What does life after Le Cornu look like? Keswick furniture businesses report a drop in foot traffic
IT’S been just over a month since iconic South Australian retailer Le Cornu shut its prominent Anzac Highway warehouse. Today, we look at the impact the closure’s had on nearby businesses.
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FURNITURE businesses near the former Le Cornu warehouse in Keswick say customer numbers have dropped off since its closure.
However, they say the decrease in foot traffic has done little to hurt their bottom lines.
Discount Lounge Centre manager Warren Wyatt said fewer people were coming through the doors of his Anzac Highway sofa shop since Le Cornu closed on October 9, but sales were similar to last year.
He said previously, customers were travelling to the area to browse at Le Cornu and then stopping in at nearby stores, and those people were now shopping closer to home.
Mr Wyatt said post-Christmas sales would be the proof in the pudding.
“When the actual boom time comes — between December 26 and 30 — that’s when things will really show,” Mr Wyatt said.
“At the moment, the northern people have less reason to travel beyond Gepps Cross when you don’t have Le Cornu here.”
With Le Cornu’s $30 million in annual sales out of the market, Classic Timber Furniture retail operations manager Peter Raymond said there was reason to be positive.
“If you could pick up 10 per cent of that, you’d pick up good numbers,” Mr Raymond said.
He said customer numbers were down at his store, but sales were steady.
Taste Furniture owner Peter Walkom said this was not such a bad thing because the customers that seemed to have disappeared were those who wanted cheaper products than his store offered.
“We don’t expect it to make too much difference to us,” Mr Walkom said.
“It will drive traffic down a little bit but traffic we didn’t really want.”
Fantastic Holdings bought the Le Cornu business from the Le Cornu family in 2008 for $1.3 million but earlier this year it announced it would close because of deteriorating profits.
The Le Cornu family put the 3.5ha site on the market in September last year.
Jones Lang LaSalle head of sales and investments Roger Klem said negotiations were ongoing with potential buyers who were considering a range of uses.
The State Government announced in May last year that it would rezone parts of Keswick, Forestville and Everard Park along Anzac Highway and Leader St for buildings up to 10 storeys high.