‘End of lease’: Kaisercraft the latest store to leave Market Square
The upper floor of Geelong’s beleaguered Market Square shopping centre will be left with just two stores after another retailer revealed it will soon be gone.
Geelong
Don't miss out on the headlines from Geelong. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The exodus at Market Square has continued, with popular arts-and-crafts chain Kaisercraft announcing an end-of-lease sale.
Kaisercraft’s store on the shopping centre’s first floor has been decked out with sale and clearance signage, a familiar sight for visitors of the embattled shopping centre.
It is understood Kaisercraft will pull its outlet from Market Square early next month, by July 6 at the latest.
Like several stores that have left Market Square, Kaisercraft already has a presence across Malop St in the Westfield Shopping Centre.
Kaisercraft joins Mind Games, City Chic, Adairs, Cotton On, EB Games, Boost Juice, Gloria Jeans, Lincraft, Tonia T Boutique and Tattslotto in leaving the shopping centre, which was described by former mayor Trent Sullivan as a “canker sore on the face of Geelong” in August last year.
Mayor Stretch Kontelj said on Saturday that Kaisercraft’s exit was disappointing, and underscored the need for the precinct to be developed into a mixed-use facility.
It comes after Davinski Nominees, the secretive owners of Market Square, finally committed to redeveloping the much-maligned precinct.
It is widely believed that Davinski is waiting for all leases to end before it develops the site, while documents revealed the owners felt the nearby Moorabool St bus exchange was a “deal killer”.
In April, representatives of the Singapore-based owners and City Hall met in-person for the first time since the 1990s.
The meeting came only after City Hall publicly discussed compulsorily acquiring the site, which it sold to Davinski Nominees for $32m in 1996.
Co-owner Phil Wong reportedly said during the April meeting that the time was right to develop and the owners had “great confidence” in Geelong’s future.
However, the slow decline of Market Square under Davinski Nominees’ watch has not inspired confidence on the ground.
One employee of City Chic told the Geelong Advertiser the centre was “just dead”, and Mr Sullivan calling it a “gaping hole” and suggested the site indicated Geelong was “not a place to do business”.
In March, the Committee for Geelong unveiled its bold vision for the site.
Kaisercraft’s looming exit means two stores – Harris Scarf and Tasty Asia are all that remain on the first floor.
Maps available on the centre’s website have not kept up with the exodus, with Mind Games and Faull’s Shoes still present on the upper floor, and City Chic and Adairs still listed below.
Of the most recent stores to leave, Mind Games, moved to Westfield, while Faull's consolidated its outlet on Market Square’s ground floor.
Kaisercraft also retains several stores across the region stores in Belmont, Newcomb, Armstrong Creek, Bannockburn, Lara, Torquay and Ocean Grove.
Established in the 1980s as a kitchen joinery, the family-owned company has grown from its Geelong roots to operate more than 100 stores across Australia after entering the scrapbooking business in 2005.
The company moved into its Breakwater headquarters in 2008.
Originally published as ‘End of lease’: Kaisercraft the latest store to leave Market Square
Cruel Geelong father’s abhorrent abuse of daughter revealed
A woman who was repeatedly raped by her father for two years has told a Geelong court of his “cold, empty, eyes” and the impact his crimes have had.
‘Concerned’ parents, staff call for bollards outside Leopold daycare
Two car accidents have occurred just metres from a Leopold childcare centre, within just 24 hours. Now the centre is petitioning for safety barriers.