The buck stops here

A host of local business owners have banded together to get residents to shop near their Darlinghurst and Surry Hills homes.

‘Shop Local 2010’ banners will fly on Oxford Street smartpoles, cover bus stops and feature in shop windows across the 2010 postcode area starting in October.

Darlinghurst Business Partnership Vice-President Andrew Duckmanton says large shopping malls are taking people away from the area.

“Two in three shopping visits [are] flowing out of the area and there’s research that shows it’s around convenience, it’s around getting groceries, but it’s also around that they don’t know what’s happening in the area,” he said.

“There’s nothing more convenient than walking out somewhere, having a coffee, spending some money down at the shops, enjoying the locals, enjoying the residents, enjoying the feel of an area.”

The Partnership hosted a function at the Beresford on Monday evening, inviting local business owners to join and support the campaign.

Gary, who runs the Victoria Street frozen yoghurt store Wow Cow, moved the business from a kiosk in Warringah Mall about a year ago.

“Now we’ve got a high street location, we’ve got seating and we’ve had a really good year,” he said.

“Any little bit that helps us, anything that promotes our area is obviously good for the area.”

Partnership President and Alternative Media Group Publisher Lawrence Gibbons said Shop Local campaigns are a proven method of keeping money in a local economy.

“In the last few years, Shop Local campaigns have been launched by local business alliances in more than three dozen US communities.

“Independent retailers in these cities reported an average gain in sales of about three per cent over the 2006 holiday season, while those who did not run such campaigns suffered slight downturns,” he said.

Stuart Dale from Fraser & Hughes, owners of The Cooks Shop on Oxford Street, would like the campaign to focus on customer convenience.

“The first reason for shopping anywhere is convenience, in retail. We must make it more convenient,” he said.

“So if these people are walking up Oxford Street to get to work, getting a bus or whatever, then we need the convenience set up where they get on or off that bus.”

Oxford street business owner Stefan, says co-operative businesses make the 2010 area unique.

“Have you ever gotten fish from Moore Fish and eaten takeaway in the pub? Or have you ever gone to Moore Fish and gotten a bottle?

“You wander down into Surry Hills and there’ll be a cafe and an art gallery next to each other and the cafe will be delivering coffee into the art gallery,” he said.

“It’s the corners where there are two or three businesses that work really well together that make this area so amazing.”