Sign of the times

By Rebecca Fraser
BERWICK traders are struggling to attract customers and have called on Casey Council to help boost business.
Shop owners at Parkhill Plaza, located in the Timbarra Estate, say many residents do not know that the shopping precinct is there and more signage is needed to bring customers to the area.
Business owners say signage is needed on the Princes Highway in Berwick and at the Narre Warren end of Ernst Wanke road.
Narre Warren MP Luke Donnellan has also joined the push for signage and has called on council to better support the shopping centre.
Mr Donnellan said the City of Casey had received numerous calls requesting that they erect a sign near Parkhill Plaza similar to the one currently in place in Hallam indicating the location of the Spring Square Shopping Centre.
He said there was a mood among Parkhill Plaza traders that council was not interested in supporting them.
“The question that I pose to Casey is why are the traders and residents at Spring Square Hallam benefiting from a council erected sign on the Princes Highway, but not Parkhill Plaza?,” he said.
Lynne Ireland, of Parkhill Newsagency and Tattslotto, said the area desperately needed an Australia Post outlet and more post boxes to better service residents.
Her comments follow the launch of a petition by Mr Donnellan to push for more post boxes in the Narre Warren North area.
Lionel Crack, the owner of Parkhill Quality Butcher, said his situation was more dire.
He has owned the butcher shop for the past two years but his business has been on the market for six months as he struggles to attract customers.
“All the little businesses are struggling and big signs would help draw attention to the centre. We are up for sale because things are so slow.
“We are not making a profit and, if anything, I am losing money,” he said.
Mr Crack said they had tried letter-box drops, leaflets and loyalty programs to boost business but he believed better signage could help.
The owner of Goody’s Charcoal Chicken, Leigh O’Donnell, said:“It would certainly make a difference.”
The petitions have been handed out and dropped into letter-boxes throughout the High Grange Estate in Narre Warren North as well as the Heathdale Estate in recent weeks.
Residents have been urged to return the petitions as soon as possible to Luke Donnellan MP, PO BOX 126, Endeavour Hills 3802.