Extended trading 'too late' for City
Eaton Fair Shopping Centre owner Geoff Prosser does not fear Bunbury's push for around-the-clock shopping, claiming the council has been too slow and will not win shoppers back.
Bunbury City Council has recently moved to fully deregulate the city's shopping, allowing it to match the same hours which have been used in Eaton Fair since November.
Eaton Fair has taken advantage of Dardanup Shire Council's deregulated hours with 24-hour shopping at Kmart - the only department store in Western Australia that has around-the-clock shopping - as well as late night trading every day at Woolworths and Coles.
But as State Commerce Minister Michael Mischin rules on Bunbury's application, Mr Prosser has predicted it will not eat into the success of Eaton Fair even if it goes ahead.
He said Eaton had younger families with higher incomes and more children than the State average and they needed flexible shopping hours.
He also said Bunbury City Council and the Bunbury Chamber of Commerce and Industries had not acted fast enough to match customer expectations.
"The council and the chamber of commerce ignored the benefits of deregulated trading hours for too long," he said.
"When someone claims the market they (customers) don't bother to go back and they get in the habit of going somewhere.
"I see the Shire of Capel has extended trading hours and I think that is a good thing because you have to focus on what the customer wants.
"The customer is always right - end of story."
Mr Prosser has hailed the success of Eaton Fair and says he had been surprised by the support for 24-hour trading at Kmart.
He said people from north of Bunbury had been attracted to the shopping centre because they were not "constrained by outdated shopping hours".
"In the opening week, Kmart sales were the highest first-week opening store sales of any store they have ever opened in Australasia," he said.
He hoped Coles and Woolworths would extend their daily shopping hours to 11pm in the future.
A spokeswoman for Mr Mischin said the Minister's Department Unit had received Bunbury's shopping hours application on Friday.
