By Wendy Harmer
If there's one thing that can almost be guaranteed this festive season, it's that there will come a moment when you'll be stuck in the 4A level of hell in an underground suburban shopping centre car park, slumped over the steering wheel and weeping in existential despair.
Thoughts may turn wistfully to a Christmas card scene of a snowy English village where contented townsfolk in bonnets wander the high street with wicker baskets of goodies.
Illustration: Glen Le Lievre
And you'll wonder, where did we go wrong? How did shopping in this nation become such a nightmare of wall-to-wall bland, big-brand franchises, fluorescent lights, blaring carols, crowded escalators and indifferent service in multi-storey mausoleums? Places where the Aussie entrepreneurial spirit went to to die.
We may lament the demise of the local shopping strip, but truth is that, unlike the British, we've never thought of ourselves as a nation of shopkeepers. Which is odd, because we love outdoor markets and car boot sales and our weather is ideally suited to al fresco perusal and purchase.
And, I'd suggest, offering wares for sale and finding a happy customer is at the heart of human enterprise in every corner on earth. It's in the ol' DNA.
When we Aussies travel we adore nothing more than a wander through an ancient souk or the jostle in a crowded Asian spice market where we get to know the stall-holders by name.
But back here in Oz, mostly we've been content to let our local shopping strips wither as the big players in retail suck the very life out of them.
This Christmas independent retailers will only garner 35 per cent of sales in NSW – down from 45 per cent in the mid 1990s.
According to Baker Consulting's Michael Baker, who tracks our consumer habits, the long-term scenario for independents is bleak. "We have to decide whether we're 'pro-consumer' and want the biggest variety of goods at the best prices, or whether we're 'pro-society' and want that 'high street' culture where everyone knows your name but which comes with higher prices and the propping up of inefficient retailers," he says.
The answer is clear. We've voted with our feet,Baker says. Like the United States, we've gone for the pro-consumer model. We're off to Westfield & Co and the underground car park.
Meanwhile, the cry "make Britain a nation of shopkeepers again" has become a Tory mantra, and Michelle Mone, the woman behind the Ultimo lingerie range and fake tanning franchise (estimated to be worth some $420 million), has been drafted by British Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan, for the cause of the high street.
"We used to be known as a nation of shopkeepers," Duncan says. "I want Michelle to report back to me on how we can encourage people of all backgrounds to take up this entrepreneurial spirit."
The newly-minted Baroness of Mayfair, Lady Mone (aka: "The Bra Tsar" PHWOAAAR!) now occupies a fragrant seat in the House of Lords and has launched her inquiry into why people from "disadvantaged backgrounds" are no longer setting up small businesses.
Lady Mone obviously knows her way around a cash register and, despite her legion of detractors, is a hopeful voice for independent entrepreneurs, especially women.
Do we need a similar high-profile champion woman here? Figures show that 93.3 per cent of women in business in Australia are small business owners.
Former minister Bruce Billson did his best – but with respect, he looks like the kind of bloke you'd park on a bench while you went into Bed, Bath 'n Table.
Meanwhile, as state and federal governments fail, Sean Stephens from Essential Economics is working with Albury Council, for one, to help revitalise its local strip with greenery, seating and arts events.
"There will always be a role for the 'high street'," he says."Even though it's always changing. it's a great incubator for local entrepreneurs where the barriers to entry are lower."
Some, like JB Hi Fi started out with a suburban shop front and have gone on to be a big brand retailer.
"You hear it's all about failure. Dog eat dog. But, if you can get it right, there's no doubt the opportunities are there," Stephens says.
We abandon local strips at our peril. This Christmas, take a walk down the street to buy your presents. Do it for Straya.
Coast crusader draws line in sand
The NSW Minister for Roads (etc.) Duncan Gay, may be revelling in his bovver boy persona as the pro-car, anti-NIMBY bloviator who dismisses those who oppose his noxious plans as as kale-eating, inner-city bearded hipsters. Can a Robert Askin "drive over the bastards" declaration be far away?
However, on the state's coast there's a quiet revolution happening. Word is, new coastal management legislation proposed by NSW Minister of Planning Rob Stokes is the most momentous in 40 years. The most significant since the NSW Water Act.
Stokes, a fresh-faced surfer, life saver and environmentalist who hails from the Northern Beaches (like his boss, Mike Baird), has all who are invested in coastal planning jumping for joy. I've never seen this much optimism, ever, at the prospect of protection of our unique coast.
After a fabulous day at the beach is the perfect time to drop in and see what Stokes is planning in his draft Coastal Management Bill, 2015. It's open for comment for the next few months.
Have your say and hopefully there's something to celebrate in this, our blessed festive season of sand between the toes!