Greenfields shop owners feel the bite

“He’s got that sense of pride, and it’s hitting him the hardest.

“The feeling that they’ve walked away and forgotten all about you it’s what hurts the most.

“It’s disappointing to feel that we worked so hard, we got to know their names, the kids birthdays.”

The Priest family have been trading in their small butcher’s shop in the Greenfields shopping precinct, Lenny’s Butcher, for 12 years.

Lenny Priest has been a butcher in Mandurah for 25 years, slowly building a loyal clientele. 

Now, the family is struggling to make the numbers add up, like most of the shop owners in the precinct since the new Greenfields shopping centre opened a few months ago five minutes drive down the road.

Ms Priest recalls seeing Mandurah locals dropping back to buy their bottle of wine for the night from the bottle shop, their meat from the butcher’s and their fresh produce from the small veggie shop.

That isn’t the case anymore.

“Customers aren’t coming anymore,” Ms Priest said.

“It’s done some damage, we are all feeling it.”

The Priest family, like most of the shops around, had to cut down on staff and only Lenny, Sam and their daughter work at shop anymore.

“They say Woolies is great because it gives people jobs but for the 10 people they employ it’s probably 20 or 30 people that have lost hours here,” Ms Priest said.

However, Ms Priest said what sentenced the precinct the most was the opening of the new BWS bottle shop next to Woolworths, which wiped out customers from the local liquor store who would then do their weekly shopping in the nearby shops.

Colin Warwick has been managing the Greenfields Liquor Store for 21 years.

Since the new BWS opened recently he has seen some of his loyal customers disappear.

“We are not going to hide anything, they’ve taken something of us,” he said.

“But I mean, we are ready for it, and we’ll fight back.

“It all comes down to politeness, I’m not saying they are not polite, but it’s the friendliness you’ve got here as a family operated business.”

Earl Brett, owner of Fresh Fruit and Veg, isn’t surrendering either.

“The business has dropped, the whole centre has dropped very quickly,” he said.

“It’s just like people disappeared.

“I can understand, they’ve got a lot more offer that we have here, so I don’t blame them for that.”

However, he encourages residents to think twice about shopping in big supermarkets. 

“I do believe that once Woolies and Coles get all the little ones out in years to come they’ll just put their prices up and there will be no one else left, so they’ll have the whole market.

“That’s why people should support the little bloke, because in years to come there won’t be a little bloke and people will be paying through their nose.”

He said they will continue working and he hoped people “will see the light”. 

Maz McLean, Ugly Mugs cafe owner, feels very optimistic despite the odds, and she said she sees huge potential in the area.

“People are blinkered, they’ll see a shopping centre and they get everything in that one shopping centre,” she said.

“But I have faith in this place to get better, we just need to get it on the map.”

She said she would like to see better signage and parking, a median strip with trees and flowers, benches to sit and a more inviting appearance. 

“It can be one of the best places in town if it looked good, it just needs a big makeover,” she said.

In a first step to achieve the site’s full potential, Ms McLean has organised the centre’s first street market at the precinct’s car park on Saturday.

The family-friendly event is open to everyone and will feature free food samples, information stalls from local businesses, live dancing and music, fitness pole dancing demonstrations and plenty of sitting area to linger around. 

Ms McLean said it’s all about transforming the centre into a destination place, and hopes to be able to hold the market once a month. 

The event will kick off at 10.30am and will go until 3pm.