FRESH FOOD AND CAR BOOT SALE

 

 

Don’t forget it’s Carboot Sale Sunday at the Fremantle’s Growers Green Farmers Market this weekend.

There is no rain forecast, so go and buy great fresh produce, have a yummy breakfast, live music, face painting and an animal touch farm for the kids and lots of stuff out of the back of cars.

Good community fun!

The market is at Annie Street in Beaconsfield and it’s on from 8am till noon.

 

Roel Loopers

GORGEOUS GROWERS GREEN MARKETS

There is still plenty of time to go to the Fremantle GROWERS GREEN MARKETS today. It’s open till midday and I took this photo half an hour ago. It is at Lefroy Road in front of the South Fremantle Senior High School.

It is a very community ambience and great fresh produce, plus fantatstic breads and pastries, meat, smoked salmon, the loveliest freerange eggs around, food stalls and more, so go for a stroll, buy some brekkie and coffee and enjoy the glorious day.

Also on is the Fremantle Arts Centre courtyard music but I can’t tell you who is playing today as it is not posted on the FAC Facebook page.

Roel Loopers

NEW SHOPS OPEN IN FREMANTLE

It’s good to see a few new shops opening in Fremantle. In the Piazza Escape Hunt has set up and are ready for your visit, while just downstairs from them the Exquise pastry shop will open soon.

Down the road on the corner of the High Street mall a 7-ELEVEN will open soon and another one will be opening at the former Gloria Jean cafe opposite Target.

Good luck to them all!

Roel Loopers

HAPPY BIRTDAY GROWERS GREEN!

The GROWERS GREEN MARKET at the South Fremantle Senior High School celebrated its first birthday today. Well done ladies!!

Roel Loopers

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FREMANTLE’S RETAIL FUTURE

The announcement that the City of Fremantle wants to create more retail space is a good one in principle, but one has to ask what the city and the Chamber of Commerce will be doing to attract quality retailers here, rather than more cheap 2 dollar or tourism related shops.

Fremantle is in desperate need to get high quality retailers. There is one single good men’s clothing shop in town, but most of their gear is well outside my budget and that of most of my friends. The Myer shop is boring and insufficiently stocked, so we make trips to Garden City or Perth.

What Fremantle does not need is more average cafes and restaurants. We have got heaps of those but only a few good eating places. Fine dining only exists in George Street, in East Fremantle. The street is also a fine example of quality boutiques, a great bottle shop and the George Street Merchants. Fremantle has nothing like that unfortunately.

So how will we attract franchises like for example Gazman, Rivers, ladies’ fashion, Harvey Norman or equivalent, a good butcher, bakery, pastry shop, etc. instead of Mac Donalds and trash shops?

One of the problems I see in Fremantle is greed. It is very expensive to lease retail space (and it is similar trying to rent houses or units here). We watch time and time again people trying their heart out to make small shops work, but they are forced to close within months because of lack of trade and high rent.

There are quite a few empty retail spaces in the city centre, but people are reluctant to open new shops because Fremantle is dead the first half of the week, and weekend only trade and sales is not sustainable for most. Cash flow is a must for small businesses, and even more so when one has to employ staff, who will need to be paid no matter if they make any sales on the day or not. And no one seems to care about the cruise liner trade. Why shops are closed on let’s say a Tuesday when a passenger ship with hundreds of potential customers arrives here is beyond me. Flexibility is the essence here!

With Christmas only six months away it will only take that long for retailers in Fremantle to yet again be flabbergasted why there are so few shoppers in town while the shopping centres are bulging with them. Have a look at the bland mall, your uninspiring shop fronts, your often messy shops, and the stuff you sell and you have some of the answers. It would also be nice if your staff acknowledged when customers enter your shop, instead of staring at a computer or being pre-occupied with sending texts on their mobiles. Make us feel welcome!

What Fremantle needs is to actively promote itself as an alternative to the sterile shopping centres and offer quality instead of quantity. We need great dining out venues and fantastic well-stocked stores in a pedestrian and parking friendly environment. That is the challenge for Fremantle.

Roel Loopers