Camberwell Traders' Newsletter - Q3 2021

traders’ newsletter CAMBERWELL TRADERS ASSOCIATION NEWS

THIRD QUARTER 2021

IN THIS ISSUE Marketing update What’s on the menu?

CamberwellShopping

Camberwell on Canvas

camberwellshops

Retail and business update

camberwellshopping

A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT Dear fellow traders and professionals, The COVID-19 pandemic continues to challenge us.

The lockdowns, coming often and at the last minute, have made it hard for so many of our traders. Many of you had to close doors again and operate in a limited capacity, putting further strain on your business. We look forward to getting through this so our business community can return and thrive again.

I am pleased to share some personal news – Dymocks Camberwell is back in business! We have found a new home at 208 – 210 Camberwell Rd, a few doors up from Rivoli Cinemas. As many of you know, Dymocks Camberwell has been part of the precinct for more than 21 years so we are really pleased to be back in the precinct and welcome you to come in and say hello.

It has also been good to see some other vacant shops being leased, showing confidence in our shopping precinct. Some traders have taken this opportunity to relocate within the precinct and others have used the lockdown as a time to refresh and refurbish their stores.

New shop fit-outs and cleaning up shopfronts will help

MARKETING SNAPSHOT Marketing campaigns we have focused on in recent months include winter, Father’s Day, spring, and our food and dining promotion What’s on the menu?

Focusing on the message ‘warm up your winter’, our winter campaign promoted the ways people could make the most of the season by enjoying retail and service-based offerings in the Camberwell Junction precinct. The campaign gave entrants the chance to win $1000 to spend in the precinct.

Our Father’s Day campaign gave entrants the chance to win a $200 voucher to spend in Camberwell precinct – all they had to do was share their best (or worst) dad joke for a chance to win. The promotion was supported by website editorial and digital advertising.

The seasonal campaign for spring commenced as soon as the winter campaign finished, and focused on ways people could ‘spruce up for spring’. The campaign highlighted several retail categories including beauty salons to rejuvenate your skin, homewares stores to redecorate, new season fashion to reinvent your look, and wellness businesses to revive fitness regimes. The campaign gave entrants the chance to win $1000 to spend in the precinct.

Our What’s on the menu? campaign highlights the food and dining category and promotes ways that people can come to Camberwell Junction precinct and enjoy a range of global cuisines. We share more details about this specific campaign further down in this newsletter.

make the street look more vibrant when customers return, so let’s hope more get on board with this.

As the Christmas season approaches, it’ll be important for us to take advantage of extended daylight hours to maximise sales. You may want to extend your trading hours to allow customers to shop around their working hours. It’s also important to continue to offer extra services; some customers will still want to use click-andcollect and home deliveries. For restaurants, it may be worth making pickup takeaway cheaper to incentivise customers so you can save on using expensive thirdparty delivery services.

If you need advice or assistance in relation to marketing your business over the coming months, please contact our precinct manager Kerry Daly. We are still running promotions and marketing activities and have ways we can also promote your individual businesses.

I wish you all the best for the rest of the year.

Regards, Henk Kelly-Kobes President, Camberwell Centre Association

Our online marketing activities continue to yield strong results. Here’s a snapshot of Camberwell’s digital audience numbers: • More than 8,300 email addresses in our subscriber database • More than 141,300 visits to the websites over the past year • More than 8,600 followers on social media.

RETAIL AND BUSINESS UPDATE Dear retailers and professionals, We know it is tough for you all right now and hope that you are coping as best you can.

If you keep us informed about what you are doing we can help by sharing this information with the community on your behalf. We can also share any special offers, new products, additional services, or updated information so please keep us in the loop.

The Trader Portal tab on our website will keep you abreast of current information relevant to businesses.

This includes government packages, COVID-19 updates, and resources to support your business.

Please check it regularly. You may also want to look into education workshops or local networking, either in person when allowed or via webinars. You’ll find details at camberwellbusiness.com.au On a positive note, confidence and support of the Camberwell Junction precinct is high. Many in the community are shopping locally and new stores are being leased. Some traders have taken the opportunity to move within the precinct or refurbish their stores. We urge you to take a fresh look at your stores as we reopen to ensure they look clean and inviting as customers return. To help, we are offering 10 stores $500 to put towards repainting or repairing shopfronts.

We are also taking this time to refresh the branding and marketing direction of our precinct which will launch soon. Research shows a shift in demographics as new apartments are being built nearby. It has also become more important to identify as Camberwell Junction to better tie the two suburbs we straddle – Camberwell and Hawthorn East. Addresses feature more than ever in online searches and for delivery services, so the junction positions the entire precinct geographically.

Our regular marketing continues to keep customers engaged and creating community activities builds on local loyalty. We’ll also incorporate cross-promotion with the Rotary Camberwell Sunday Market to attract

a more diverse audience, and develop opportunities with Boroondara Council’s placemaking team to find ways to improve the visual appeal of the area.

