Some retailers struggle with changing times

WESTERN Australia received a small taste of deregulated retail trading hours this month when stores in the Fremantle and Perth tourism precincts were allowed to remain open outside normal trading times.

From January 1, Fremantle, the Perth CBD, certain parts of North, South, East and West Perth, as well as Mt Lawley, Subiaco and Victoria Park were allowed to remain open for business until 9pm on weekdays, with Sunday trading from 11am to 5pm (see graphic).

The extension of the Perth trading precinct encompasses few supermarkets, and other retailers in the area contacted by WA Business News seemed largely unaware of the changes.

Around the state, shops north of the 26th parallel enjoy an unrestricted retail-trading regime, while regional areas such as Busselton, Dunsborough and Margaret River currently have more flexible opening hours.

Establishing the tourism precincts was part of a push by the state government to extend retail-trading times across the board, a proposal rejected by the Labor and National parties.

While there has been mixed reactions to what has been described by Treasurer Troy Buswell as “frustratingly moderate changes”, one issue has apparently plagued both sides of the retail trading debate since December.

Almost all business owners, shopkeepers and store clerks spoken to by WA Business News revealed that, although they were aware of the tourism precincts, they did not know its boundaries, what the conditions of trading were, when they started, or in some cases whether their business was part of it.

Owner of Subiaco-based home décor business Chandelabra, Kerri Sharp, said she was unaware her small business on Rokeby Road was outside of the government-defined tourism precinct boundaries, where businesses only a few hundred metres away were allowed to extend their trading.

“Luckily I can open anyway because I am under the threshold of staff, but if I had more staff and couldn’t open, but they could down the road, then that would bother me a lot,” she said.

One Leederville shopkeeper said the changes were so ambiguous that the owner of the store she worked at had asked her what the Christmas trading hours were last year and if the shop was part of the tourism precinct. It wasn’t.

“It was insanely busy and all the staff were running around like headless chooks taking orders and answering phones in the lead up to Christmas, and there we were trying to Google what our trading hours were,” she said.

WA shoppers were tipped to spend more than $2.7 billion over the Christmas break, although some analysts believe retailers are unlikely to produce glowing December-half trading figures next month as the trade was mostly the result of extensive discounting.

A Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA consumer confidence survey revealed that 59 per cent of respondents intended to use extended trading hours during December.

For those consumers who did not intend to take advantage of the extended trading, 58 per cent said they were, however, most interested in purchasing groceries after 6pm weeknights.

Some businesses in the Perth tourism precinct reported a huge influx of trade over the festive season and the three weeks into 2010, while others complained that stores were open for too long.

But the majority of business owners conceded it was too early to determine the success of deregulation in the tourism precincts.

Retail Traders Association executive director, Wayne Spencer, said it could take up to nine months before people were used to late-night and Sunday trading.

“It’s all about spreading the word and getting people to realise that they now have another convenient opportunity in front of them and therefore to change their patterns to operate,” Mr Spencer told WA Business News.

“But already, with the first trading day being New Year’s Day, there was a significant number of people taking advantage of it in the new areas.

“In fact there were some quite spectacular turnover figures from some of the stores that took advantage.

“The fact is, if we don’t wake up to this, it’s all very well to sit here behind this [Retail Trading] Act and get fat, happy and comfortable, but it’s not progressive for the consumer, for the retailing industry and for the state.”

Mr Buswell said creating the tourism precincts, along with the proposed Joondalup Special Trading Precinct and possibly extending trading times in the cities of Swan and Armadale, was an incremental process.

He said Labor’s and the Nationals’ rejection of across-the-board deregulation meant WA was “stuck with this antiquated hotch-potch retail trading regime”.

“I think it will take some time for the frustratingly moderate changes to ultimately flow through to on the ground activity and significant changes in people’s shopping habits and store owners opening habits,” Mr Buswell told WA Business News.

“I don’t judge the success of the changes by a short-term response from consumers and businesses; I still have the very firm belief that if we can provide the framework, business and consumers will develop the shopping habits and shop opening habits that reflect modern contemporary life in Western Australia.”

Retail manager of Leederville-based florist Funky Bunches, Tina Dagostino, said all shops in WA should be able to open when they wanted.

Ms Dagostino said she did not believe deregulation would cause the demise of small business like hers, as has been suggested by the Independent Grocers Association.

“I’m more concerned about supermarkets, I’m not worried about other florists coming to the area, I’d rather another florist opened up for seven days on Oxford Street than the supermarkets or service stations selling flowers,” she said.

Independent Grocers Association president John Cummings believes the big supermarket chains had most to gain from blanket extended trading in WA.