Ponsonby businesses are being wrongly convinced trade will increase if people ‘come to but not pass through’.
Understandably, they’re afraid after recent iconic businesses closures but that advice will be a death sentence to retail.
Panuku and Auckland Transport want to reshape our town centres and villages that involves ‘innovating streets’ into one homogeneous, characterless look without the parking. That’s more likely to push customers to malls with plenty of parking. They are backed by Main Street Managers without design or behavioural science training. It’s based on urbanists’ belief that roads are real estate up for the picking, and on European cities with large populations.
We have all seen what happens to villages when a motorway bypasses them. They become ghost towns unless they have something very special to attract people to go out of their way. When was the last time you detoured to Pokeno for the biggest ice creams in the country or for bacon or Mercer for cheese?
The same applies to our shopping villages and town centres.
We are inherently lazy. We take the path of the least resistance. Even a simple step up into a shop can greatly reduce shoppers. Arcades and detours off the main path, people must be encouraged to go there, otherwise they are just in the 'too hard basket’. Shopping malls are designed to make passing sales at smaller stores as you pass by on your way to the supermarket, Farmers or K Mart. Malls' biggest ‘attractor’ is parking. The new airport mall has 600 car parks.
Supermarkets rely on passing trade by providing easy parking and placement of items to attract you to make other purchases while you’re there. The same applies to our villages and town centres – as you pass by, you shop, but only if you can stop.
It’s only as we drive through on the way home from a busy day that we remember to pick up a bottle of wine, a bunch of flowers, a bottle of milk or something for dinner. We used to stop for a newspaper but now are more likely to view news online or on television. Takeaways are also a good reason to stop, but now easy methods of delivery make that an easier choice.
An ‘attractor’ benefits sales in the whole village. Sales are from passersby and destination shoppers if people can find parking. Mt Eden was ‘recession’ resistant because of the butcher. When Ross retired, Pokeno Bacon took over. Now, especially with the increased length of bus stops, it too is experiencing empty shops. Westmere Village has the Westmere Butchery and people stream there from far away, where they can find plenty of P30 parking in the extension of Garnet Road that stops commuters parking there all day. It’s not just a good butcher that attracts customers, West Lynn had Harvest until recently. There was never enough parking and the entrance to Warnock Street was often blocked. When Harvest lost the car parks outside the shop, the customers stopped, the business died. Ponsonby Road's ‘attractor’ is 'munch mile'.
Queen Street has suffered badly since it bought into the ‘to not through’ theory. There used to be a stream of commuters from Parnell making their way to the Harbour Bridge along Victoria Street and another group from Mission Bay along Quay Street. Narrowing those streets and Queen Street with either end blocked off with revenue traps along with reducing parking has killed a lot of retail. The Victoria Street ‘Linear Park’ on this steep street is another deterrent and now AT and Panuku are looking at pedestrianising High Street. This is also the ‘killer plan’ for steep Mercury Lane. As if K’ Road hasn’t suffered enough!
To shop, people need to be able to stop. These are car drivers with space for groceries and purchases. Whether petrol or electric they take the same road or parking space. Bus commuters don’t stop on the way past their destination. That is likely to be a village, or at least a dairy. Because people have to wait for buses, if you have the ‘right’ retail, then a bus stop can be a great asset. My friend Matt who owns Smoove in K' Road loves his bus stop. But. at the other end of the block, groups of people don’t wait for buses so they would be better served by quick-turn-around car parks.
Now, it isn’t all quite as simple as this as we are spoilt for choice with overseas purchases from online shopping and there’s a recession. Ponsonby Road retailers please ‘don’t drink the kool aid’, you need passing trade and they need somewhere to stop. So, at all costs, save your parking. Don’t create obstacles for commuters, they’re your bread and butter. (Gael Baldock)
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