Went for a little wander around Garden City tonight to see how Perth would respond to extended trading hours, something that politicians in WA have been arguing over the last 10 years.
When we got to the car park, the trepidation set in as we looked for any sign of life. "Are you sure the shops are open tonight?" was probably what everyone driving past were wondering. For the brave souls who finally ventured into the shopping centre, they were warmly welcomed by the centre, lit up as if it were Thursday night except for one thing... everything except Coles, Woolworths and Baker's Delight were closed. Here are some photos.
Rebecca Holland took some photos from Karrinyup Shopping Centre which shows ample parking and what looks like mood lighting by centre management in the shopping centre. If you have photos from your local shopping centre, send them in.
Hopefully the weekday shopping trend will only warm up in the coming weeks and months. Although it may not show, I actually like the idea that shops will be open till 9pm. I just wish other people believed in it as much as I did. I know these are the sad cases but in places where eateries are open and people want to pick up some groceries after dinner, extended hours trading will be great. Maybe we just need to accept that Monday nights are just not for window shopping, but for eggs and milk.
Cheers for post we need to get behind this otherwise it's going to flop.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest grip is there is no advertising. Go into any Big W and you can here repeats of latest book release or what's the hottest game or go into Woolworth's listen to how they are fresh food peoeple over and over. But where the heck is the announcement's about new late night trading, it is like some big secret no wonder the shops are dead and likely to stay dead.
It is without doubt the big Grocery stores are going to the biggest winners when it comes to late night trading and I for one would prefer to do my food shopping later in the evening than in the day when it is full of kids and grannies.
I am not sure what happens in the east coast but a logical step would be to have something like ASDA or Tesco in the UK where it is one big store which has food and department goods in the one store eg combining Big W and Woolworths. This way it would be more cost effective for the stores to stay open late.
Once again thanks for taking the time to create this post (photos and all) good work.
cheers for the post
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