Sherwood Rd traders call for more restaurants, council support as centre struggles for customers
A suburban shopping strip lies dormant at night despite a growing population and locals say the time is right for restaurateurs to take a chance and bring the street to life.
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TRADERS believe they have the solution to revive a niche suburban shopping strip that is often overlooked by residents and neglected by council.
For lease signs pepper Sherwood Rd, Sherwood where there are about a dozen empty premises including a 122 sqm eatery that until recently was a Coffee Club.
However, traders say the precinct can completely turn itself around with a few restaurants to provide after-dark drawcards and the council tipping in to beautify the area.
Unlike many struggling strip shopping precincts, parking is not an issue, says local barber Julian Norris who pointed out the dozens of off-street spaces along the strip.
Having been wielding his clippers for 15 years in his Sherwood Rd barber shop, Mr Norris has a great feel for the area.
He said the absence of a night time economy and imposing rents were concerns although the road would benefit by lowering the speed limit and creating a ‘shared zone’ to make it more pedestrian friendly.
“There’s talk of beautifying the strip and slowing traffic down,” Mr Norris said.
“That would make a huge difference and restaurants would greatly help”.
He also pointed out that there were two locations cherry-ripe for restaurants including one that was a much-loved fish and chip shop that shut because of escalating rents.
“That store (former Coffee Club) is ready to go and everything is in there and the fish and chip shop has been closed for two years and it would be great to have a pizzeria open,” he said.
On the opposite side of Sherwood Rd from Mr Norris’ Julian and Josef Barber shop, Mel Ozmert and her husband run the newsagency.
They are relatively new to the area, having only taken over in April, but the comments from locals on what is needed to revive Sherwood Rd is deafening, Ms Ozmert said.
“The feedback I get from customers is, that come the weekend, they want to go out for dinner but they have to go outside their own suburb to eat,” she said.
“It needs restaurants. The street needs a drawcard.
“If you want to get a meal after 4pm there’s no point coming to Sherwood Road because there is nowhere to eat.”
While there’s almost a dozen vacant premises, a Ray White real estate agent has used the space of a former Vinnies outlet to relocate 100m from its former premises.
The new office includes a purpose-built open air room on the top floor to conduct weekly in-house auctions.
Ray White sales executive Doug May said newly completed apartment complexes had seen the local population swell and more are coming online.
“It has everything going for it with infrastructure and the proximity to the station and the demand is absolutely there,” Mr May Said.
“A lot of community and homeowners I talk with, do talk about that strip and say it just needs a couple of good operators in there to give it more of a vibe.
“It needs, independent, point of difference restaurateurs with finesse and solid trading hours.”
He said any improvements to the street’s appeal would only serve to make the area a more attractive destination and draw diners from nearby suburbs.
“There is a population density increase happening with a lot of new apartment buildings either being built or have been built,” Mr May said.
“There’s definitely a market for post 4pm trade.”
A Brisbane City Council spokesman said the Village Precinct Projects program helped drive economic growth and Sherwood Rd would most likely be considered in the future.
“Council has already allocated the more than $8 million budget for Village Precinct Projects this financial year,” the spokesman said.
“Council will consider the Sherwood Road shopping strip as a precinct project in future budgets, in line with citywide priorities.”
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