Shipping and mishandling: Coffee shop owner on why closure was brewing for a while

John McMillan made the call to close Muffin Break in Wodonga Plaza in April after 11 years and said the addition of several mobile and pop-up hospitality ventures to the city, primarily in Junction Square, were a factor.

The business first opened in 2001.

He said "there's no planning for the city of Wodonga" because Wodonga Council "allow pop-ups here, there and everywhere".

"Everywhere you look there's a shipping container with a coffee machine in it," Mr McMillan said.

Mr McMillan, who continues to operate a Muffin Break franchise in Albury's West End Plaza, said Wodonga residents were also too reliant on going across the river to shop.

"I think it's a reflection on decisions that were made during COVID. When everything shut down in Wodonga and Albury was open, Wodonga people never got out of that habit of going to Albury," he said.

Wodonga mayor Ron Mildren said the council could not be selective when it came to approvals for new businesses.

"The council doesn't have the legal ability to discriminate based on economic competition, no matter what," he said.

"If it's competition that's causing trouble to his position or his business, then the council can't do anything to solve that.

"Whether or not it's more convenient for customers to go to the pop-ups, that's another question you have to ask as well, because it's two different offerings.

"It's not really a planning thing, per se. The pop-ups have got rights to be there, because most of them are in areas where it's commercial anyway.

"The plaza should be a destination, and if it's not, then there's probably reasons, other than the pop-ups as to why things aren't actually there."

Cr Mildren said "hospitality businesses are changing almost every day" and what they offered had to change to keep pace with the community's needs.

"Certain hospitality places might only offer coffee, but others offer coffee and sandwiches, and in some cases, they offer other types of food," he said.

"When you're locked into a specific sort of franchise arrangement that isn't flexible to move with that, maybe that's had an impact as well.

"The pop-up businesses have been around for about probably 10 or more years. Sometimes they are in the wrong place and they can't make any money, other times they pick the right spot and everybody turns up.

"It's pretty hard to make generalisations about them at all."

Mr McMillan also felt there were not enough key services in Wodonga to attract shoppers.

"Everyone is saying on social media it's the rent (that is too high) and rent is a part of it, but it's the lack of services in Wodonga Plaza that are stopping people from going in there which makes the rent higher as a percentage of your sales," he said.

"It used to be a good business, but when the plaza lost Hume Bank and Woolworths, they lost the butcher and the baker and all those things, Wodonga people started going elsewhere. Who knows why all those things happened, because you never get told."

Wodonga Plaza management wished not to comment.

Mr McMillan said staffing shortages also impacted Muffin Break in Wodonga.

"It's really difficult to get staff. The girls we had were great, but it's difficult because people don't want to work," he said.

"It's all too late for Muffin Break Wodonga."

Ice cream shop Bubble and Scoop also ceased trading this year at Wodonga Plaza.