Parra News June 8 2021
June 2021 edition of Parra News.
June 2021 edition of Parra News.
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« parra news<br />
Tuesday, <strong>June</strong> 8, <strong>2021</strong><br />
parra<br />
news<br />
PO BOX W107<br />
<strong>Parra</strong>matta Westfield, NSW 2150<br />
P (02) 9168 8094<br />
www.parranews.com.au<br />
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Editor’s Note<br />
troy.dodds@parranews.com.au<br />
Troy Dodds<br />
@troydodds<br />
Labor gives itself fighting chance<br />
Chris Minns is the new Labor leader in<br />
NSW, with Michael Daley’s withdrawal<br />
from the race on Friday ensuring the party<br />
can unite rather than watch as a bitter<br />
period of in-fighting played out.<br />
Labor has plenty to do before the 2023<br />
election, including finding its feet in<br />
western Sydney, where it has lost significant<br />
ground in recent times despite Jodi<br />
McKay’s best efforts.<br />
Very few outside of political nerds have<br />
probably heard of Chris Minns.<br />
He has just under two years to change<br />
that and give Labor a shot at power for the<br />
first time in more than a decade.<br />
Issue 29<br />
Visit<br />
www.parranews.com.au<br />
to find out more.<br />
<strong>Parra</strong> Matters<br />
alanmascarenhas09@gmail.com<br />
Alan Mascarenhas<br />
@alanmasc<br />
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Published by: Western Sydney Publishing Group<br />
Managing Editor:<br />
Troy Dodds | troy.dodds@parranews.com.au<br />
@troydodds<br />
Journalists:<br />
Senior Journalist: Nicola Barton | @nicolabarton123<br />
Sports & TV Journalist: Nathan Taylor | @natetaylor87<br />
Journalist: Erin Christie | @erinchristie2<br />
Photographer: Melissa Stevens<br />
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email news@parranews.com.au<br />
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Chris Pennisi | chris.pennisi@parranews.com.au<br />
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Miller, Jay Lowe, Angela Jevdich<br />
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Production: Ian Beard, Zoe Merrick, Kacey Wilson<br />
Administration: Jennifer Zuleni, Megan Dunn<br />
Western Sydney Publishing Group is a<br />
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The Western Weekender in Penrith, or<br />
about our other services around custom<br />
publishing and advertising solutions.<br />
Amazing service is a lost art<br />
Index<br />
<strong>News</strong>...............................................1-21<br />
Horoscopes................................22<br />
Travel................................................23<br />
A few years ago, while on holiday, I<br />
bought business shirts from a tailor in<br />
Hoi An, in central Vietnam. Hoang Kim<br />
offered an amazing choice of colours and<br />
fabrics. Best of all they were breathable<br />
and light, perfect for the tropics but also<br />
a humid Sydney summer.<br />
Already on a short schedule, I had a narrow<br />
window to pick up my order after being<br />
fitted two days previously.<br />
Right on cue, a vicious thunderstorm<br />
cut power to the entire village. But the<br />
staff were still waiting in the dark for me<br />
to arrive.<br />
We tried on the clothes by candlelight<br />
and they were perfect. The staff wrapped<br />
them, farewells were exchanged and I still<br />
made my flight.<br />
Back in the men’s section of a Sydney<br />
department store recently, a different experience<br />
entirely. Piles of items discarded<br />
mile-high in dingy dressing rooms. Nobody<br />
there to help. And everything five<br />
sizes too big, as if all the world’s unloved<br />
XXX-Large jeans, jackets and tops had<br />
been consigned here as they couldn’t be<br />
sold anywhere else.<br />
Shopping in Sydney has come a long<br />
way from the time when we used to wander<br />
down the main street, stopping in for<br />
a chat at the butcher, baker and greengrocer.<br />
The likes of Westfield and the big<br />
retail chains are dominant. They’ve displaced<br />
most old arcades and malls, swallowed<br />
up huge volumes of pedestrian<br />
traffic and why not? Families can park<br />
their cars for hours and complete their<br />
purchases all under one roof.<br />
Online shopping has only loaded the<br />
dice even more against traditional retailers.<br />
Even before the pandemic, we thought<br />
nothing to try and return items from Amazon,<br />
The Iconic or Popcherry on a whim.<br />
But this trend is now super-charged. Very<br />
soon, none of us will even go outdoors –<br />
just sit on the couch ordering tomorrow’s<br />
groceries while tucking into today’s Uber<br />
Eats.<br />
This week, at Uniqlo in Pitt Street Mall,<br />
I was surprised to return and find the<br />
checkout system had changed. It is now<br />
the ultimate frictionless experience. You<br />
simply drop your items into a collection<br />
zone and by some kind of magic, the<br />
price tags automatically scan.<br />
Yet at the other extreme, I believe there<br />
is still a yearning for personalised service<br />
and brands that tempt us to linger. Witness<br />
the growth of <strong>Parra</strong>matta’s retro barber<br />
shops.<br />
You can’t order an ice-cream online –<br />
Staying Healthy.......................24<br />
Entertainment ..................25-35<br />
Business Directory ......36-38<br />
but fortunately many of us actually enjoy<br />
standing in line, then sampling the flavours<br />
at Messina. Or treating our nostrils<br />
outside El Jannah’s in Granville.<br />
The <strong>Parra</strong>matta Light Rail offers an opportunity<br />
to rejuvenate Church Street<br />
with more of this authenticity. Perhaps<br />
we will come full circle to the time when<br />
Harris Farm used to sell fresh produce<br />
and gourmet delights in the site now earmarked<br />
for the Powerhouse Museum.<br />
But reviving retail is also a challenge for<br />
suburban centres from Epping to Wentworthville<br />
to Granville, where an intimate<br />
new Woolworths Metro has just opened.<br />
The task: provide offerings that delight<br />
customers and tempt them to stay instead<br />
of retreat to the big shopping centres<br />
or order from home.<br />
A postscript: this year I ordered a new<br />
batch of shirts from Hoang Kim. It was a<br />
bit tricky long-distance, but somehow we<br />
did it – I took my own measurements and<br />
screenshotted over the results. A couple<br />
of months later, I opened the package,<br />
guiltily imagining I had exposed all of<br />
Australia to COVID. Again, perfect.<br />
Soon after, I received a text. “Enjoy your<br />
new shirts”<br />
The times may change but amazing service<br />
never goes out of style.<br />
Auto..................................................39<br />
Sport ................................................40<br />
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