Willows scores second Queensland opening for fashion trail blazer
An easy wearing, colourful apparel brand with a big size range is opening its second Queensland store in Willows Shopping Centre on Thursday.
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An easy wearing, colourful fashion brand with a big size range is opening its second Queensland store in Willows Shopping Centre on Thursday.
Elm Lifestyle is a popular label within the stable of Australian-owned clothing wholesaler Stage II and is on something of an expansion trail despite the retail difficulties and uncertainties caused by Covid-19.
“The brand has just done so well and that’s what it’s about. It has been really well received,” Elm development manager Joanna Scott said.
Elm opened its first Queensland store at Yamanto outside Ipswich this week and more openings are planned in Gladstone, Logan and Brisbane in the coming weeks.
Ms Scott said Willows was Elm’s store number 18 with an expansion that would see 30 stores in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and Western Australia by November as well as more openings in Tasmania next year.
Known for “punchy pops of colour” and “quirky approach”, Elm Lifestyle began supplying clothing boutiques and homewares stores in 2012.
Its current collections focus on making everyday wardrobe choices simple through beautiful colours and prints, layering pieces and easy wearing shapes. Sizes range from 6 to 22.
Willows marketing manager Donna Schifilliti said the fashion and homewares boutique was an enticing addition to their offer and continued their delivery of new and exciting brands.
Ms Schifilliti said Elm Lifestyle would strengthen Willows’ existing apparel categories.
Stage II was founded in a home garage in Geelong in 2001. It operates brands including All About Eve, Deacon, St Goliath, Eve’s Sister, Silent Theory and Jorge and supplies more than 600 retailers in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
ICCONS CONNECTS THE NORTH
Independent construction supplies and fasteners wholesaler Iccons has established a branch in Townsville to service the growing North Queensland market with approved fixings.
The Melbourne-based Australian-owned company has taken a long-term lease on a modern freestanding warehouse in Corporate Crescent, Garbutt.
Nick Rose, son of one of the company’s part-owners Philip Rose, is the business’s North Queensland manager.
Nick said the business was expanding into North Queensland to supply its customers and help the industry adapt to requirements for compliant fastenings, particularly for items such as post-installed anchors in concrete.
“Townsville is a great hub to service the wider North Queensland market from Mackay north. We have been in Brisbane but we are branching out to North Queensland to service our customers here,” Mr Rose said.
The business has nine branches throughout Australia and in New Zealand and Thailand.
Philip Rose and partner Phil Digby previously operated a separate business, Powers Fasteners Australasia, for close to 30 years before its sale to Stanley Black & Decker.
Nick said Iccons had made a strategic decision to stock mostly approved fasteners which complied with new regulations under the national construction code.
“We saw an opportunity to focus on approved fixings. We are not just a merchant for products, we are educating the market on the correct fixings to be used,” Nick said.
Ray White Commercial agent Peter McCann said Iccons had leased a good quality warehouse in Garbutt in an attractive business park.
The 704sq m warehouse includes a 65sq m office on a 1378sq m site.
While vacant large warehouses were in good supply, a warehouse of this size and quality was hard to find, Mr McCann said.
“It’s great to see a national company investing in Townsville, especially given what’s happening with Covid,” Mr McCann said.
Iccons specialises in providing the latest technology in construction fastening systems, power tools and accessories.
INVESTOR BUYS UNION BUILDING
A local investor has bought the Queensland Teachers Union building in Palmer St with a view to improving the property as commercial offices or redeveloping it for residential use.
The property was marketed by Knight Frank Townsville’s Paul Dury and Dan Place and sold within its six week campaign amid strong interest from diverse parties.
The building is listed in the town plan as a place of cultural heritage and a rare example of the early use of concrete brick.
Mr Dury said they fielded around 70 inquiries from parties including potential owner-occupiers, commercial office tenants and developers looking at residential conversion.
He said several nearby properties had changed hands in recent times in an area where sites usually were tightly held.
The Star Group, which owns the Rydges Southbank Hotel next door, is in the process of acquiring the nearby Central and Shamrock hotels, while the buyer of the union building is understood to be the same owner of other Palmer St properties, including the Australian Hotel.
Mr Dury said the union building was a unique asset which had seldom changed hands.
“I think the new owners will look to keep it as commercial offices or redevelop it into residential, depending on where the demand is. They are going to look to improve it,” Mr Dury said.
According to the council’s heritage trail, the Neo-Georgian style building was erected in 1948, and the site has passed through various hands since 1883.
The property is believed to have once been the site for ice works.
It has current income of $22,173 per annum in leases to United Voice and Queensland Teachers Union.
The 911 sqm site is in a high density residential zone with the balance of land having potential for future development.
The 280 sqm architecturally designed building is configured as four separate office suites each with amenities and there is ample secure on-site parking.
It is also strategically located within the city’s premier dining and accommodation strip, close to the CBD and stadium. The price paid was not disclosed.
