No Coles in Oatley West please !! Maintain the Outrage !
Surfergirlbj1
Coles are proposing to build a supermarket in gorgeous Oatley West - despite continuing solid opposition by residents, and full the oppostion of Hurstville Council, the development was nonetheless approved by the Land and Environmental Court.
There has been extremely passionate local protests, numerous petitions, gatherings, picket lines etc by Oatley residents to show their disgust with the development. To continue with this proposal is just pure pig headedness on Coles behalf as far as I'm concerned.
They simply don't need a supermarket here - there are supermarkets of every description in all the neighbouring suburbs.
I worry about the survival of the local IGA which is a great place to shop - ok its a little bit more expensive for some things,but you never get caught up in hideous queues with squawking kids, and the service is always super-friendly.
I know its easy to say "big deal what's another supermarket - let the Corporate guys win they're going to anyhow" - however anyone who has been to Oatley must agree there is a unique atmosphere of interesting and diverse on-the-street shops where you are often known by name. It is rare for that to exist anywhere in today's society. I wonder how many of these shops will survive competition with Coles, although I for one will make a point to shop at the little shops MORE when/if Coles arrives.
http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/nsw/content/2005/s1447368.htm
Coles are proposing to build a supermarket in gorgeous Oatley West - despite continuing solid opposition by residents, and full the oppostion of Hurstville Council, the development was nonetheless approved by the Land and Environmental Court.
There has been extremely passionate local protests, numerous petitions, gatherings, picket lines etc by Oatley residents to show their disgust with the development. To continue with this proposal is just pure pig headedness on Coles behalf as far as I'm concerned.
They simply don't need a supermarket here - there are supermarkets of every description in all the neighbouring suburbs.
I worry about the survival of the local IGA which is a great place to shop - ok its a little bit more expensive for some things,but you never get caught up in hideous queues with squawking kids, and the service is always super-friendly.
I know its easy to say "big deal what's another supermarket - let the Corporate guys win they're going to anyhow" - however anyone who has been to Oatley must agree there is a unique atmosphere of interesting and diverse on-the-street shops where you are often known by name. It is rare for that to exist anywhere in today's society. I wonder how many of these shops will survive competition with Coles, although I for one will make a point to shop at the little shops MORE when/if Coles arrives.
http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/nsw/content/2005/s1447368.htm
posted by BJ @ 2:30 AM
7 Comments:
At December 06, 2005 4:40 AM,
Anonymous said…
The one thing you don't make clear here is why it matters... what's being destroyed by this newly proposed coles?
is it just the IGA? is there an environmental aspect to it?
what if coles integrated into the streetscape? would that fix things?
Help me care.
At December 06, 2005 1:03 PM,
BJ said…
Lol. Milo thanks for posting, I'd love to help you care :)
There are some environmental aspects to it - Oatley is set on a small peninsula and many of the streets are narrow and winding - they are not designed to take large grocery trucks. Also because of its peninsula location Oatley never gets any "through" traffic normally, as theres nowhere to get to other than water!
So one of the main issues is traffic. Oatley is simply not designed for high volume business - and I cant really see the business advantage for Coles; customers arent driving through Oatley to get to anywhere, therefore their customer base would be locals. There's supermarkets in all of the neighbouring suburbs already.
But the main thing that may be destroyed is the "on the street" shops atmosphere of Oatley's main street, difficult to explain without seeing. They have a lot of charm and an atmosphere extremely rare in this part of Sydney, especially when you consider garish Hurstville chinatown is only 2 suburbs away.
At December 07, 2005 2:08 AM,
Anonymous said…
I can understand not wanting massive 18-wheeler trucks running down the street
I also get the strip-shop thing, but that is fairly easily fixable with a reasonable discreet entrance, that hides the enormity of coles behind it.
Coles entering is rarely a sole effort on the part of coles-myer though. Is there other development planned for the area?
Does coles know something about the council "master plan" you don't know?
At December 08, 2005 12:55 PM,
BJ said…
I don't think so - the Council have been wholeheartedly behind the project since the word go, and have actively spoken out about its opposition in the media. That's why it was even more of a shock that the Land & Environmental Court approved the development.
On another note - as for discreet rear entry - I used to travel past an adult shop when I lived in Perth that advertised that - I found it kinda hilarious myself.
At December 08, 2005 12:59 PM,
BJ said…
duh - I meant to say the Council have been wholeheartedly OPPOSED to the project since the word go.
At December 11, 2005 6:55 PM,
Anonymous said…
I'm very surprised that anything is going ahead without council approval... I would have loved to be a fly on the wall in that room.
Interesting
At December 11, 2005 7:37 PM,
BJ said…
hmmm. you think the Council may be up to something sinister behind the scenes?? They are outwardly supportive.
However this is starting to sound like a sequel to "The Castle". Lol.
Post a Comment
<< Home