Gold Coast Art and Craft Market’s future thrown into fresh doubt

The future of a long-standing Gold Coast beach market is in doubt again, with furious stallholders claiming they’ve been ‘short-changed’ and ‘abandoned’.

The future of the Gold Coast Art and Craft Market is again in doubt.

The Gold Coast’s iconic beach markets are on the cusp of mutiny with stallholders saying they have lost 75 per cent of business and feel “abandoned” by the market owner and council.

The 40-year-old Gold Coast Art and Craft Market, worth approximately $200,000 to the city every week, was about to close in September after managing director Damon Robbins did not renew his permit due to council changes that meant the business was “no longer viable”.

After backlash from stallholders and public outcry, Mr Robbins and the council agreed to a permit extension to continue trading through to February.

However stallholder Natasha Leventhal, who represents some of the more than 200 small businesses, said the extension conditions meant one out of four monthly markets had been eliminated and the two monthly Broadbeach markets had been shifted to an inferior site that was deemed untenable.

She said many stallholders, including herself, now only participated in one market a month, meaning they had lost 75 per cent of their business.

Stallholder Natasha Leventhal and Arts and Craft on the Beach GM Damon Robbins. Picture: Glenn Campbell.

Under the original schedule, the Gold Coast Art and Craft Market was held on the first and third Sundays of every month at Kurrawa Park in Broadbeach, second Sundays at Coolangatta and last Sundays at Burleigh. The new permit, which Mr Robbins previously said was “not viable”, moved the Broadbeach markets to the smaller and flood-prone Pratten Park and removed the Burleigh market altogether due to ongoing construction at the site.

The existing permit extension operates under those same conditions.

While Mr Robbins was hopeful a second monthly market in Coolangatta could take the place of the Burleigh market, the council has advised him it could take up to a year to approve a second market in the southern suburb.

Ms Leventhal said stallholders had lost faith in Mr Robbins and felt he was not fighting for them or effectively communicating.

“This all started when Mr Robbins chose not to renew the council permit for the market, but he didn’t give us any notice. The stallholders were in the dark,” Ms Leventhal said.

“We were the ones who came to the media and got the attention so the council gave him an extension. But this is not an extension of our previous conditions, we’ve been short-changed.

“We understand that the Burleigh market could not continue, but we don’t understand why we can’t host a second market at Coolangatta. Why does it take 12 months?

“No one is telling us anything but we’re the ones being the most impacted. Most of us have now dropped down to one market a month because Pratten Park is as good as nothing – it’s smaller, no one goes there so the sales are awful, we lose money if we have a stall there – so we have to go outside the city to Eumundi and Brisbane, which means the Gold Coast is missing out.

“We were a tourism icon, people loved the beach markets and now we’re just a shadow of what we were, people are forgetting us already.”

Gold Coast Art and Craft Market has been operating for 40 years.

Mr Robbins said he understood the stallholders’ disappointment with permit conditions and encouraged them to communicate directly with council.

He said he agreed to the extension period to support stallholders over the Christmas period while the council figured out new conditions.

A City of Gold Coast spokesperson said the council was reviewing market locations to identify potential opportunities.

“Due to the heavy event schedule at Kurrawa Park, the decision was made to issue permits for markets in Broadbeach at Pratten Park to provide consistency. Previously when there was scheduling conflict, the markets were moved from Kurrawa Park to Pratten Park.”

Mr Robbins said he was unsure whether he would apply for the council’s next market tender and that another operator had recently taken over the Paradise Point markets.

He said his business had also been impacted and he had been forced to raise stallholder rates as a result.

“It’s difficult to go against the mood of the council. One of the reasons we got pushed out of Kurrawa is to make way for the beach bar. I didn’t keep pushing for that location because I figured it was a lost battle,” he said.

“I encourage more people to put pressure on the council so they can see the impact.”

Ms Leventhal said council did not want to liaise with 200 stallholders and that was the purpose of Mr Robbins’ role.

She said stallholders did not want to speak out against Mr Robbins or the council as they were concerned about the ramifications but livelihoods were at stake.

“We know people interested in tendering for the next permit but afraid to upset Mr Robbins if he does decide to go forward,” she said.

“We need someone who will proactively fight for this business, and for our businesses.”