HORAN & BIRD OFFERS ALTERNATIVE TO ERGON
A NEW partnership offering small businesses a credible alternative to Ergon Energy, as well as savings and innovations such as solar sharing, has opened in Hermit Park.
Horan & Bird has partnered with Next Business Energy and leased a modern office building in Charters Towers Rd to give the business a fresh new look and better retail presence.
Horan & Bird trades people and its operations team still operate from premises in Yeatman St.
Horan & Bird founder and group manager John Horan said the energy market in regional Queensland had opened to competitors giving small business owners and homeowners an opportunity to switch energy retailers.
He said they could offer savings and innovation in electricity.
“Next Business Energy, our partner, are a very fast-moving innovative Australian energy retailer who specialise in business energy. The energy bill savings available for small business owners is exciting to see,” Mr Horan said.
“We have partnered with NBE as we can now offer locals great grid deals, better solar feed-in tariffs along with other innovations such as solar energy sharing.
“Solar energy sharing, or peer to peer trading, is where you install a solar system on a business or farm and trade the exported solar to other businesses, farms or even your home.
“Solar sharing technology is very exciting for business, as many businesses lease their building and or have an unsuitable roof to have solar installed.
“Solar sharing technology will provide the opportunity to use solar from other businesses or farms in our community.”
Eproperty Consultants NQ agent Mitch Barnes said Horan & Bird had looked for more of a retail presence on a main road and the Charters Towers Rd property not only provided great exposure but also a 260 sqm tenancy with a quality modern office fit-out.
In a separate transaction, Ray White Commercial has the property under contract for sale.
Horan and Bird started in 2004 and have installed more than 25,000 solar systems nationally.
The business’s plan is to roll out smarter, cheaper grid energy and to connect the community with renewables.
Mr Horan said they could help clients achieve net zero emissions a lot quicker than most people realised.
Next Business Energy, one of Australia’s and the Asia Pacific’s fastest growing companies, has been offering cost effective energy solutions to business customers since 2014.
MARTIAL ARTS EXPERT MUSTERS HIS COURAGE
Martial arts expert Ian Bone is living by the maxim that fortune favours the brave.
At least, he has taken the bold step of buying a property for his business, Courage Training Centre, amid the uncertainty of a Covid-19 pandemic which is continuing to unfold.
He has acquired a 1000 sqm warehouse in Aitkenvale for $800,000 and the business moved in just as last month’s lockdown took effect.
Mr Bone said the world was still in a strange place with the uncertainty of lockdowns and border closures but that sometimes you needed to “ignore all the noise”.
“It’s a big risk buying a building and expanding at this time. (But) fortune favours the brave and the courageous,” Mr Bone said.
“This is a lifestyle business for me rather than something creating a lot of money. I enjoy training and coaching people.”
Mr Bone is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Judo and Kyokushin and a two-time Australian Mixed Martial Arts titleholder.
He has operated Courage Training Centre since 2014, initially renting space in another gym before renting his own site since about 2015.
He said buying this property gave him more security and control over his business.
He also benefited from the Federal Government's coronavirus loan scheme for small businesses to help secure the finance he needed to buy the 1500 sqm property in Aitken Street.
It helped overcome deposit criteria and allowed him to direct cash into further fit-out costs for the business.
Colliers Townsville agent Ben Wheeler said the property a good fit for Courage Training Centre, having previously been used for a gymnasium, although it had been vacant for some time.
It had been recently acquired by another buyer who had upgraded the property before onselling.
“It’s a good central location, it has high clearance and good ventilation and it has great on-site parking,” Mr Wheeler said.
Mr Wheeler said leasing seemed to have slowed in the Townsville market but that the sales market was active with people buying for investment and for owner-occupier businesses.
CITY’S EARLY CINEMA HISTORY IS ON THE MARKET
A part of Townsville’s early cinema history is up for grabs in an old warehouse in Idalia.
Colliers Townsville is marketing the property at 7-9 Oonoonba Road for sale.
It comprises 1720sq m of land across two titles including storage sheds and three-bedroom home.
Colliers executive Aaron Power said the main shed structure had previously been used as a cinema.
“The building has an interesting history based on the fact that the main structure at one point in its life used to be a cinema,” Mr Power said.
“I’m sure it’s going to have an interesting use in the future for whoever the new owners are.”
The shed has been a base for Pittman Concrete Pumping Service for more than 20 years and before that for a freight company.
The shed was relocated from Aitkenvale where it formed the Palladium cinema.
The cinema is understood to have been constructed using materials from World War II structures.
A spokeswoman for the property owners said she had been told the cinema had been dismantled in 1960 and cut into pieces to relocate to Idalia.
The shed’s high clearance has allowed its use for storage of concrete pumping trucks.
The ozatwar website says the Palladium, opened in 1947, was built using a number of World War II buildings, including an entertainment stage called the Pooladium.
Colliers associate director Neville Smith said the Idalia site was a good location close to Lavarack Barracks, the Port Access Road and the southern growth corridor.
Expressions of interest close on July 15.
Originally published as Willows scores second Queensland opening for fashion trail blazer
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