Pending restrictions, our aim is to run the postponed CamberWELL-BEING event, to support the health and wellness category, in spring. Spring is also a focus for hair and beauty services, new season style, and floral displays. We’re preparing for Christmas – the biggest campaign in our yearly marketing calendar – which includes print and digital marketing, street decorations, and our popular Christmas Family Day. We continue to bolster our digital presence, with regular updates to the camberwellshopping.com.au website, including updating your individual trader pages. We publish regular SEO-driven articles to improve our performance in search engines and highlight individual traders, thereby increasing customer awareness of the diverse range of businesses in the precinct. This has become an important part of our marketing strategy as recent data shows that 70 per cent of our website traffic comes from organic search – people actively looking for your businesses.

Reports show promising results for the marketing we have been running, including an annual increase of 78 per cent in unique users to our websites. In recent months, the Camberwell Shopping homepage has generated 12-15 per cent of overall website traffic, meaning people are actively searching for our brand rather than stumbling upon our content through other sources. This shows the importance of having strong brand awareness for our precinct, the value in having your business in this location, and supports why you should also promote your business as being part of the Camberwell Junction precinct.

Please get in touch if there is anything else you need from the association. We are here for you.

Take care and stay positive, Kerry Daly Manager, Camberwell Centre Traders Association

REFRESH YOUR SHOPFRONT The Camberwell Centre Association is giving your business the chance to refresh your shopfront, to ensure it looks clean and inviting as customers return. We are offering 10 stores $500 to put towards repainting and repairing their shopfronts. To apply, send details of how you would spend the money via email to Kerry Daly: kdaly@camberwellca.com.au

CAMBERWELL ON CANVAS FOOD AND DINING CAMPAIGN Our food and dining promotion, What’s on the menu?, returned with a fresh new look this year.

Following last year’s success, we revived the campaign with lighter and brighter imagery and branding – we retained the gold colouring for consistency but shifted to a white palette complemented by bright food imagery to make the campaign visually striking.

We refreshed the campaign’s dedicated landing page, which houses all supporting content such as a series of food articles that highlights specific cuisines available in Camberwell Junction precinct, a new promotional video, and branded imagery. You can view the landing page here: camberwellshopping.com.au/whats-on-the-menu As a way to drive local residents to food businesses in Camberwell, this year’s campaign included a competition element. We gave people the chance to win one of ten $100 vouchers to spend at a selected Camberwell restaurant.

All they had to do was dine in at any restaurant or cafe in Camberwell, or grab takeaway from their favourite eatery, and upload a copy of their receipt for an eligible entry. This encouraged people to spend money locally at food businesses while promoting the excellent variety of cuisines available in the precinct.

Camberwell’s unique community art trail, Camberwell on Canvas, will run from October 18 to November 7. The trail will operate as a virtual experience, so everyone can get involved online, and will aim to showcase the artworks in shop windows, pending COVID-19 restrictions. Artists ranging from amateurs to professionals will create artworks to show their interpretation of this year’s theme: Local – what does that mean to you?

ENERGY SAVERS PROGRAM Boroondara Council has launched the Energy Savers program to help local businesses save thousands of dollars every year with energy-efficient upgrades.

Under this program, businesses can upgrade to reverse cycle air-conditioners, retrofit to LED lighting, replace inefficient gas hot water systems, and install energy efficient fridges, freezers, ventilation fans and motors. Details: businessenergysavers.org/register

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM PLAN Have your say on Boroondara Council's Economic Development and Tourism Plan which will ensure the area remains a great place for our community to live, work, study and play. Simply respond to this online survey by October 22 and you'll go in the draw to win one of 3 x $100 vouchers: engage.boroondara.vic. gov.au/economic-development-plan Alternatively, if you run a home-based business, you can express interest in attending a focus group.

Details: https://bit.ly/3yslE4c

MARKETING CALENDAR What’s coming up?

SEPTEMBER ✓ Spring/summer fashion season begins ✓ Spring school holidays (September 18 – October 3) ✓ Camberwell Business Forum Webinar (September 28)

OCTOBER ✓ Spring school holidays (September 18 – October 3) ✓ Camberwell on Canvas (October 18 – November 7) ✓ Halloween (October 31)

NOVEMBER ✓ Camberwell on Canvas (October 18 – November 7) ✓ Melbourne Cup Day (November 2)

DECEMBER ✓ The Camberwell Citizen issue #12 available ✓ Camberwell Christmas Family Day (TBC) ✓ Summer school holidays (December 18 – January 30) ✓ Christmas Day (December 25) ✓ Boxing Day (December 26)

NETWORKING EVENTS Meet other traders, professionals and community members to share ideas and issues.

