CONVENIENCE, creativity and conjuring up a cosmopolitan buzz.
For me, these are some of the key ingredients to giving Langtree Mall a much-needed makeover.
I regularly walk through the mall to grab a bite to eat for lunch, as it’s close to Sunraysia Daily’s Deakin Avenue bunker.
And it’s sad to see businesses are folding like a deck of cards.
I’ve gone from despairing for the traders to now feeling quite cross that nothing more has been done by the town’s leaders to fix what should be Mildura’s second jewel in the crown (after the riverfront).
The mall area is often the first port of call for visitors to Mildura.
And what do they see? One empty shopfront after another.
I’ve written several stories about the plight of the mall since I returned to Mildura in late August last year.
I’ve spoken with numerous traders, developers, real estate agents, councillors and shoppers about what’s happened to the mall, and how they see its future.
All of them want to see a positive outcome for the mall. And I include myself in this.
We all care about its future and desperately want to see the strip flourish once again.
There was a spike in mall trade in the lead-up to Christmas, which Sunraysia Daily reported on.
However, the traders I spoke with were still deeply concerned about the coming months.
There was this from Surf Crew owner Kate O’Brien: “Christmas trade has been really good, which we obviously needed after a big downturn.
“But if the council doesn’t realise the urgency of the situation (to make improvements), then they’ll have a ghost town here in the next couple of years.”
Donata Carrazza, who took the reins of Collins Booksellers Mildura in late 2020, said “more lateral thinking” was needed to increase foot traffic in the mall.
“We should also be looking at more food, wine and even residential in this area,” she said.
There are some good planning minds in Mildura.
We should be looking to these people to help remodel the mall – not going down the path of calling in expensive Melbourne consultants again.
The ball is in the council’s court now, in terms of whether it listens to traders’ concerns, as well as the broader community.
