Plans for a $30m Homemaker Centre in Mount Gambier have been finalised and sent to the Mount Gambier City Council for approval by developer Commercial & General.
A 12,000sqm centre has been proposed for the former Fletcher Jones manufacturing site bordered by Jubilee Highway East and Pick Avenue.
Pending council approvals, the development is planned to be completed in late 2024.
Commercial & General chairman Jamie McClurg said he was anticipating council approval “probably within the next 60 days or so”.
“We’re also now talking with tenants because obviously we have a more live plan,” he said.
“The majority of our tenants are national brands, we do not talk specifically about those sort of brands, people can draw their own conclusions.”
Mr McClurg said the centre would allow customers to shop locally rather than travel to the city for major brands.
“I think … it gives more opportunity and more convenience for people that are living in Mount Gambier as opposed to spreading it to capitals,” he said.
“I think it’s nice that people from Mount Gambier visit Adelaide and go shopping in a sporting goods store but it’s probably better for everyone they can have that more conveniently at their doorstep,” Mr McClurg said.
“The data shows Mount Gambier is a strong performer in regards to the desires of people to shop in these brands but typically they’re coming to Melbourne or coming to Adelaide to do that.
“It’s offering that for them at home so to speak and it’s also one where Mount Gambier itself is a growing township.
“With the advent of COVID and changing work lifestyles and those things, secondary townships in Australia [are] becoming a more attractive place for people as they give up the hustle and bustle of city lifestyle.”
Mr McClurg said people were attracted to Mount Gambier for the family lifestyle and the connectivity it offered.
“Most people can connect in the modern age through the internet and work from home or work from more remote places and so they get a better family lifestyle in places like Mount Gambier,” he said.
“I think this development … (is) just there to support the decisions that people are making to be in those places.
“People that are in those places want to have access to the national type brands, but they just do not want the hustle and bustle of a large city, they do not need big department stores.
“They want places where they can drive and park out the front and purchase anything from some sporting goods to tools or whatever they need.”
Mr McClurg said he did not think the inclusion of national brands would deter people from shopping locally but instead would fill a ‘gap’ in the city’s retail landscape and boost the local economy.
“I think shoppers shop for national brands regardless,” he said.
“Most of the local product offerings there are ones that are a different style of product offering.
“The data shows that people still shop locally as well as travelling for these products so we would just see elimination of the travel for these products.
“I do not think it changes the total overall spend that will happen within the community.
“It’s not necessarily about taking shopping away from one shop to put to another, that’s sort of not how shoppers these days work.”
