A LACK of customers has closed yet another Wagga Road business, prompting surviving Lavington traders to liken the once busy thoroughfare to a desert.
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Hungry Jack’s is the latest casualty of an ugly mix of falling trade and vandalism.
It closed late last month and joins WOW Sight and Sound, Grant’s Timber and Hardware and a Caltex service station to shut since 2010.
All four sites remain vacant.
The closure of Hungry Jack’s is heavily linked to its neighbour Caltex shutting in April with demand for Whoppers dropping dramatically as passing trade fell away.
A public relations company for the take-away giant said most staff had been transferred to the Albury franchise of Hungry Jack’s.
Nearby Wagga Road business owners continue to face difficulties in attracting customers and other problems such as vandalism.
Smarts Bakery owner Joanne Duffy said the downturn started about two years ago.
“It’s massively declined,” she said.
“Since the Hume Freeway opened it fell about 10 per cent.
“I don’t know what it is about Wagga Road but there’s nothing here ... it just looks like desert to be honest.
“You can stand out on the road from 7am to 9.15am on a Saturday morning and not see a car go past.”
Further up the road Albury Classic Motor Inn has had problems with vandals.
Owner Maree Fisher said business, mainly from online bookings, was strong.
But she said a greater police presence was sorely lacking.
“I’d like to see Grant’s developed into something and I’d like to see a police station out here,” she said.
“It’s shocking ... the vandals, and by the time you ring police they’re gone.
“I think the road needs something major to happen to it.
“When our guests come in they say ‘gosh that’s closed and that’s closed, what’s going on?’.”
