Broadbeach IGA on Gold Coast shut ‘until December’ after coronavirus causes stark downturn in trade for the mini-supermarket

A once popular Gold Coast mini-supermarket famous for its inspiring signs has shut its doors following a dramatic fall in trade.

COVID-19 has claimed another retail victim, this time a mini-supermarket in Broadbeach.

Broadbeach Central IGA Express, which is located across the road from the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, shut its doors on June 6 with the owner flagging plans to reopen by mid-December.

The store, owned by Propurpose Pty Ltd, associated with John O’Reilley, has been a fixture of Broadbeach’s retail scene since 2005.

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It was known for large range of organic snacks and chocolate treats.

However, the coronavirus pandemic hit the business hard when the convention centre closed and the store lost the source of its most lucrative trade.

The Broadbeach Central IGA Express store has closed down in Broadbeach. The note posted to the door.

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Workers at neighbouring shops said the store had suffered a dramatic drop in trade in recent weeks.

Landlord John Potter, who has 40 tenants on the highway-fronting retail strip, said the closure was unfortunate.

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However, he said the owner has plans to reopen in mid-December, which is indicated by a sign posted to the door.

“We look forward to them coming back,” he said.

Frank Spano, who is chairman of the IGA network in Queensland, said he knew nothing of the closure but hoped to find out more information by Wednesday.

Mr O’Reilley could not be reached for comment.

According to the store’s Facebook page it reduced its retail hours to 7am to 7pm Monday to Sunday on April 1.

The Broadbeach Central IGA Express store has closed down in Broadbeach. The store is notable for the messages on its signboard each day.

On June 3 it posted it was reducing the price of all vegan and health food products by 30 per cent.

The store was well-known for inspirational and sometimes cheeky messages posted on its sign outside.

On May 13 the message included: “When you reach the end of your rope tie a knot in it and hang on”.

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Another message from April 21 reads: “Past, Present and Future walked into the IGA … it was Tense”.

The closure comes as IGA supplier Metcash today ironically reports continued growth in sales from customers rediscovering neighbourhood supermarkets during the pandemic.

The IGA supermarket supplier reported sales revenue for the 12 months to April 30 rose 2.9 per cent to $13.03 billion, led by growth in the food and liquor segments.