Last tenant evicted from ‘ghost town’ The Village Centre in Wonga Park as vandals move in

THIS Melbourne shopping centre was once a thriving community hub. Now it’s missing one vital component — shops.

*Can be done any time* *Front page pics* This shopping centre has been left completely empty after the landlord kicked out the last of its six tennants in January. We're looking to run a front page collage of the empty lot. Looking for lots of different pictures of the shops -- signs, broken VB sign, the entrance, the post box, the welcome sign... just lots of different photos we can collage and overlay the words 'ghost town'. Cheers

ONCE described as a ‘ghost town’, The Village Centre shopping strip in Wonga Park is now utterly barren after the last remaining tenant was unceremoniously booted from her shop.

Every store at the once thriving village hub is now vacant after LJ’s Total Look Hair owner Lyn Munro received an eviction notice over Christmas.

Shopping centre? Tick. People? Tick. Shops? Nope.

“The eviction was definitely a shock and there was no hint leading up to it,” she said. Ms Munro, who now works at Bonnie’s West End Hairdressing in Warrandyte, said centre management had not responded to her requests to extend the eviction period.

Now vandals are targeting the vacant hub.

The Leader has covered The Village Centre’s slow death since 2008, with the supermarket, butcher, post office, bakery and fish and chip shop all forced to leave.

Empty shops are a sad reminder of the once thriving hub.

Flakey Bites co-owner Martin Cassar told Leader last year he had been forced to watch the strip “deteriorate into a ghost town”.

RELATED: Is this Melbourne's saddest shopping centre?

The Flakey Bites fish and chip shop was forced to bite the dust.

NSW-based centre landlord Pamela Morris, has repeatedly hung up on Leader, Manningham Council, traders and the community members. She again did not respond to requests for comment.

The centre is being advertised for lease and Ms Morris has been granted a permit to redevelop the centre with a larger supermarket.

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Posted by Petition to save Wonga Park Village shops on Saturday, February 13, 2016

An online petition to ‘Save the Wonga Park’ shops has received more than 1000 signatures and the council has unsuccessfully tried to help Ms Morris with plans to spruce up the centre.

In a further blow for the suburb, the long awaited FoodWorks supermarket in Jumping Creek Rd was due to open in December, and has not. FoodWorks head office did not return calls.

You’ll need to go elsewhere to buy your newspaper.