At a Council Meeting this week (01/12), Central Goldfields Shire Council voted to immediately step-up advocacy for Maryborough Target staff ahead of the store’s anticipated closure in March 2021, and to also mitigate potential flow-on effects to retailers in the High and Nolan Streets precinct.
Central Goldfields Shire Mayor Cr Chris Meddows-Taylor expressed his disappointment at the timing of the announcement by company Wesfarmers Ltd., citing the negative impact of Covid-19 on the retail and hospitality sector in the region and state as a whole.
“Council has been working closely with local businesses to support them during this challenging time.
“A number of actions have been implemented to attract local shoppers, diners and tourist visitors to the High Street retail precinct during the pandemic and further events are planned in the lead-up to Christmas.
“This is likely to have brought increased trade to the Target store.”
Council will write to Wesfarmers Non-executive Chairman, Michael Chaney AO, to highlight additional initiatives to attract further growth in population and business activity, underpinning the future success also of their company’s Kmart store, located in the Goldfields Shopping Centre.
The Mayor asked for assurances that Target staff not redeployed to their Maryborough Kmart store be supported in finding alternative employment or appropriate redundancy assistance.
“Although our first priority is to do what we can to secure continued employment and support for the current Target staff, Council will prioritise the development of a comprehensive retail strategy which will ensure we capture new and emerging opportunities to position us ahead of the pack so that Maryborough and our surrounding towns have a strong, prosperous, sustainable and resilient retail offering well into the future.”
