corio norlane structure plan background report - City of Greater ...

7.4.1 Key Issues for Retail Sector
Essential Economics identified the following key issues for the retail sector:
Poor performance and presentation of local centres: The study area comprises seven
local centres which, with the exception of the Donnybrook Road, Robin Avenue and
Nevada Avenue centres, present poorly and are not trading successfully. Reasons for
this include:
• Location - Local activity centres rarely perform well when located on local streets
with limited access and exposure to passing traffic.
• Limited catchment sizes - The catchments for many of these centres are
constrained by physical barriers including major roads and railway lines, and the
close proximity of other centres serving a similar function.
• Limited investment - Only modest investment has been made in these centres in
recent times. Many tenancies in these centres are understood to be
unencumbered by finance, and therefore owners become “passive investors”
and have little incentive to improve the appearance of their tenancies.
• Poor appearance - The centres are generally characterised by vacant tenancies,
graffiti and low levels of amenity. This contributes to a negative perception of the
Corio Norlane area to non residents and inhibits the ability of the area to attract
private investment.
Fragmentation of ownership among local centres: Ownership of most centres is highly
fragmented. Thus, a coordinated approach among owners to improve these centres is
likely to be difficult to achieve.
Limited hierarchy of centre types: The study area has a poorly developed hierarchy of
centres. The Corio Shopping Centre is the dominant retail centre serving the study
area, while the Bell Post Shopping Centre is the only alternative location which provides
comprehensive supermarket shopping facilities and some limited fresh food specialty
shops. The stand alone Corio Aldi provides a limited range of discount groceries, while
the balance of the centre hierarchy is dominated by the range of small local centres and
stand along convenience stores and the highway based retail on the Princes Highway.
The consequence of this poorly developed centre hierarchy is that study area residents
have limited choice for weekly grocery and other shopping needs other than standard
day-to-day convenience items. This limits both choice and competition for shoppers
living in the study area, as well as reducing the convenience and accessibility to
relatively basic grocery and other slightly higher-order shopping needs (such as fresh
food specialty shops, low end apparel shops, etc…).
Typically, neighbourhood centres (incorporating a major supermarket as the anchor
tenant and supporting specialty shops) are an important part of any centre hierarchy in
suburban areas of Australia. Bell Post is the only neighbourhood centre in the study
area, yet this centre’s location means that it does not serve a large proportion of study
area residents. In addition, the centre trades at modest levels and only provides a
relatively limited range of specialty shops and other non-retail facilities for a centre of its
type.
Security: Security of customers and stock is understood to be a major issue impacting
the performance and perception of activity centres in the study area.
Residential densities: In general, the residential densities in the study area are not at a
level which would support the number of local centres which currently exist. In principle,
together with location attributes (such as exposure and access to passing traffic), a
catchment of at least 1,000 residents within 400 metres is required to generate a critical
Corio Norlane Structure Plan
Background Report - 93 - Final - March 2011