City vacancies ‘down’

JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
CENTRAL Geelong has defied winter gloom and retail woes to record a fall in the number of empty shops, according to latest research.
Richard Jenkins, of property research firm Opteon, said the vacancy rate dropped from 8.4 to 8.2 per cent in the past six months.
“These results bode well for Geelong, which is considered one of Victoria’s fastest-growing regional cities,” he said.
Mr Jenkins said street frontage vacancies decreased from 9.7 to 8.9 per cent.
“Certainly some retailers have struggled in line with the closure through recent administrations of Borders and Brown Sugar. However, the opening of new stores including Dimmeys and the Reject Shop has generated leasing activity.
“Interestingly, there has been a rise of one per cent to 6.1 per cent in vacancies for the more-expensive prime shops, while the vacancy rate for secondary stock fell from 13 to 11.2 per cent.”
Mr Jenkins said new tenants in the central city area included Trenery, Witchery, GNC Livewell, Dimmeys and Mad Cap Cafe.
Notable departures included Borders, Angus and Robertson, Brown Sugar, Perfume Empire, Vodafone and Renegade Republic.
“Fifty-one per cent of retail vacancy resides in premises larger than 500 square metres,” Mr Jenkins said.
The Independent reported in April that Opteon believed its figures demonstrated Geelong’s so-called CBD crisis was perception rather than reality.
In the latest report, Mr Jenkins said department stores still accounted for the highest amount of occupied space in the central city area at 19.8 per cent.
Clothing and footwear was next on 14.6 per cent, then food retailing at 11.9 per cent.
Opteon commercial services director Todd Devine said retailers were seeking smaller spaces.
“The onus is on landlords to consider subdividing these larger premises to attract new tenants into the CBD rather than wait for a single retailer to occupy the entire vacant space.
“While retail sales growth is modest, a number of national and international retailers continue to plan to expand, capitalising on Geelong’s growing population.”
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