By Mikayla van Loon
Mooroolbark’s main street businesses welcomed the opportunity to raise their concerns about local trading and shopping with a visit from political leaders on Tuesday 12 April.
State opposition leader Matthew Guy attended the outer eastern suburb with Croydon MP David Hodgett to listen to small business owners about what is necessary post-Covid in strip shop locations like the one in Mooroolbark’s Brice Avenue and to announce a funding commitment.
The Victorian Liberal and National Party proposed $50,000 for local shopping experiences for both the Mooroolbark Traders and Community Group and Croydon Main Street Traders Association under the $30 million Local Shopping Strip Recovery Plan.
Mooroolbark Traders and Community Group president Geoff Earney said it was nice to see Mooroolbark being recognised on a state level because it can often be overlooked.
“We’re not huge and we’re not a major shopping centre but we’re a community shopping centre so it’s great for people to come out and actually realise that we exist,” he said.
“We’re not a big player on the map but we’re here and there’s a lot of people here and it’s a pretty close knit community.”
With representatives from Embark Tax Services, the Mooroolbark History Group, LJ Hooker Real Estate, The Tempting Tangerine and more, Mr Guy and Mr Hodgett were given a rounded view of the shopping strip’s attractions but more so the issues facing these businesses.
Mr Guy said he views the funding commitment as the best way to recover and rebuild local communities.
“With the right support, local shopping strips, workers, businesses, residents and visitors can look forward to a brighter future in confidence,” he said.
The two major issues raised by the traders were the parking availability and the lack of movement on the upgrade of The Terrace Shopping Centre.
“Parking has always been a problem and parking is going to be a problem in town forever because what they’ve done over the years is put boundaries in for the shopping centre. We’ve got nowhere to expand, nothing,” Mr Earney said.
“So Mooroolbark is what it is. It won’t be able to go any further. Perhaps if someone had the foresight to be able to buy The Terrace Shopping Centre and pull it all down and rebuild it.
“However, you can imagine the exercise and the money involved just to buy it from all these people and then to be able to pull it down and rebuild it. There’s a lot of investment, a lot of probably, faith in the future would be the best way to put it.”
Mr Earney said the conversations between Yarra Ranges Council and the owners of the shops within the shopping centre have come to a standstill.
With multiple perspectives present at the traders meeting, the issue of lessened foot traffic was also highlighted.
The Tempting Tangerine owner Jess said she has witnessed the fall in people coming out to shop along the strip, something that has been particularly noticeable in recent weeks which would normally be a very busy time.
Mr Hodgett said he hopes the commitment to his local shopping strips in Croydon and Mooroolbark will reinvigorate “set these much-loved shopping strips up for a better future.”
“The Liberal and Nationals appreciate the strain that small businesses have been under over the last two years. This funding represents an important boost to help local communities, traders and families.”
On a broader scale, Embark Tax Services owner Fred Eakins said dealing with small business owners in various industries, as well as investors, the thresholds placed on both land tax and payroll tax are crippling people.
“We employ about 10 staff and we’re right at that threshold of payroll tax. We want to expand but payroll tax is such pain,” he said.
“A lot of our clients are struggling because they’re at that threshold. They want to employ people but then that new employee has got to put out so much extra to cover that extra tax. We’ve got clients that are really struggling because of that limit on their expansion.”
