Background_E_Market_Assessment - Shoalhaven City Council ...

Nowra CBD Master Plan – Market Assessmentspecialists are notable examples of category killers in Australia. The financial success of these stores has been mixedas demonstrated by the failure of Coles Myer ‘World 4 Kids’ and ‘Megamart’ and the strong performances of otherssuch as JB-HiFi and Bunnings.Whilst many category killers locate in ‘out of centre’ locations others can be found in regional shopping centres and aregenerally classified as ‘mini-majors’. Borders and JB Hi-Fi are successful examples generally found in the large majorregionaland super-regional centres.Beginning in the 1980s and expanding considerably through the 1990s were power centres. Power centres, also knownas ‘big box’ centres, consist of a collection of category killers and other specialist retailers (often retailers of bulkygoods) and are usually located in secondary areas such as light industrial zones. Fit out is minimal and rents persquare metre are significantly lower than in traditional centres.Some power centres have a theme, such as a homemaker centre (hardware, carpets, tiles, furniture, kitchen/bath, etc).Examples include Moore Park SupaCenta and Norwest Homemaker Centre. Power centres however can also tradesuccessfully with a wide mix of traders (auto accessories, toys, sports, clothing). These are destination shoppingvenues and people are prepared to travel further to access a larger range at more competitive prices than can beoffered by traditional department, discount department and specialty stores.Bulky goods retailing, factory outlets and clearance centres in traditional industrial areas integrating warehousing withretail space are also recent innovations. As with power centres, they rely on low rents. While purpose-built factoryoutlets are common in the United States, most of Australia’s major factory outlet centres occupy premises formerlyoccupied by traditional retailers, factories or other uses – eg Birkenhead Point and DFO Homebush.Bulky Goods RetailingBulky goods retailing is often described as low cost / high bulk retail goods and ancillary products. Retailers of thesegoods and products have identified financial benefits in lower occupancy costs and economies of scale outside ofestablished high-rent and high-cost retail centres.Bulky goods retailing first appeared as showrooms attached to distribution and warehousing industries. Over time bulkygoods strip retailing and centres have attracted a number of furniture, appliance retailers and hardware stores such asHarvey Norman, Domayne, Bing Lee, BabyCo, Bunnings, bedding shops, lighting shops, etc. In NSW, bulky goodsretailing has been one of the fastest growing sectors, doubling in size over the last 6 years.Bulky goods can take the form of strip retailing along a major highway or it can be in a stand alone building or “powercentre”. There are 3 main bulky goods areas in Nowra Bomaderry, being South Nowra, Bolong Road and The John BullCentre in Bomaderry.More recently there have been non-bulky goods retailers attracted to these peripheral locations including for exampleThe Warehouse Group which is a discount variety store, video rental stores, large liquor stores, and factory outlets.Fast foods (such as McDonalds, Pizza Hut and KFC) and highway based convenience stores have also located in bulkygoods precincts.Changing Shifts in TradeThe trends discussed in this Chapter are polarising the retail hierarchy with the larger regional centres positioningthemselves for a more dominant role in the provision of entertainment and customer services matched with increasedC09143 Page 22 Hill PDA