Inner-city pressure

With the world’s banks and stock markets buckling under the weight of the global financial crisis, The City News asked a handful of city retailers how their businesses were holding up, and if their customers were experiencing any pre-recession jitters.
 

David Harris
BD’s Food Hall, Darlinghurst
Have you experienced any downturn in business over the past two weeks’
I should imagine we have. Food prices have gone up and there’s less people. It’s only been three weeks but in this area the rents are too extreme. There are empty shops everywhere and [Oxford Street] is not the most glamorous street anymore. Luckily people still have to eat.
Were you happy with the Oxford Street upgrade’
What difference does that make’ They didn’t do the other side. Why do one side and not the other’ You’re not with the council are you’
 

Caroline Young
Clearskincare, CBD
Have you experienced any downturn in business over the past two weeks’
No, not one bit. People buy more in the city than in our other clinics. In fact the past two weeks have been our busiest since we opened.
Do most of your customers pay using credit cards’
Absolutely. It’s almost all credit cards and EFTPOS here. In our other clinics it’s the opposite.
What sorts of things do you do here’
Laser hair removal, IPL and botox. Botox is really busy. It’s 90 per cent women and they can’t get enough of it.
 

Kasia Piotrowski
Outré Gallery, Darlinghurst
Have you experienced any downturn in business over the past two weeks’
Despite all the media reports and the frenzy about the recession we’re doing really well. In a way, people are still rewarding themselves or maybe it still hasn’t clicked.
We might have had a couple of quiet weeks right after the financial year ended. The end of July was the quiet period but nothing has really affected things.
People around here also tend to have money or don’t have families to cater to. It’s probably different in the suburbs where people have mortgages and families to worry about.
 

Scott Hemsworth
Totally Pierced, Surry Hills
Have you experienced any downturn in business over the past two weeks’
Absolutely. This is supposed to be our busy time from June up until January. And this year it just hasn’t gotten busy at all. It’s just stayed at a plateau.
What do you put that down to’
I think the economy and interest rates over the last 12 months. It’s made people scared about spending money, I guess.
Is piercing more of impulse purchase than other kinds of retail’
It’s a bit of both. A lot of people do the impulsive thing, otherwise they think about it for too long and don’t do it. Then there’s other people who do their research these. So it’s a bit of both, really.