PLEA FROM THE HEART
Retailers back on brink despite $18m CBD revamp
SHOP owners who flirted with business failure while the city’s new “heart” was under the scalpel are back on the brink.
More than a dozen Shields St traders have pleaded with Cairns Regional Council to do something, anything, to lure potential customers away from the Esplanade and into the city.
Frydays Fish and Chippery owner Gayle Allen said the retail precinct’s $18 million revitalisation looked beautiful but the growing number of vacant buildings betrayed the truth — businesses were failing.
“We went through all the construction, nearly going under, with guarantees it would be so much better for us,” she said.
“We were told there could be markets, bands and we have had nothing but more trouble with drunks than ever before.
“Come walk through there at night, councillors, and see how you feel.”
Traders say they are bleeding money and will have to add to the vacant shopfronts unless immediate action is taken.
GALAXY Gelato owner Sam Al-Shaban opened his Shields St shop two years ago with visions of tourists and locals streaming through the reinvigorated retail precinct.
The cruel reality was far removed from the artist’s impressions Cairns Regional Council spruiked before embarking on the $18 million Shields St Heart project.
“I work seven days a week for nothing – we cannot even cover the rent,” he said.
“I’ve lost $10,000 so far, just to keep the shop open.”
Mr Al-Shaban urged the council to allow tour buses to enter the area and drop off visitors within the old City Place.
Frydays Fish and Chippery owner Gayle Allen banded together with more than a dozen fellow Shields St traders yesterday to plead with the council to inject life into the area.
They called for entertainment, musicians or markets to be held on the strip to bring in much-needed foot traffic.
Ms Allen said the recent Festival 2018 celebrations drew people to the Esplanade while businesses a few streets back went bust.
“Sure the lights are pretty, but there’s nothing to bring people into the town,” she said.
“You need people to stand down at McDonald’s, look up the street and go ‘wow, I’ve got to go up there for a look’.
“My hairdressing salon was where the Woolshed is, back in the ’80s, so I’ve been through three malls. “It was bubbling back then. “Now everything’s down on the waterfront and nobody comes up here anymore.”
Birkenstock Boutique worker Sue Ingold called for outdoor markets to be co-ordinated with cruise ship arrivals.
“They do everything on the Esplanade – why not do some on Shields St to attract some customers?” she asked.
Woolshed owner Dominic Davies offered use of his “mobile stage” Kombi van for open-air performances free of charge, as long as other traders and the council wanted it.
“Do it on a trial basis – you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain,” he said.
The traders’ pain was not lost on Mayor Bob Manning, who said he understood their struggles. But he said businesses overwhelmingly rejected the idea of markets and music when the heart project was designed in 2012.
Cr Manning maintained pedestrian numbers through the mall were generally high, although businesses were in lean times at the back-end of the tourism off-season.
“No one sets out to aid businesses in failing, nobody would ever do that,” he said.
“It is the most traumatic experience you can go through.
“But nobody has a magic wand.
“Let’s sit around the table and try to work out what the issue is and what influence we’ve got.”