Mayor targets Batemans Bay store closure

Eurobodalla Mayor Liz Innes, along with the Mayors of Gilgandra, Temora and Tenterfield, met with representatives of Target Australia on Tuesday to discuss concerns about the closure of Target stores in their communities.

It comes after Target announced in February it would close its Batemans Bay store on 20 April.

Clr Innes said Tuesday’s meeting was to let the company know of the important role Target stores had in each community.

“I was there to show support to my fellow mayors and to encourage Target to review its decision to close its Batemans Bay store,” she said.

“They gave us a really good hearing and there was an enormous amount of goodwill and genuine passion from the mayors to try and find solutions.

Clr Innes said she raised the fact that a new $3.4 million Dan Murphy’s development had recently been approved in the vicinity of Batemans Bay’s Target Country.

“Dan Murphys will add to the offering of businesses in the southern end of the Batemans Bay CBD, and has the potential for flow-on benefits through increased foot traffic to Target Country,” she said.

“It would be a shame if Target didn’t wait and see whether business did improve before shutting the doors.

“We openly discussed options for alternative business models, but ultimately the online presence is having a major impact on the retail outlets, and that’s recognised.

“We all appreciated the opportunity to speak frankly and openly, and while Target representatives agreed to consider continuing further dialogue to explore ways to keep the stores open, they were non-committal and conscious of not setting false expectations that stores wouldn’t close as planned.”