Arty Pants staff member Jenny Marsh, left, and co-owner Jodie Armitage are upset so many businesses are having to move out of the Hampton Park Shopping Centre.
By Sarah Schwager
HAMPTON Park shop owners say they are being driven out of the suburb by costly rent and security problems.
This week another three shops at Hampton Park Shopping Centre are closing their doors because they say the cost of leasing a shop and safety concerns outweigh the benefits of staying.
Specialty shop Arty Pants will move to High Street in Cranbourne, Joelle’s Curtains and Drapes is moving to the Lynbrook business precinct, while established Top Ace Photo will close after 17 years.
Judy Davis, co-owner of Arty Pants, said she could not wait to get to Cranbourne, where the business will lease a shop twice the size and for half the rent, but felt sorry for the people of Hampton Park who were once again losing a good shop.
“It is a real shame for Hampton Park,” she said.
“I want to let the residents know that we don’t want to go, but otherwise we’re going to end up bankrupt.”
However, Tony Quinert from Norwood Property Services, which manages the centre on behalf of the owners, said it was the nature of the game that specialty shops did not do as well in neighbourhood shopping centres.
“It is easy to say the rent is too high. In our defence, the other 50 or 60 shops at the centre aren’t saying that,” he said.
Mr Quinert said there were some problems with security, but as the central hub in Hampton Park it had to be expected.
He said all they could do was provide security guards to help get rid of the minority group that was causing the problems.
Hampton Park Networking Group president Vanassa Gerdes said there were many positive things happening in Hampton Park and it was a shame the shopping centre was not falling in line.
In April, the State Government launched the Hampton Park Community Renewal program to reduce disadvantage in urban neighbourhoods by bringing residents, businesses, government and local organisations together to help transform their community into a place of opportunity and activity.
Hampton Park Progress Association president Warren Calder said while there was a lot of potential for the shopping centre, this would not be the case if there weren’t any shops left.
Ms Gerdes’ store The Giggle Pot gifts and decor closed earlier this year because of safety and security concerns and what she described as over-priced rent.
“We are going to be left with food, real estate agents and hairdressers,” she said.
“There are times when retailers need one-on-one advice to boost a business or to manage the fast-changing environment around them.”
Ms Davis said the problem was not so much attracting customers as making the weekly profits to cover the high rent.
“There are more shops in this shopping centre that are behind in their rent than those that are up to date with rent,” Ms Davis said.
“Security is another big issue. We’re down to security from 4pm to 10pm.
“If something happens during the day when most shops are open, what do we do?”
Mr Quinert said with three separate centres in the one complex, there were some issues trying to get the different owners to work together to come up with an adequate solution for the centre in terms of improving both security and business.
“The owners and the City of Casey are regularly talking,” he said.
“Hopefully in the next six months they will come up with some sort of master plan, perhaps in two or three stages.
“If not, I would like to see a rev up of the food market to make it a bit better related to the main shops.”
To help small businesses from having to close or move on, the City of Casey is bringing the Small Business Commissioner out to the Hampton Park Community House next Tuesday at 6.20pm for a free 30-minute workshop on tenants’ rights.
