At its February meeting the council approved developers Raif and Roostam Sadri's proposal for a large supermarket with baker, butcher and delicatessen; seven retail tenancies; petrol station; takeaway shop; future tenancy; and five warehouse/showrooms. Councillors rejected the municipal engineer's recommendation of a roundabout for the junction of Hobart Rd and Glebe Rd and substituted slip lanes as a means of dealing with the anticipated increase in traffic.
The Gazette quotes Roostam Sadri saying he was hoping to attract a supermarket brand never before seen in Tasmania, and goes on to say Mr Sadri was in negotiations with the Aldi chain. In an interview with ABC TV News on March 3, Mr Sadri said the new supermarket could be "...any of the big ones. Could be Coles, could be Woolworths, could be Aldi, could be Costco."
- The ABC TV News item here.
Aldis be great they are an awsome supermaket and in New Norfolk be great they way way cheaper than coles or wollies
ReplyDeleteDon't let it be Costco, please. Anyway, what a hide to appeal such a sane and beneficial move. It's in the community interest to provide competition and scope for a better quality of life for all of us. A few shop holders want to stuff it up for the rest of the community. I say to them, shape up or ship out.
ReplyDeleteBoycott the businesses that are appealing this development!(Mitre 10 and Woolworths) If they are confident in the service/products/price they are providing to the people of New Norfolk then they have nothing to worry about. If they are scared of competition then it means they need to make improvements instead of trying to drive away what the majority of the people in New Norfolk want and need!
ReplyDeleteBring on the competition I say and boooo to the naysayers!
ReplyDeleteYou can't have a thriving shopping district without proper shops. Business is down because it's stuck in the 50's. Embrace the 21st century, it's now! More shops mean more people roaming around meaning more spending. Don't be afraid of change, grasp the future by the short and curlies and bend it to your will.
ReplyDeleteIf Aldi came to new Norfolk, it would bring people for miles to shop here! What a boom for new Norfolk (an almost ghost town) I avoid new Norfolk as much as possible due to the inadequate services. I shop instead at Bridgewater where I have a choice. If this proposal is indeed stopped, I will take the loss on my property and get out of here. This place has potential but unfortunately always someone with an agenda of their own!
ReplyDeleteInteresting that one of the appellants is the purchaser of the Willow Court Oval – where a new (presumably) Woollies is to be built – clearly not in favour of a bit of healthy competition (and I wonder how the oval area integrates with and enhances existing infrastructure?).
ReplyDeleteAs for the basis (inter alia) of both objections that the development will undermine the viability of the CBD, I agree with comments made above. The CBD is at best basic and utilitarian (certainly not a tourist destination), at worst uninviting and depressing. Apart from a handful of speciality shops (eg, the antique stores, Fly Wheel and the lolly shop – note here a lot less than the 70-odd “speciality” businesses the NNBA touts in their ads), the CBD shops provide a minimum ‘essential’ retail and service base for a town of this size. Banks, hairdressers, butchers, pharmacies, hardware and some electrics, with a smattering of clothing stores and miscellaneous gifts and ‘stuff’. To say the CBD meets all your shopping needs (as per the ads) is laughable. So people go to Glenorchy etc. While they’re there, they’ll go to Bunnings or K&D, Target and so forth.
SO, if you want to keep the CBD alive and have locals shop for hardware, shoes, clothes, electrics etc in town, then you need more shops to keep them in town – the ones they are leaving town for. A bit of competition is what NN needs! If the CBD shops spent their money on repainting their shop fronts (where applicable, which is a few!), reassessing and improving their offering to meet the town’s needs and making the High Street more appealing (eg, petition the DVC for trees, shade in Laskeys carpark etc), instead of wasting it on misleading ads, then that would be a step in the right direction.
If you want more tourists in the CBD, then you need to have the Willow Court Nurses Quarters businesses in town – tourists are more likely to meander through town and such shops than a pharmacy, gun shop or electrical store.
Well said. Very along the lines of my comment which wasn't put up!!!
DeleteSo true, those ads make NN a laughing stock! The country Capital what a joke, just take a look at how Kingston has kicked on! New Norfolk is a disgrace an over crowded understocked little Woolies and some of the worst customer service I have come across!
DeleteThis is obviously a popular shopping centre plan. Why fight it and make the lawyers rich when the whole district could be better off? Better to spend on your shop business that a lawyer. No other article on this website gets as many emotional comments as this one. We want it, we demand to have it. My wife said the money we save on travelling to glenorchy will be spent here.
ReplyDeleteI agree! Instead of whinging about what others are doing, focus on your own businesses and the CBD to make it better. Change and development are inevitable and what New Norfolk needs. Move and grow with it or else you might find your business isn't viable at all.
ReplyDeletePS - what's happening with the old Banjo's site? Would be nice to see something being done there.
I must say that anyone has a right to object to any development which may impact on them/theirs and I note that no-one has stated their reasons for objection, so let's wait and see what the appeal process decides - all a good process to go through and not a call to deride anyone. Personally I believe competition in retailing can only be a positive, so bring it on - the market will determine whether it lives or dies.
ReplyDeleteAnd the DVC should indeed force the CBD property owners to at least maintain their verandahs/awnings to a reasonable and safe standard, some are truly dreadful.
Alice