Fremantle markets - the year that was
Looking back on the last year I can’t help but note how predictable it was back then and how nothing much has been done to prevent any of it.
The market now operates as two separate entities; a food market and a merchandise market - both have different operating hours. Around 30 businesses have left the markets, stall vacancy is at an all time record, new merchants are being given discounted (subsidized) rents just to pull them in, further rent increases have occurred, ex stallholders are operating outside the market, Thursday trade was reintroduced and left many paying rent out of pocket, priority air conditioning has not been installed and temps reach in excess of 40 degress, customers have greatly diminished, Christmas profits were down by half, stalls have been relocated and downsized, anger and hatred have halted all communication between stallholders and management, the markets look tacky and the food area is extraordinarily ordinary, Key members of the stallholder association have been evicted or forced to leave, some have sold out well below value and many more have walked away losing their investment and livelihood, month-to-month tenancies have been offered instead of secure long term leases, council and the Murdoch’s have been questioned and exposed by the media and both have lost reputation within the community, the new Wednesday market flopped and finished within weeks of opening, almost everything in the Murdoch proposal or business plan has either not happened at all or has been the very opposite of what they promised.
It's new years eve today and we can now start the count down… In the end, it might well be the Murdoch’s walking in the same shoes; no stallholders, no customers, no profits. Just a nice long secure lease and a big fat rent to pay.
But of course they will blame those “trouble making stallholders”
What was it again? Oh, that’s right – a personality conflict!
http://sonyagreen.blogspot.com/
Labels: fremantle council, fremantle markets, john and jamie murdoch, sonya green blog
posted by Editor at 10:11 AM
2 Comments:
The really sad part is that the evicted stallholders were fighting to save the markets. It was never a matter of battle but a desperate call from the front line. The customers are the only real owners - They pay the rent. Fair market rent will always be what the tenant will pay or not pay regardless of expert opinion or doctored figures.
Well the evicted stallholders were also the more outspoken characters and with long term businesses. When you consider the repeat and regular cusom they have established it's easy to see how a domino effect will play out. Losing those customers greatly impacts the other stalls and the fall out will effect the entire CBD. If and/or when the market fails it will impact on all business in Fremantle. Just the loss of pennies in the parking metres might be greater than the rental profit from the market. Council really needs to take over this issue.
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