Kurrajong’s Minaloo Lodge gift store has closed its doors after eight-and-a-half years of trading, becoming the third business within a year to shut up shop on the Old Bells Line of Road shopping strip.
Minaloo Lodge specialised in homemade jams and preserves, along with small keepsakes, pitched mainly at the tourist market.
Co-owner, Wendy Mullins, said the management team was faced with the decision to either “close the shop or go broke”.
Mullins cited a number of issues which she believes deter tourists from frequenting the village, including “cafes controlling their opening times, some by 2pm and closing on public holidays”, as well as antique shops opening “only when they want to” and shops remaining empty.
“Kurrajong has died. It is no longer a village, but a very divided community,” she said.
Minaloo Lodge’s December 2015 closure followed the Kurrajong nursery shutting its doors in October, and the Kurrajong newsagent closing down in February.
Keith Peard, ex co-owner of the Kurrajong newsagent, told the Gazette at the time that rising costs, falling sales and the introduction of restricted parking in the area had all contributed to he and his brother and business partner “closing the doors and just walking out” after 10 years of business.
However a letter published in the Gazette in October from Bonnie Bottomley, manager of the now-closed Minaloo Lodge, blamed a lack of community spirit for the tough trading conditions, and called for Kurrajong shopkeepers to “pull it together” by alternating their holidays or days off and talking to one another.
Michael Bennett, sales manager at Kurrajong real estate, Bennett Property - which leases a number of commercial spaces on Old Bells Line of Road - said the recent closures are simply indicative of the current business climate in outer Sydney suburbs.
“It’s really hard for small businesses in the west. Kurrajong is very competitive; some people think that if new business comes into the village, it’ll take business away from them,” he said.
“A few years ago we tried to introduce some new and different things like an old-style picture theatre and an upmarket bakery and deli, which got a lot of flack.
“There’s a lot of negativity on the strip. But a lot of small towns are going backwards these days - it’s not just Kurrajong, but also up the Central Coast.
“The issue isn’t just that Kurrajong isn’t seen as a destination, but what do people do when they get here?”
