Is our Government cutting existing projects whilst they skite about new projects?

After spending billions this year for little result, that future generation will have to repay, our Governments have started to talk a lot about spending money on infrastructure projects to create jobs. However it seems thay have no interest in protecting small business with existing committed infrastructure projects and are actually cutting them back.

A case in point is the the RTA’s new announcement that they have deleted the Ivy Lane exit from the Tintenbar to Ewingsdale Pacific Highway upgrade. This exit was to have been the major access to the famous Macadamia Castle from the Highway.

Under the new plan it would now be necessary for travellers from the North to exit 16 KM before the highway or backtrack 8km to visit the Castle. From the South visitors will have to exit at Ross Lane, travel 4km to the Castle and then continue on 13Km to rejoin the Highway. ( Yeah Right!)

This will have major detrimental effects on the Macadamia Castle and threatens its very existence. Macadamia Castle hopes to survive but may have to make drastic cuts to staff and infrastructure spending

The Macadamia Castle has become a landmark and well known place of interest to visit for people using the current highway.

As a major Retail business, Macadamia Castle at Knockrow is the area’s largest employer and a major purchaser of local goods. Each month over $200,000 is spent on local wages, produce and services. The business is 35 years old. The Castle is a major trainer of local youth in conjunction with TAFE. It provides a safe meeting place for Mums with young kids.

The Animal Park and is a destination for many school groups and holiday care programmes. It is a showcase for local products stocking over 200 local food items.  Its Café is a showcase for regional Cuisine.

Tony Gilding of the Macadamia Castle had the following to say about the RTA:-
“Despite the smooth words in the RTA documents :-
- The RTA has conducted no economic analysis of the impact on the Macadamia Castle.
- The RTA has made no predictions about the traffic flow that will result from these changes. In particular the issue of how residents and visitors from the North travelling to the  South of Byron such as Suffolk Park will exit the highway. The RTA’s suggestion that many of them will exit at Ewingsdale and travel through Byron Bay town would put pressure on already crowded Byron CBD.
- There is no compensation offered.
- There are vague indications of tourist routes and signage but no specifics.”

So how about spending the original planned infrastructure budget in this case where there is a clear and measurable impact and stop pretending its all new infrustructure spending.

Gifts and homewares retailers will be pleased to hear March and April retail sales growth statistics heading into to their first Gift and homewares trade fair of the coming Christmas/Summer season. The home and giving fair will be held 4th to 7th July at Sydney Olympic  Park, Homebush NSW and GHA exhibitors are cautiously optimistic of a reasonable result follwing a better than expected end to last season at the February 2009 Home & giving fair.

New South Wales leads the way with the highest increase in retail sales growth according to the latest ABS statistics. New South Wales grew by 1.3%,  with Queensland (+0.8%), Tasmania (+0.5%) and the Australian Capital Territory (+0.9%). Victoria was virtually unchanged, while South Australia (-0.1%), Western Australia (-2.4%) and the Northern Territory (-4.6%) all decreased in April 2009.
Australia wide, the Retail sales figures have again risen in April with a national increase of 0.3% following a 2.2% incease in March 2009.

Industries that had an increase in April 2009 (seasonally adjusted) were - Clothing and soft good retailing (+0.8%), Household good retailing (+3.9%) and Other retailing (+0.1%), while the Food retailing (-0.2%), Department stores (-2.8%) and Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (-0.5%) industries had a decrease.

Whilst there are retailers and wholesalers already struggling to get through a tougher year in 2009 and concerned about the selling season ahead. The switched on core of the industry will be concentrating on being better focused and better organised to fine tune their efforts and their retail sales results. 

Retailers, if you’re thinking about planning your summer 2009 gifts and homewares products retail sales, it’s always better to start early. 

Those serious retailers, particularly that huge slab of Australia’s retailers that are just a day trip to Homebush, will be already planning their trip to the inaugural July Home & Giving trade Fair at The Sydney Showgrounds in Homebush NSW. 

Retailers know that the better performing Importers and wholesalers who are again bringing in new products for the 2009 summer season, those wholesalers that always have new stock that sells well, will be among those exhibiting at Sydney’s July Home & Giving Trade Fair. They will be changing with the right strategy and exhibiting in Sydney, the biggest Australian retailing hub, instead of backing off with old stock and low confidence or sticking with a provincial fair in Brisbane that continues to shrink. 

February Home and Giving Fair surprised a lot of participants who expected a bigger slowdown, when in reality we still have high employment in this country. The RBA and the IMF are already saying recovery will be better and/or sooner than initially expected. 

Retailers that don’t plan and get among those ordering that new stock which is in the pipeline, may be among those forced to buy more of that older, slower, stock that some wholesalers have plenty off. 

Whilst quite times mean big ticket items are on hold for many consumers, small luxuries and nick knacks are far too much of a temptation for many to resist, particularly whilst times are not that bad and predicted to get better. So stick to the low price point items, stick to what you know and to well established wholesalers who know what sells and above all, keep plenty of fresh new stock in front of your customers. Give them a good reason to make the plunge, a purchase that they can’t resist.

