WYNDHAM Village Shopping Centre in Tarneit will prosper, despite two shops closing last week and continued vacancies, according to the centre’s owners.
The closures of a hairdresser and discount gift shop last week followed the closure of a handbag retailer in December.
Bruce Tilley – director of First State Group, the company that owns the centre – reaffirmed his confidence in centre managers Jones Lang LaSalle in response to continued concerns.
Jansen Family Meats owner Gary Jansen criticised the centre management in a story in Star in April last year.
Mr Jansen told Star last week that little had improved since then.
“It’s looking bleaker and bleaker and bleaker,” he said.
Mr Jansen, who has worked in the meat trade for 25 years, said he would seriously consider his future at the centre if trade does not improve in the next six months.
Mr Tilley said the addition of a national retailer, with a shop fit-out beginning on 3 February, would consolidate the centre’s future.
The more anchor shops (big-name retailers) in the centre, the better off the specialty stores are, Mr Tilley said.
He said you could find two or three disgruntled traders in any shopping centre.
Most of the traders at Wyndham Village had recorded above-budget trading figures and were happy with the centre’s running and management, he said.
“We’ve been very supportive of the shops that are in there.”
He said foot traffic through the centre had increased by up to 28 per cent in the past six months.
The mix of shops might not have been perfect when the centre opened in 2005, Mr Tilley said, but management was reconfiguring the section of the centre that needed work.
Mr Tilley said shopping centres constantly evolved and were regularly reviewed.
The centre was built with an eye to the area’s projected growth in the next 20 years and management had been “extremely lenient” with rent payments by some of the smaller shops, he said.
Mr Jansen claimed a reason for the centre’s sluggish start since opening was the lack of a post office.
He said there had been a sign announcing a post office was “coming soon” to the centre.
Mr Tilley said a post office was never part of the proposal to prospective tenants.
He said Australia Post had conducted a survey into opening an outlet but decided against it and that any signage came “perhaps from the leasing agents, before the centre even opened”.
Pharmacy Select manager Maurita Rahn said centre presentation, consultation and communication had all improved since late 2006 with the new management.
She said she understood the problems smaller traders might face.
“We’re big enough to do our own promotions but some of the little guys can’t afford that,” she said.
Surf Coast Downunder owner Marguerite Cowling said small businesses had to be patient and think long-term, especially in a new centre.
“I think centre management has definitely improved things. In the end, it (the shopping centre) will do well.”
Mr Jansen didn’t think he could share the optimism of some of his fellow traders.
