Businesses worry Woolworths will butcher competition in shopping centre war

TRINITY Beach retailers fear they will become casualties of the supermarket war unless Cairns Regional Council imposes a ceasefire.

Trinity Beach Shopping Centre retailers railing against a proposed Woolworths development down the road. Brett Harland from Trinity Beach Quality Meats and Bruce Sharples from Trinity Beach Newsagency are not happy with the proposed Woolworths at Trinity Beach. PICTURE: STEWART MCLEAN

TRINITY Beach retailers fear they will become casualties of the supermarket war unless Cairns Regional Council imposes a ceasefire.

Woolworths is pushing ahead with its aggressive national expansion plans. Public submissions are now closed on its proposal to build a 4350sq m shopping centre at the corner of Trinity Beach Rd and the Captain Cook Highway.

Trinity Beach News owner Bruce Sharples collected 570 objections to the project over a week and lodged them with the council.

“The locals give us good support and I think we’d still get good support, but ultimately we would lose some customers,” he said. “The way retail is at the moment, we’re not in a position to lose any.”

Developers are in a race to build another major retail complex north of the city. Townsville-based Trinity Park Investments chopped down a palm tree plantation at Smithfield last week to make way for a new shopping centre.

Its owners Sam and Paul Pellegrino have won a five-year legal battle with nearby Smithfield Shopping Centre owner, Dexus, and plan to sell the property and its project approvals to a developer to build.

Mr Sharples doubted whether the population could sustain two new centres and quietly hoped the Smithfield venture would scare off Woolworths.

“I’m hoping some common sense prevails in the council,” he said.

Unlike some other vendors in the Coastwatchers Shopping Centre complex, Mr Sharples said he was not considering a change of tenancy to the new development.

He has owned the business in its current position for the past nine years.

“We have a more personalised service – we know our customers very well,” he said.

“That puts us in a position to give customers much better service than they get at Woolies.

“I think they’ll miss that.”

Trinity Beach Quality Meats owner Brett Harland said nobody in the Coastwatchers centre supported Woolworths’ plan, even if they ultimately became the supermarket giant’s lessees.

“I hope it doesn’t go forward, but if it does I don’t think we’ve got any other option,” he said.

“It’s going to hurt us.

“It will be hard for a small supermarket to survive in here, which is sort of a drawcard to this shopping centre.”

Originally published as Businesses worry Woolworths will butcher competition in shopping centre war