Mount Gambier retailers are being encouraged to keep their doors open over the Christmas and New Year period to cater for an expected influx of visitors.
Mount Gambier Mayor Lynette Martin has called on businesses, particularly those in the hospitality industry, to see out 2021 on a positive trading note.
“As Mayor I would like to encourage businesses to open their doors this holiday season to take advantage of the visitors to our city,” she said.
“Mount Gambier is expecting an influx of visitors as we are a well-recognised tourism destination with our abundance of beautiful natural assets, vibrant café and cultural scene with the Riddoch Arts and Cultural Centre being the largest regional gallery in South Australia.
“The Visitor Information Centre has received an influx of enquiries regarding Mount Gambier and surrounds during the festive season.
“As a small business owner myself I understand the challenges of running a business and the demands associated therewith.”
Mayor Martin said it was important Mount Gambier was open for business to cater for both residents and visitors travelling to the city.
“As South Australia’s second largest city we owe it to our visitors to be open,” she said.
“I also encourage our community to support local businesses and shop locally. This year has been another challenging year as our lives continue to be impacted by COVID 19. Let’s work together to showcase our beautiful city and support local business people as we look forward optimistically towards 2022,” Mayor Martin said.
Sorrentos Café owner Amanda Hudson is geared up to have her Bay Road premises open every day apart from December 24 and 25. Ms Hudson said being situated across from the Cave Gardens, she wanted to ensure there was somewhere for visitors to Mount Gambier to be able to dine.
Not only will the café be open for the rest of the festive period, the adjacent 5290 premises will also open as an extension of Sorrentos.
“We are closing Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so the team can spend time with their families and then look out Boxing Day,” she said.
“Given the high number of tourists already in town we wanted to cater for that market, as well as giving regulars somewhere to come during their Christmas holidays.”
Ms Hudson said not only would the café be open for meals, but she had also decided to focus on cocktail evenings, which were already proving popular.
“We live in such a beautiful and vibrant city and we wanted to create a venue where people could come for a casual drink or a classy cocktail in a relaxed setting,” she said.
“This has been welcomed by locals and is already popular with visitors to our town.”
Woolstore Brewery owner Kylie Ind said she had made a conscious decision to open every day of the Christmas and New Year period, only closing for Christmas day.
“We are getting a lot of tourists, mostly from Adelaide but as far as WA and NSW the last couple of weeks since the borders opened,” she said.
“We know a lot of people come home for Christmas who might not have had an opportunity to visit the brewery and might not have been able to get here for our usual days of Thursday to Sunday.
“We have already had a lot of people say we are going to come down between Christmas and new year to have a look.”
Mrs Ind said she was keen to provide a venue for tourists to visit during the festive break.
“Mount Gambier lacks facilities for visitors, particularly on Sundays and public holidays and so we made a decision to pay the extra wages and be open those days so there is somewhere for people to go,” she said.
“We even have Scouts coming and cooking bacon and egg rolls on New Year’s Day.”
Mrs Ind said the brewery, which faces the Rail Lands precinct, had proved exceedingly popular, with Christmas and birthday parties and wedding bookings coming in.
“We have really been embraced by the community, it’s been fantastic,” she said.
