Instead of posting articles I went and did some retail study.
I spent about 6 hours over three days but not in the same week.
I did it over about a month. I varied the times and went on a thursday between about 1100 to about 1330.
Saturday from about 1000 to 1200 and on a wedenesday.
The place
Grand Central Toowoomba.
It is the biggest mall complex on the Darling downs in Toowoomba Qld a big regional center.
The new mall spans about 2 city blocks and more in length and about 1 city block in width, it is massive.
It even has free parking for the first 3 hours. A 6 cinema complex, Coles, Woolworths, Target, Myer.
It has roughly at least about 15 cafe's and restuarants, burger bars, Food places serving alcohol. It has KFC, Maca's, Subway, it has every thing including about 40 stores selling clothes for people who way about 60 kg's and built like a bean pole. It has much more.
I spent my time walking the three stories and looking in the shops as I went. I had dinner there and watched the shops.
It even took me by surprise. The people were mostly in the food places and about half of those were nearly empty.
Most of the stores except Target, Woolies and Coles were every much empty. I mean I walked those floors for hours and I tell ya most of the stores never had anyone in them, some had one person, some had two but for the most part they had no one, not one. That was the same in all three days I went and looked. That is the honest truth of it.
Most of those business must be loosing money hand over fist at the prices they are being charged for the floor space.
I saw a lot of people coming and going from Myer to my surprise as I followed the Myer story over the years and it isnt a good one. Then I realised that the Myers store was thoroughfare to one of the main exits. I followed the people.
So that is the story on the ground and it took me by surprise that it was so vacant.
How are these business still operating.
A lot of people I talked to while they were building this megalith couldnt understand where they thought all the business was going to come from and why they were building it. It also cost the taxpayers several million dollars in road works etc.
So that is the retail story that I investigated. I have done this sort of thing before when I was doing a couple of units of business management and compiling a SWOT analysis.
