The pop-up businesses offering food and coffee in Wodonga's Junction Place have been overwhelmingly endorsed by visitors this week.
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Hospitality operator Piccolo Pod, which first moved to the site in 2015, Pinchos Catering and Andiamo Street Food, ice cream store Topolino Gelateria, along with florist Thistle and Fern, are based in shipping containers there.
That style of venture drew criticism on Tuesday, May 7, from operator of the former Muffin Break store in Wodonga Plaza John McMillan, who felt Wodonga Council's approval of pop-up businesses, such as those at Junction Place, had contributed to the demise of the franchise he had operated for 11 years.
Baranduda's Jeff Ash said he visited Piccolo Pod four or five times a week.
"I like being able to have a coffee outside and sit in the sun around some nice trees. This time of year is the perfect weather to be outside," he said.
"With COVID around, it's also better to be outside than inside.
"The parking is obviously needed because the car park is very full most of the time.
"It's a great area for outdoor entertainment."
Mr Ash and his wife Helen said they occasionally shopped at Wodonga Plaza, usually if they required something from Target, but felt the rise of online shopping had reduced customer numbers at malls.
"I think in some ways, the days of malls are limited," he said.
"There's so much shopping online and I think COVID pointed out to us that shopping and huddling around inside was not the only way to live.
"There's a general downturn in trade and with the cost of living at the moment, they're normally the things that go.
"If I had a young family, going out for coffee is something I would give up."
Mrs Ash said vendors in shopping centres in some cases had a different customer base to those purchasing from an outdoor site.
"All four of the containers here do a great job," she said.
Albury's Robyn King said she regularly travelled across the Border to spend time at Junction Place.
"There's nothing like it in Albury. The coffee is good and the flowers are good," she said.
"It's a completely different market.
"I really like the containers. I like the Brekkie Box up on the corner (of High and Wodonga streets) as well.
Belinda Adams often made her way in from Chiltern to enjoy the surrounds on offer.
"We bring our labrador in here and it's beautiful," she said.
"If you're in the plaza doing shopping, you might stop and get a coffee, but you're not probably not going there just for that."
Business Wodonga chief executive Graham Jenkin said while it was disappointing whenever a business closed, he hoped it wouldn't take long to fill the void.
"It's an opportunity for somebody else to go into one of those spaces and maybe do something different. Where somebody sees loss, somebody else sees opportunity," he said.
"We're seeing a lot of that rejuvenation around the centre of Wodonga at the moment with businesses that have moved out or closed or amalgamated, and shops are being quickly snapped up by somebody else."
Wodonga Council has been contacted for comment.
Mayor Ron Mildren last week said "hospitality businesses are changing almost every day" and what they offered had to change to keep pace with the community's needs.