CAFES, restaurants and takeaway food services are powering Sunraysia’s economic resurgence from last year’s crippling COVID-19 lockdowns.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ latest data shows Victoria was the driving force behind the national increase of 1.4 per cent in retail turnover in March.
It came a month after retail sales in Sunraysia dipped when the Andrews Government imposed a hard, five-day lockdown.
The hospitality sector led the way with a 6 per cent rise in turnover in March, while sales in clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing also showed a small increase across the nation compared to the previous month.
Mildura Regional Development chief executive Brett Millington said the state and national retail trends were being mirrored in north-west Victoria.
“Our expenditure and trends do show we’re matching almost identically to the rest of Australia,” he said.
“Our restaurants and cafes have been doing very well since just before Christmas – and that’s continuing now.
“But in February, the highest spending categories across Mildura were in grocery stores and supermarkets, followed by dining and entertainment and then luxury goods in fourth and professional services in fifth.
“Overall, though, dining and entertainment is one of the largest expenditures that occur in our region over the year.”
Mr Millington said local clothing, footwear and personal-accessory retail outlets all had a “significant jump-up” in December 2020.
“The overall expenditure increase coming out of COVID saw significant spikes across all categories of expenditure in our economy in December,” he said.
“We’re also trending higher in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020.
“So we’re seeing the local economy performing well now – and a lot of this increased expenditure is due to people having saved money during COVID and now getting out and spending more.”
The latest ABS figures came after Mr Millington predicted the Mildura Show and Shine motorsport event at Langtree Mall over Easter helped inject about $10 million into the local economy.
The local peak economic and tourism body’s boss also remains confident about the future of Mildura Central after it was sold for $81 million earlier this month.
Commercial real estate investor IP Generation picked up a relative bargain after the centre’s 26 per cent fall in value over the past six years.
“I read the comments from the purchaser and they were very happy to get it for the price they did,” Mr Millington said.
“The uncertainty around Target’s future at the centre clearly played a factor in its reduced worth.
“But the way retail is trending upwards here now, I think it’ll be a very good investment. There are great opportunities for growth in that retail space.”
Setting a place for tourism
BUSINESS has been booming for local restaurant owner Andy Nguyen.
While he hasn’t had time to crunch the exact numbers, Mr Nguyen is sure Mildura’s cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services are on par with the national increase.
On Wednesday, Australian Bureau of Statistics released the latest data that showed Australian retail turnover rose 1.4 per cent in March, with cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services led the rises.
“I have seen a definite increase in capacity with weekends and some week nights being completely booked out,” Mr Nguyen said.
“Leading into and during the Easter long weekend we were very, very busy, our two restaurants were booked out each night.
“We are seeing a lot of tourists from South Australia, Melbourne, Bendigo and Ballarat.”
Mr Nguyen is positive the increase in tourism and retail sales in Sunraysia will continue.
“People are really taking advantage of the $200 tourism voucher on offer and spending it in our regional town.”
