Any discussion on
the difficulties of retailing at QVM will usually involve a trader saying “Things
are just as bad out in the shopping centres and on the high streets” and you
find yourself wondering if that is really true. Well, new data suggests that it
is true.
The Australian
Industry Group’s Performance of Services Index (which includes retail) stood at
47.5 for December. The index works on 50 as a median point with anything above
50 signifying expansion and anything below 50 indicating contraction.
A recent report in The
Age has suggested that even our glamour mining states, WA and Queensland, have
been really struggling as lower commodity prices and reduced investment impacts
on the local labour markets. The old adage of a two speed Australian economy
with mining states booming, and the other states stagnant, appears to be under
question and that has implications particularly for the top end of QVM where
interstate tourism is so important.
If we need some good
news, then lower petrol prices are significant. The reduction of around 40c per
litre over the last year translates to savings of $6.8 billion for the Australian
economy according to The Age and that means more disposable income for our customers..