TRADER AND BUSINESS FORUMS The next Camberwell Business Forum will run as a webinar on Tuesday, September 28. The free event, open to all retail and service-based businesses, will explore the topic of the 7 Ps of marketing and how they can be applied to your business. To register, visit camberwellbusiness.com.au The Camberwell Business Forums offer local businesses a great opportunity to meet and network.

Drinks and nibbles will be provided. Guest speakers and topics for future events will be posted on camberwellbusiness.com.au. Events are FREE for Camberwell traders or $25 for non-members, unless otherwise stated.

THE CAMBERWELL BUSINESS CLUB The Camberwell Business Club events are on hold during lockdowns, but will return once restrictions ease.

Ordinarily, the club meets every Monday for lunch (from February to December), from 1pm – 2pm sharp, and features a guest speaker. It costs $25 for casual attendance or membership packages are available. It’s a great chance to get out of the (home) office and meet fellow business operators over a light lunch.

Details: camberwellbusinessclub.com.au

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE BUSINESSES It is difficult to keep up with new operators in the precinct, particularly those in upper levels, so please keep us informed. The camberwellshopping.com.au website is not just for retailers — businesses can use it too.

If your business deals directly with the public or works with other small businesses, please let us know. We can create a web page for you at no cost.

We remind all businesses to check out camberwellbusiness.com.au, where we post local business events held in Camberwell. If you are hosting a local seminar or event, we can also help promote it for free. Send info to: info@camberwellca.com.au

TRADER PORTAL Please see our Trader Portal tab on the website for helpful advice for rent negotiations, mediation, business and mental health support programmes available to you. camberwellshopping.com.au/ccaassociation-news

SHOP NEWS

Catch up with new businesses, store moves and other news.

HATS OFF HANDMADE HEADWEAR 514 Riversdale Rd New to Camberwell, Hats Off Handmade Headwear is a premium producer of unique and stylish bespoke millinery and everyday headwear.

The store offers a large range of one-off stocked pieces, and unlimited capacity to create your dream hat.

LUMINESCENCE SKIN THERAPIES Shop 2, 796 Burke Rd New to Camberwell, Luminescence Skin Therapies provides a wide range of skin and beauty services tailored to individual needs. Services include facials, make-up, lashes and brows, nails, body massages, and waxing.

MARLAENA ALEXIS 253 Camberwell Rd Marlaena Alexis is an eyebrow stylist and cosmetic tattooist based in Camberwell. Services include cosmetic tattoo consultation, ombre tattoo, feather touch tattoo, combination tattoo, brow sculpting, henna brows, eyebrow lamination, and lash lift and tint.

RAINBOW MEATS Shop 4, Camberwell Place, 793 Burke Rd Congratulations to Camberwell's Rainbow Meats – they have won gold for their plain barbecue beef sausage and their pork, fennel and red wine sausage at the Australian Meat Industry Council’s (AMIC) 2021 Sausage King, Best Burger and Smallgoods Awards, for Metro A and B regions.

SILVERMAPLE BOUTIQUE Rear, 2/616 Burke Rd Women’s fashion store Silvermaple Boutique has relocated to Rear, 2/616 Burke Rd. The new store, accessible via Market Place, still stocks brands like Mela Purdie, Verge, Not Your Daughter’s Jeans, Tani, and OneSeason.

STEPHENS & MILLER 789 Burke Rd After more than 60 years in their Prospect Hill Rd location, jeweller Stephens & Miller will soon relocate to 789 Burke Rd. The new store will give them extra space to create custom designs and showcase a bigger selection of fine jewellery.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESIDENT Henk Kelly-Kobes Dymocks Bookstore 9882 0032 VICE PRESIDENT Ray Orr Mail Boxes Etc 9813 2200 TREASURER Daniel Piciocco Aintree Group 9851 7933 SECRETARY Bev Wooffindin Camberwell Secretariat 9813 2707

MEMBERS Wayne Chen The Gift Bargain Store 0433 159 949 Natalie Daw Helloworld Travel Camberwell 9963 1280 Neil Earle Earle & Company 9882 0233 George Keskerides Terry White Chemist 9882 6655 Chris Risteski Column Financial Solutions 9859 8214

If you would like to become a member of the association or take a role on the committee contact the president to discuss.

WEEKLY MEETINGS Our weekly meetings are currently on hold. However, all traders are welcome to contact precinct manager Kerry Daly to discuss any marketing or relevant issues. Call (03) 9813 4190 or email kdaly@camberwellca.com.au

STAY INFORMED The traders' association sends out monthly email newsletters with current business, news and marketing updates to ensure you stay informed about what’s going on in the precinct. If you are not receiving these emails then we either do not have your current email address or you need to check your spam filters.

Please contact us if you are having any issues with receiving the email newsletter.

CONTACT US For further information regarding topics in this newsletter, please contact: Kerry Daly Camberwell Centre Association Manager Lvl 1, Camberwell Place, 793 Burke Rd Camberwell VIC 3124 Phone / Fax: (03) 9813 4190 info@camberwellca.com.au