Richard Foley has called for Wagga’s political leaders to go out and bat for main street business owners. Photo: Jarryd Rowley.
If you walked down Wagga’s main street in the past month or so, you might have noticed a few ‘For Lease’ signs.
On Wednesday (5 February), Region counted more than 30 storefronts that were either empty, up for sale or for lease between the intersections of Baylis and Morrow streets and Baylis and Edward streets.
It begs the question, what is causing Wagga businesses to flee from the city’s busiest patch of road?
According to PRD Real Estate Agent Simon Azzopardi, the answer is frustratingly simple.
“Interest rates are hurting a lot of small businesses,” he said.
“The consistently high rates would no doubt be the main driver of people either closing up or moving elsewhere. With the cost of living being as expensive as it is, it’s all contributing to stores closing.
“It’s definitely up [the number of for lease storefronts] for where it was 12 to 24 months ago.”
Mr Azzopardi said new leases didn’t normally take effect in December or January, with most leases being renewed at the beginning of the new financial year.
“Businesses sort of move around after the end of financial year once they’ve got their budgets in place; it’s quite unusual to see this number of empty storefronts at this time of year.”
Wagga Wagga Councillor Richard Foley said the current state of empty storefronts was a crisis that the leaders of Wagga Wagga needed to address.
“We need to start working with our state member and our federal member because unfortunately, our leadership is bereft on this situation,” he said.
“There’s nothing for business owners here at the moment and it has a knock-on effect on employment and investment for the whole city.
“It’s a genuine crisis that will leave the main street a ghost town if we keep this up. We need to look at ways that we can get some of these people who are the owners of these buildings to drop these rents or even consider redevelopment.”
Committee 4 Wagga CEO Scott Sanbrook said the committee had continued to hear from struggling businesses and believed it was a growing concern.
“We have been hearing for quite some time that an increase in operating costs has really been hurting businesses in Wagga,” he said.
“Obviously the growing number of empty shops is a reflection of these tougher times.
“It’s a concern for businesses and the wider community as we all strive to contribute to a prosperous city. Business operators need our support and one way we can make a difference is by shopping and investing locally.”
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