Xavier Farrell has lived in Mount Gambier in regional South Australia his whole life and now helps run his family business on the town’s main street.
But as the cost of living and business expenses continue to climb, he is worried the centre of the town’s economy is under pressure.
“I’ve lived here my whole life and I’ve never seen so many businesses ready for sale, it’s crazy,” he said.
“It used to be this thing where if you had a business you were going well and strong.
“It’s nearly the opposite now.”
Mr Farrell with staff member Jess Matthews. (ABC South East SA: Sam Bradbrook)
Mount Gambier’s Commercial Street runs through the heart of the city and includes a mix of retail and hospitality businesses.
Currently, there are more than 10 empty store fronts on the busiest part of the main street between Bay Road and Wehl Street.
Mr Farrell’s family has owned and operated The Haven, a small cafe, for two-and-a-half years.
He says costs are continually rising for the business.
“We’re going to maybe have to put prices up, which we don’t want to do,” he said.
“The whole idea of our cafe is we’re a family business and we wanted to keep things low and have a nice, homely feel about it.
“But it’s getting really difficult to do that.”
Businesses need to work together
Mainstreet SA chair David West said regional main streets experienced a revival during the COVID pandemic as residents tried to actively support local businesses.
He said the success could not be taken for granted though and businesses needed to work together to bring more customers to the area.
Commercial Street during the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. (ABC South East SA: Bec Whetham)
“I think something we’ve got to promote is the uniqueness of every location and making sure that those main streets and towns in regional centres are very aware of what they stand for and are promoting that at all times,” he said.
“They need to stick by their brand and what their unique proposition is to the customer to attract tourists and visitors to come there.”
In 2018, the Mount Gambier City Council commissioned a report into the main street, when a significant number of businesses were left empty.
Mount Gambier Chamber of Commerce chair Candice Fennell said the recent business closures on Commercial Street were not as severe as six years ago and had happened for varying reasons, not all related to rising business costs.
The Mount Gambier Chamber of Commerce says it’s worried filling empty shops may be difficult in the current business climate. (ABC South East SA: Josh Brine)
But she said it would likely take some time to find new businesses to fill the vacant shopfronts.
“There’s always a level of uncertainty when we see shops becoming vacant and we do wonder ourselves who is going to come and fill those spaces,” she said.
“Hopefully people see some opportunities in the central CBD area to see it as an opportunity to fill those spaces.”
Shops ‘breed off each other’
Colin Martin has owned businesses in Mount Gambier for more than 30 years and now owns Chapman’s Newsagency on Commercial Street.
He has seen numerous “boom and bust” cycles, but said the current economic climate was one of the toughest he has operated in.
Colin Martin says tightening consumer spending is a worry for Mount Gambier’s main street. (ABC South East SA: Sam Bradbrook)
He said all local businesses should work together to ensure the main street remains.
“For businesses to be successful, and it doesn’t matter if it’s Mount Gambier or anywhere else, you have to have other successful businesses around you,” Mr Martin said.
“It doesn’t help if there’s some closures, but we need people to be generated and attracted to the city for our business to survive and for other businesses as well.
“We sort of breed off each other, basically.”