.
“We do want to look at our trading hours and try to get them more uniform, on Sundays for instance, and that’s on our agenda very early in the New Year” she said.
“Even our traders would like to get some uniformity in their hours, such as on public holidays, Sundays and even Saturdays for that matter.”
Ms Lane said at present stores in the CBD closed on Saturday afternoons from anywhere between noon and 4pm.
“If people knew that the majority of stores would be open until 3pm or 4pm then I’m sure our afternoon trade would be a lot stronger,” she said.
Ms Lane said Mildura City Traders would also be taking advantage of the open space available in the mall during the school holidays.
She said outdoor facilities planned in coming weeks included a rock (climbing) wall, mini tennis courts and a host of stage acts and entertainment.
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