Boronia Mall: Aussie Veterans Op Shop owners angry at centre management for lack of upgrades
A trader at Boronia Mall is so angry at the lack of upgrades or maintenance work at the dilapidated centre they are looking to move their shop, leaving another empty space. What do you think of the place?
Outer East
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Drug addicts shooting up in the toilets, vandalism, car break-ins, and the general state of aged-disrepair at Boronia Mall has a trader fed-up and ready to move.
Tensions between Aussie Veterans Op Shop owners and mall management are at breaking point with trader Mick Quinn posting signs in his shop window protesting conditions and blaming management for failing to maintain the centre.
And many in the community have agreed, with one person on Facebook saying centre management had killed the once great little hub, which was now a sad “ghost town”.
Another person said they had once planned to lease a shop at the mall but the place looked like it had been left in the 1980s.
“Very sad. Could be a great local shopping place with lots of different shops,” they said.
But the centre manager disputed the accusations and said the shop owners were going against the rules.
Over the years Knox Leader has reported on the declining state of the mall with the community and traders crying out for upgrades to the dilapidated 1960s interior.
Knox Cr Peter Lockwood previously called the centre a “blight” on the suburb.
Aussie Veterans Op Shop owner Mick Quinn said things were getting so dire he was looking into breaking the lease on his ground floor
Along with his wife Fiona, Mr Quinn| leases two shops at the almost vacant mall.
Upstairs is their bric-a-brac arm, while downstairs is the bigger of the shops, which runs a food bank service as well as selling whitegoods and furniture.
They also run a food bank service at the op shop for the vulnerable, and the charity’s profits support the Victorian Veteran Advocacy Centre, which financially aids veterans during difficult times.
Mr Quinn said the situation with the centre manager had become untenable and they had decided “enough was enough”.
He said allocated parking to be able transport the furniture too and from the shop had been removed by the centre manager and become a no-standing zone.
The rubbish pick-up had been reduced to once every two days and the centre manager had complained the op-shop was overusing the bins.
“The mall is getting more and more run down,” Mr Quinn said.
“The escalators are not working a lot of the time which is not great having an upstairs shop.”
He said the only thing that was consistently done was the cleaning.
“There been no upgrade on any furniture or chairs in the centre,” Mr Quinn said.
“There is money going in and nothing is getting done.”
He said drug addicts often used the mall toilets and security were not removing them.
“We lease the largest floor space in the centre with both the top and bottom shops — 800sq m all up — we are a major draw card,” Mr Quinn said.
“We are relocating the bottom shop and are negotiating to move into the old Post Office building.
Mr Quinn said management would not upgrade security cameras at the mall and there had been crime in the area including car break-ins and vandalism.
“We put our own cameras in but the centre manager cracked it because we had not contacted him to let him know,” he said.
But the centre manager said it was the Op Shop owners who were not doing the right thing and parking their van in a no-standing zone, which was for all traders to load and unload their goods.
“It’s little things I’ve asked them not to do,” he said.
He said the centre was safe and there was always a security guard on board.
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