Tuesday, July 26, 2016
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THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF MID CANTERBURY
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Ashburton’s East Street, unrealised potential.
MPI sparks farmers’ ire P12
Ideas needed to lift inner town retail BY SUE NEWMAN
SUE.N@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ
Three-time NZ champ P24
Business leaders are calling for a think tank to find ways to revive Ashburton’s flagging retail heart. The growing number of empty shops tell a false story about the economic strength of the Ashburton District, but unless inner town retail is ramped up, Ashburton could become a town travellers simply drive through, Experience Mid Canterbury boss Bruce Moffatt, says. Along East Street there are a number of empty shops and more retail outlets will come on stream as the Canterbury earthquake rebuild is completed. Those shops need tenants to create inner town vibrancy, he said. Mr Moffat is calling for a high level think tank to come up with ideas to attract new businesses, possibly from the Auckland market. “I’ve seen a couple of really success-
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ful campaigns like this over time but it’s something that must be led by the council at an economic level. I’m really concerned because if you start getting gaps it just spirals down from there.” The loss of inner town retail might have many causes, but the district couldn’t afford to sit around and wait for solutions. The answers were needed now, he said. “We don’t have a big retail centre, but it could be a really vibrant one, I’d support anything that will revive the whole area. I’d love to see Ashburton become a retail destination.” Business Mid Canterbury board member Jeremy Adamson believes the answers to reviving Ashburton’s flagging retail heart are within the community, saying it was a matter of getting heads around the table to come up with the innovative ideas and the right marketing package. “We need to wrap up a campaign with
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all the features that tell people not only why it’s great to live here but also why it’s great to bring your business here,” he said. Business Mid Canterbury could facilitate a think tank and bring the right parties around the table, but the drive and the funding had to come from the Ashburton District Council, Mr Adamson said. “We need big players and we need people with wacky ideas, the ideas that can be teased out and become something valuable. We can sit on our backsides or we can do something and the best thing to do now is to get people around the table to talk and to see what comes out of that. But it needs to be a real conversation with the right people, not just lip service.”
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