Well, firstly, it was a Wednesday night. Secondly, im not from Sydney so I dont know what the usual crowd is like there on a Wednesday night.
However, there were a couple of things I noticed.
A. The membership card procedure/law is slow. There were about 6-9 people serving manual sign ins/ups for this and I arrived at the back of a line of 10-15 people. It took me half hour to get seen to and sorted. However, i believe this was just for interstate/international visitors, locals/nsw citizens appeared to be able to do this quicker using machines and digital licenses etc.
- Theyneed to work out a way to streamline this and get people on the floor spending quicker and keeping them happier while using less staff. I dont know if this is possible but im sure they are looking into it.
B. I noticed a lot of staff around. I'd say the ratio was about 1 staff member for every 5-10 patrons. This cannot be feasable, surely?? I expect staffing cuts coming hard and fast which will really put pressure on government and test their positions on the matter.
C. I noticed access was poor. No trains, my uber (a local) got lost and added half hour tomy trip, and arriving at the building I wasnt even sure I was in the right place. Id bet, if anything or place in particular is bleeding cash right now its most likely star sydney. Ive seen in the news a value of 800m AUD on this location. Could this be going? Is there a potential buyer if its at a firesale price? Will that sale extend their runway? We wait and see.
D. As for general busy-ness... id say, personally, being in sydney on a wet/rainy night, id have expected it to be busier. My first thoughts are access, economy, and this membership process are are real constraint.
It's a risky, risky investment to buy star group from what I saw and my personal judgements.
I bought a small parcel based solely on the below questions:
1. Will they arrange an asset sale quick enough?
2. Will QLD & NSW gov stick to their guns when staff start to get cut?
3. What are the large chinese buyers and Macquarie doing buying more shares rn?
Risk, risk, risk.
They get through this and the reward could be a quick double up for myself.
Very risky the way things are shaping.
However, i do know the media is sensational. And i back the new ceo to have a plan.
We will see.
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