BUTCHER MOVES IN
ONE of Townsville’s bestknown butchers has relocated and rebranded to continue providing the finest of cuts of meat to the retail and wholesale markets in the city.
Precinct Fine Meats, previously of Idalia, is now Let’s Meat Townsville, trading in the Hermit Park Shopping Centre.
It seems The Precinct shopping centre’s loss is the Hermit Park Shopping Centre’s gain with the relocation of the business.
Operators Russell and Maureen Zohn have operated the butcher shop for the past decade, building up a good clientele of loyal customers.
Ms Zohn said they felt they had little choice but to relocate after many of The Precinct’s grocery and food operators had left the centre.
“We were the last to leave. Anything that is not a takeaway (shop) has left,” Ms Zohn said. “Some have moved on or gone to a different centre. For us, we needed to take ourselves away.”
Ms Zohn said water did not enter their premises at Idalia in the recent floods but the centre was surrounded by floodwaters and the loss of electricity from the event had been very costly for them. They lost stock worth $25,000 and it wasn’t until they read the fine print of their commercial insurance policy that they realised it did not cover them for losses associated with a cut in the electricity.
Even so, the Zohns are looking forward to good trade in Hermit Park and could add to their staff of seven if all goes well.
“If it goes well, we’ll be able to employ more staff,” Ms Zohn said.
Knight Frank agent Louise Slater said the Hermit Park complex was a well-established neighbourhood centre that was home to a majority of locally owned retailers.
“This centre now offers all the basic shopping and living essentials including a baker, hairdresser, chemist, newsagent, butcher, cafe and Asian takeaway,” Ms Slater said.
She said Knight Frank had negotiated three new leases in this centre in the past 18 months, proving that if the rent and location were sustainable, both tenant and landlord would be happy.
“We are continuing to experience solid levels of inquiry for retail space across our managed portfolio despite the recent weather chaos,” Ms Slater said.
She said they still had two vacancies at Hermit Park shopping centre.