Monday 2 April 2012

Dear Mr. Doyle.....

There have been few more provocative newspaper articles for traders than our Lord Mayor’s suggestion in yesterday’s Herald-Sun that the general merchandise category at QVM needs to be reduced by half (that’s roughly how the maths come out).
If you wrote a response to Mr. Doyle, what would you say? Is the general merchandise component of the market too big? Is there too much trash? Would trader’s benefit from a more condensed general merchandise offer? What other components would you introduce to the market to make it more appealing?
There are so many questions. This is your forum for discussion. If you were writing to Mr. Doyle, what would you say?

COMMENTS:
01/04/2012 07:51:15 You are forgetting the tourist component Mr. Doyle. Tourists come to the market to buy general merchandise not fresh food.

01/04/2012 08:17:00 Actually a change could be good. Retailing is certainly very tough at present. Re-vitalising, done well, could be better for all.   

 01/04/2012 16:02:57 I think we all agree that action is necessary, the problem here is what, how and why. Thats what I would be keen to discuss with all concerned. Decades long relative neglect, complacency and inaction by has been largely responsible for the present state of affairs and it is unacceptable that general merchandise stallholders should be used as scapegoats and bear the brunt of this new found desire and vision for a better Market.   

01/04/2012 17:57:55 "make saturday and sunday, parking free day. not only in the market car park,
but on a radius of say half a kilometre . the streets are empty, no need to have parking officers looking for shoppers who might go over the time."   
                                                
01/04/2012 20:05:17 Perhaps the general merchandise needs revitalising so that there is better quality and greater variety. It certainly doesn't need more fresh food as this is a world renown tourist mecca for those looking for a bargain or something unique to take back home, not something to eat.

02/04/2012 03:56:52 "first,all stall holders should do their best to improve the look of thier stall(NICE HAGERS,BETTER SINGS, CARY BAGS (AND NOT BUTCHER BAGS)AND MUCH MORE).they have to make the market look more inviting and also much more competative, especialy this days that all looking for a bargain.the market inspectors got to go around and in a friendly way sugest to each stall holder what they think needs to be done in their stall in order to improve the look and service  etc.after all its in our benefit to do somthing about it.there are many stalls that need a bit of a shake-up in order to belong to this century,and all this can be done with a good friendly advice and very small cost.
second,its not a bad idea maby to alow some food products stalls to take over some of the vacant stalls in diferent parts of the market.
third,to transform M shed in to a food erea,that will make mr Doyle and also all the traders very happy.
last thing,free parking its esencial at least on weekends.this days every shoping centre provides free parking in order to boost tradings but the QVM charges for parkings .its not right.if going to the market is getting a bargain ,the parking cost takes away all the fun and savings.
i think that we as stall holders must meet and come to some agreements about lots of things befor its too late.    "                                      

02/04/2012 08:05:03"As a general merchandise stallholder, I couldnt agree more with the Lord Mayor. We love visiting other countries/states and the main thing we seek when travelling and visiting markets is good food/eating and shopping for quailty products. Our market is riddled with cheap clothing, junky souvenirs/products, and bad attitude from the stallholders. Sometimes when i walk thru the market i feel like I should be in smaller markets in the outer suburbs, this is not the way one should feel when going thru a Melbourne Landmark. Unfortunately, it is management who has created this situation we are in by choosing these stallholders, so the first move should be to change the selection process. We are lagging behind the rest of Australia, and even the world.  We need to be on par with markets such as freemantle and to do that we need to reduce the GM area in half and only have stallholders like the  night market has.  It is clear that few stall holders are making money at the GM area so why not stop complaining and instill change, move the stalls to other areas of Melbourne, go where the products are best suited.
We know that Night Market is doing very well so we need to do the same thing we do for the NM at the day market.  It's hard for the market because this is how it has been for tens of years and no one wants to change, they would rather wait until they all go bankrupt. Introducing free parking will not work, it will only make it easier for visitors to the food section. Next they will be blaming high petrol prices !! What people dont understand is why would someone travel from dandenong to QVM to see exactly the same thing they can see in their own suburb??  We have been in communication with stallholders from Salamanca, Freemantle and Mindle and all of them are booming, making lots of money. The question is, how do you offer compensation to stalls that are no longer relevant to the market and have been there for several generations? Management is mainly looking at things from a dollar perspective, reducing the stallholders by half means that they will reduce their income by half from GM and replacing these stalls with food stalls will not be a solution because then there will be too many food stalls.
Perhaps they need to be looking at using that half of the market as something else?  Change is welcome!! "
 


02/04/2012 09:05:27 Its a nice idea to ask stallholders to shape up but realistically this is not going to happen, its even harder to change product lines. We have to just be realistic, get young talented business/stall holders in who understand product, who understand the important of having a presentable stand. Cut the market in half, turn the stalls into lockable shops like they do in F shed, and bring electricity back on. We need to make the market more presentable and asking current stallholders to tidy up a little just isnt going to cut it, we need a massive renovating job on the market and how its run.

 02/04/2012 10:51:14 I suspect "cutting the market by half" was a throw away line because our Heritage Listing means the market stays as it is but it does raise the question of how you fill the void if any category of trader is reduced and how you restructure. Some interesting comments here - Ed 

02/04/2012 20:40:50 parking, parking, and more parking. free or not. only enough parking will bring the customers back to qvm.