Message to Mildura: ‘Tough decisions’ needed on mall decline

SHEPPARTON and Ballarat’s mayors have urged Mildura Council and the business community to consider taking a leaf out of their book and revamping the outdated, struggling Langtree Mall.

Both Shepparton and Ballarat councils are set to “reimagine” their cities’ malls with multi-million-dollar redevelopments that open them up to slow-moving traffic and create a unique mix of businesses, cafe-culture living and entertainment options.

“A mall is an old business model from the 1980s that hasn’t worked for a very long time and change was needed to activate the space,” Shepparton Mayor Kim O’Keeffe told Sunraysia Daily this week.

“There have been some tough decisions for the council, but we needed to reinvent the wheel and that has meant we are opening up our mall to slow-moving traffic, having the whole road pulled up.

“We have had many new businesses come to Shepparton but many would not consider a shop in the mall.

“This was mainly due to no parking or no shop fronts attracting passing traffic.

“If you stay the same, nothing changes.”

In Mildura’s Langtree Mall, nearly half the shops are empty.

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Ballarat Mayor Daniel Moloney told Sunraysia Daily how his city was fixing the “serious decline” of business in its mall.

“The community sent a strong message to council that retaining the status quo in the Bridge Mall was not an option and action was urgently required,” Cr Moloney said.

“The plan is to return the Bakery Hill-Bridge Mall precinct to a thriving city centre offering a unique mix of shopping, business, inner-city living and entertainment options.

“The preferred design plan for the Bridge Mall (announced in April) includes the reintroduction of one-way to traffic to reconnect the Bridge Mall with the city’s CBD.”

Cr O’Keeffe is also the chair of Regional Cities Victoria, which comprises the state’s 10 largest regional cities, including Mildura.

“I am very passionate about the success of regional Victoria,” she said.

He said if occupancy rates in Langtree Mall were low, “like what’s been happening elsewhere, then tough decisions have to be made”.

“Bendigo spent $8 million on an upgrade, not opening up their mall, and many will tell you it did not work.

“We know retail has changed so we need to change with the times. However, it has taken (Shepparton) council a very long time to be bold enough to take this leap forward.

“As we know, CBDs have changed and are now a mix of retail, services, hospitality and public space – something we needed to acknowledge.”

Cr Moloney said the mall redevelopment in Ballarat “best services locals with green spaces and connectivity”.

“The key learning from this process has been consultation with community and traders,” he said.

“Commitment by council to a long-term vision and short-term funding for improvements gave an immediate confidence boost to private landowners and a number of new developments are progressing in parallel to the council-funded works.”

Cr O’Keeffe said her city’s mall had declined to the point where its vacancy rate was now 50 per cent.

“Something had to be done to fix this,” she said.

“For some short-term pain (of a rebuild), there will be a long-term gain in fixing the mall.”

The Shepparton mall redevelopment, costing about $16 million, is jointly funded by the council and the state and federal governments.

Works are expected to start later this year.