Following their great February gift fair GHA  has announced planns for bigger and better things for their inaugural July Home & Giving Fair at the Sydney Showground that helps make it a very attractive event for Australian retailers.

• A soft opening on Friday exclusively reserved for the exhibitor’s invited top buyers – providing a full afternoon of stress-free customer attention, ending with music, cocktails and canapés.
• Free demonstrations by renowned artists:
  • Alex Perry on Saturday – Fashion-conscious Interiors
  • Jamie Durie on Sunday – Outdoor Living
  • Donna Hay on Monday – Cooking
• Daily Visual Merchandising presentations and free one-on-one customised Visual Merchandising analyses by the masters at AUSVM.
• Hourly, topical, and free seminars conducted by retail experts on key business areas aimed to help you succeed.  (with more details to follow on that).
• Expanded Chill-Out Zones for buyers’ rest, relaxation and refreshment.

Serious exhibitors have already commmitted to the July Sydney fair long term ( at discounted rates) because they know that Sydney July is the right timing in the right location. The sheer population within driving distance from Sydney makes it easily Australias biggest market place. 

Well established exhibitors know that retailers in Australias biggest market are going to enjoy getting first look at new designs for the season with the surety of getting stocks of even the most popular new designs. (Because after July, exhibtors can still get stock manufactured in time for Christmas, whilst you can’t do that after the August Fair when it is simply too late). 

Exhibitors at GHA’S recent Home & Giving February Fair have reported between 20 and 80 per cent increases in onsite sales despite industry concerns of decreases in discretional retail spending.  The Effect of Economic Recessions on Exhibitions, published in January by the Centre for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR), reports that whilst the number of visitors to a show might be lower during down turns, the quality of attendees is high and every person who attends represents a business opportunity for exhibitors that their absent competition do not have.  Despite numbers for the annual February Fair being down 12.3 per cent over the four days, testimonials from exhibitors supported claims made in the report and revealed that though there were less people on the floor, more people were buying, and they were buying more.  “The success of an exhibition is always critiqued according to the number of people that spill through the doors. The method is outdated and does not offer a true indication of the success of the fair or its individual exhibitors. As demonstrated at our February Fair, and supported in the CEIR’s report, the number of visitors does not directly correlate with sales achieved onsite,” said Alby Taylor, Director, GHA.     According to GHA, essential to the success of a national trade fair is the quality of exhibitors, products and displays. For the February Fair, GHA initiated a Key Exhibitor initiative and positioned industry-leading companies in key locations for maximum impact and to attract quality buyers to the floor.  Designer jewellery exhibitor NanJing Road has reported that the February Gift Fair proved successful for them once again and met the company’s high level of expectation.  “My perception was that the standard of presentation and quality of exhibitors at the February 09 Home & Giving Gift Fair was of the highest order, in fact the best ever,” said David Gay, NanJing Road. “More importantly, the general consensus from retailers indicated that they enjoyed the ambience of the fair and the high standard of exhibitors with quality products made the experience very conducive to doing business,” he concluded.  Renowned worldwide for its beautiful gifts and everyday luxuries, Crabtree & Evelyn also laid praise to the fair, attributing its success to professional management, new layout and high quality of exhibitor and visitor services.  “The ambience created by the layout and the quality of stands was relaxed and professional. Our customers appeared more relaxed and unhurried. They revelled in our new larger installation, stayed longer and were able to discuss all aspects of their Crabtree & Evelyn business in a peaceful and private environment,” said Lyndie Randall, Crabtree & Evelyn.  Innovative homewares company Zimba Designs was thrilled with the whole experience of the February Fair from operational logistics associated with move in and move out, to representation of their buyer base. “After nine years we decided to move to the Home & Giving Fair this year – I can’t overstate how pleased we are with the move! Most importantly, speaking as a kitchen supplier, we welcomed a far better representation of our buyer base than at our previous exhibition site,” said Stephen Loughlin, Zimba Designs Ltd.  “The Home & Giving Fair clearly has the edge in terms of showcasing market-leading kitchen suppliers and it only makes sense to be a part of that mix,” he said.  Long term Home & Giving exhibitor, Baden P Morris, commented that the fair was ‘surprisingly good’ considering the current plethora of negative press surrounding the ‘economic doom and gloom’.  “Our sales were slightly up on last year and comments from retailers were also positive. We had strong interest in our new range of Coyote Painted Glassware and range extensions from our key brands were also well received,” said Dean Osmond, Director, Baden P Morris.  According to Osmond, it is important that people maintain some positivity in an attempt to cope with the current state of the economy.  “Whilst we head into March and the second quarter with nervous anticipation, we are of the belief that maintaining a positive approach is the best way to survive and even prosper in what are interesting times,” Osmond said.