BUSINESS owners fear Scenic Rim Regional Council’s construction of a new car park and amenities upgrade on Gallery Walk may be the death knell for the struggling street.
“It won’t sustain itself. It’s on its knees and there’s no good news coming up,” Gordon Chalmers, General Manager of Tamborine Mountain Distillery said.
“If you look at what the Gold Coast light rail work is doing at Burleigh, the roadworks are killing businesses there.”
“We need the work done, but there will be some pain.”
Gordon, along with several business owners said the popular tourist strip has been dying a slow death, with COVID, the Christmas storms, high rents and a poor economy severely impacting it.
“I’ve never seen it as bad as this,” he stated.
Gordon said Gallery Walk is the number one attraction on the mountain and employs the largest number of people, with the most businesses, and its demise would mean losing our iconic mountain attraction.
And while he welcomed the Council’s upgrade plans, describing them as beautiful, he said phase two would mean taking the cars off the street, which he feared would decimate it.
Janice Smart, owner of Inspire Me Naturally and Tamborine Mountain Chamber of Commerce committee member, said 19 businesses have closed since the storms, with 16 of those shopfronts remaining empty, four others are for sale, two have relocated and a further two are downsizing or closing sections.
She will also be closing at the end of March, “The rent is too high and the turnover is not there,” Janice said.
Declining foot traffic and a lack of spending have forced her to shut her doors. One Saturday recently she said she made $20.
“The owners are so stressed about not being able to pay their rent and the lack of communication with the Council means Chinese whispers are taking over about businesses having to close during the works,” Janice said.
Added to this is the poor state of the street in general, from large road signs falling over and potholes spraying customers with mud as cars drive through.
“It’s like a dog’s breakfast down there at the moment,” Janice said. “People come up here and say they’ll never come again.”
Gordon agreed saying one look at the Google reviews said it all.
“We’ve had to call ambulances when people have fallen onto the road. Another woman with cerebral palsy in a wheelchair almost hit the road after falling in a pothole,” Dwayne Chanter, owner of Hinterland Hemp and Chamber of Commerce Committee member said.
“You hear a lot of customers talking about the empty buildings. It echoes on many levels.
“It’s just rundown and the toilets are disgusting.”
However, Janice is hopeful the Council works will rejuvenate the street.
She said she’d like to see the closed businesses have their windows dressed so they didn’t appear so empty, street lighting and shops allowed to be rented out on a month-to-month basis.
