2022
Incorporating
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
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Council candidates
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Museum fundraiser
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www.mansfieldcourier.com.au
Scouts celebrated
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Page 22
Retail reshuffle Changing small business landscape gives High Street a shake-up
NEVER FORGOTTEN THE Police Memorial Monument on the High and Highett St roundabout lit up blue in honour of fallen officers for the recent National Police Remembrance Day. PHOTO: Supplied/Mansfield Police
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THE Mansfield Newsagent has hosted its last hurrah, a thank-you barbecue to the community for their support and patronage over Frank and Moya Livingstone’s 20 year tenure at the High Street location. It is the end of an era, the town now without a newsagency for the first time in 132 years. As Mr Livingstone told the Courier the couple didn’t want to see the township without a newsagent, “but (the business) had been on the market for two and a half years and still had not had one expression of interest”. The doors closed and the windows taped over with paper, a new enterprise will be relocating to the soughtafter location with its large display windows, and expansive floor space. Under new branding, Andrew Storah from Mansfield Menswear is excited to be stocking a much larger range catering for both locals and visitors alike at the change of address. It’s been a vision he’s had for years but was unable to realise due to the size limitations of his current location. Now with five times the floor space, Andrew is looking forward to expanding his business and product offering to meet demand. And this situation it not an anomaly. There seems to be a bit of a game of musical chairs with available leaseholds
INCLUDING MIRRORS AND CLOCKS
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BY EMMA OLIVER eoliver@ nemedia.com.au
going on in town, as established businesses vie for better street frontages and spaces that are seen to be more conducive to trade. But within this where are the new businesses? This year has seen three gyms open, a hospitality venue and a couple of new law firms added to the mix, but retail has taken a hit. The Highett Street shopfronts that were once One Tree Two and Swell Pilates stand empty, the former amalgamating with Anyroom, in the shop that once housed lifestyle store Basic B. Invoke has shut up shop and remains for lease. And last week we lost Country Folk, another High Street shop gone within the year. Specialising in quality arts and crafts goods along with premium wools, yarns, haberdashery and sewing supplies, the store had been on the market for a few years without any takers. And out on Mt Buller Road, the team at High Country Mowers and Chainsaws also made the difficult decision to close the doors, September 26 marking their last day of trade. Another business that had been for sale for quite some time, the Husqvarna dealership didn’t find anybody committed to taking on what was a great enterprise. ■ Continued page 2