A FORMER Wodonga mayor Graham Crapp has weighed into the Hovell Street closure controversy by declaring the move will spell financial disaster for city businesses.
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Mr Crapp was a partner of Wodonga Pharmacy in High Street for 24 years and fought against the closure of the street on two occasions before he was elected to the council in 1997 and became mayor for four years.
He said the council was jeopardising the financial viability of more than 100 businesses by pushing for Hovell Street’s closure between Lawrence Street and the council car park entrance to create a larger greenspace between Woodland Grove and The Cube.
“The psychology of shopping hasn’t changed in 100 years,” Mr Crapp said.
“The psychology is ‘I will go to a shop where I can get good access, good parking and get in and out of the shop quickly’.
“It is the way High Street has operated for the past 40 years.
“People say ‘I’ve got to go to the newsagent, the post office, get a script from the chemist and might have to pay the RACV’.
“Having a bigger park would be great, but not at the expense of High Street businesses.”
Mr Crapp’s views come on the eve of the first round of consultation on the issue since it flared last month.
EDITORIAL: Council must listen to fears
He has since written to chief executive Patience Harrington and lobbied councillors on behalf of traders.
“We already know that Coles supermarket has a substantial loss of customer traffic when they close Hovell Street,” he said.
“My experience in the pharmacy was exactly the same.
“Hovell Street was closed frequently enough for repairs, burst water mains, whatever, for us to know if it was closed for part of the day, our business could go down by as much as 50 per cent.
“That was just one day and if you did it over a period of time then you could safely assume that customers would easily have a change of heart and go somewhere else.”
He said an estimated 70 per cent of disposable income already spent by Wodonga residents in Albury would increase if Hovell Street closed.
Mr Crapp cited previous studies by consultants, who concluded High Street was a “service retail street” and depended on easy access and good parking.
The proposal flew in the face of all good retailing psychology, he said.
