By Mikayla van Loon
The countdown was on for retail to open and regional and metropolitan Victoria to be reunited once more as restrictions eased across the state on Friday 29 October.
Shopping centres like Chirnside Park welcomed customers back with open arms over the weekend, who were ready to battle crowds to return to shopping in store.
“Overall we had a very successful reopening weekend at Chirnside Park Shopping Centre as we saw more than 60,000 shoppers visit the centre from Friday and enjoy a safe experience,” centre manager Denis Ryan said.
“It was brilliant to see such a positive response from the Chirnside community and we thank them for following the health measures in place whilst shopping at Chirnside Park.
The excitement was matched by retailers, who had waited months to welcome back shoppers.
“Amongst the excitement from our shoppers, our retailers were also pleased to welcome back shoppers to their stores, especially our cinemas and dining retailers who were unable to trade for the past 12 weeks.
“Feedback from our retailers so far is that the weekend trading levels exceeded their expectations and there was a great feeling throughout the centre.”
Mr Ryan said the response from the community gives the centre hope for an excellent Christmas trading period.
“The weekend trade gives us further confidence that shoppers will continue to visit Chirnside Park Shopping Centre as we bounce back from a challenging lockdown and we look forward to providing the Chirnside community with a positive and safe experience as we head into the Christmas period.”
Retail wasn’t the only thing people were excited to return to, with regional travel opening up to Yarra Ranges Shire residents and vice versa.
For tourism destinations like the Yarra Ranges that are on the fringe of regional and metropolitan Melbourne, the joining of these two entities was a welcome relief for the region.
Yarra Ranges Tourism CEO Simon O’Callaghan said it was a big positive for businesses to get back on track after the pandemic and heading into the summer season.
“I think it’s a much awaited reopening of the whole state as one that’s really important for people’s confidence around where they can go and what they can do,” he said.
“The most important thing is that I think a lot of people weren’t fully aware that they could travel to the Yarra Valley and the Dandenong Ranges with it being part of the metropolitan Melbourne classification, yet in their minds, they feel that it’s a regional destination.”
Mr O’Callaghan said the previous weekend was essentially a ‘soft launch’ for businesses with the removal of many restrictions placed on movement.
“We saw a lot of people in particular in the Dandenong Ranges, which was fantastic after the storm event back there in June. That part of our region is going to need some really strong trade to support its recovery from that event.
“This weekend, we’ll see more businesses who are opening who simply weren’t viable to open at the 70 per cent mark due to the restrictions, so with those coming off on Friday at 6pm that’s really exciting for our businesses.”
The summer period, right through autumn, is typically the busiest time of year with people coming to the area for day trips or overnight stays.
The launch back to statewide travel has already seen positive signs of a busy summer season, Mr O’Callaghan said, a trend which occurred last year as well.
“We’re already seeing strong bookings for the weekend ahead right into Christmas,” he said.
“We saw that last year, where many of the businesses in the region we’re having some of their best December’s ever, particularly in accommodation, which traditionally can be a bit softer, in the lead up to Christmas.”
Travellers from Melbourne make up 44 per cent of overall visitors to the Yarra Ranges, while 38 per cent come from regional Victoria.
“So that really strengthens the argument about why the opening up of those boundaries is so important for us.”
Mr O’Callaghan said it was evident that people came to the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges to experience the open air and natural environment, alongside the two other important pillars of wine and food.
But he hopes the wedding industry can return to the region, as well as mid-week business conferences, as they are also extremely important events for the region.
Yarra Ranges Tourism will also be leveraging some of the major events happening in Melbourne to draw people to the region.
“We’ll be looking to sort of leverage key Melbourne events as well. We know that Melbourne has a strong reputation for the theatre and the arts and we’ve got some really key events happening in that area in Melbourne.
“Moulin Rouge, for example, we’ve got the Australian Open so we’ll look to capitalise on those events and leverage state travel on the back of those events as well and for people looking to do a bit more than just have a city experience.”
