Long farewell to a suburban icon

By theo.foukkare@bigpond.com | 29th October, 2012 |

Chris Johnston October 27, 2012 The Age THIS is about nostalgia and memory but also the near-future and what might happen next. Vic Smith, 76, had a milk bar in Essendon in the 1960s – where nostalgia lives – and he made enough money out of it in a short time to buy a unit and put a deposit on a house when he sold up. That wouldn’t happen now. The milk bar as we knew it is almost extinct, swallowed in its death throes by the ceaseless march of modernity: the convenience store, the franchise, fast food, the service station and the supermarket. In Carlton, in Canning Street, in an old-time milk bar that has seen many lives and was used for its authentic ”retro” look in the TV show Paper Giants (about Cleo magazine in the ’70s), current owner Ichuyen Nguyen has had enough. He’s bleeding money and…

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Tobacco plain packaging: one month for retailers to comply, zero consultation so far

By theo.foukkare@bigpond.com | 29th October, 2012 |

October 29, 2012 With retailers soon to be forced to comply with the Government’s plain packaging regulations or face fines of up to $220,000, the fact that the legislation fails to address in any way practical business implications means it has become merely a vote grabbing crusade, according to the peak body for the convenience industry. Executive Director of the Australasian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS), Mr Jeff Rogut, said the ill conceived legislation is unlikely to win any votes from the business community on account of the negative impacts it is already having on small retailers. “Throughout the entire process, from concept to development and now implementation of the legislation, Government has consistently refused to consult with or listen to the concerns of small business,” Mr Rogut said. “Retailers have been given just eight weeks to trade through tobacco stock with old packaging – a completely unrealistic expectation. Any…

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Fashion shines through digital gloom

By theo.foukkare@bigpond.com | 25th October, 2012 |

Michael Baker will be a presenter at the ‘AACS Convenience Leadership Summit’ on 28 / 29 November. Michael Baker October 25, 2012 The Age It seems an odd thing to happen at the height of the technology revolution that is sweeping the world of retail, but the retailers that once led the digital products boom in both Australia and the US are now looking hugely vulnerable. Mr Shakedown is already on the scene, and his dreaded sibling, Mr Shakeout, is only an iPhone call away. Confronting Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi is the same truth that has already driven the world’s biggest consumer electronics retailer — US-based Best Buy — to its knees. It’s that the digital products cycle has grown tired and, while household penetration of smart phones and tablets is still skyrocketing, other key digital segments are either already saturated or slowing up like a marathoner at the…

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Cost of household basics rise at twice cost of inflation

By theo.foukkare@bigpond.com | 22nd October, 2012 |

Jessica Irvine News Limited newspapers October 22, 2012 THE costs of basic household necessities – electricity, petrol, vegetables and the like – have risen at more than twice the rate of inflation over the past decade. Ahead of key inflation figures due on Wednesday, News Limited analysis of Bureau of Statistics data found water and sewerage rates were the biggest price pressure point, more than doubling (up by 111 per cent). Overall, the cost of the average basket of consumer goods purchased by households increased by 31 per cent. But many households experienced even steeper price rises. Households on the dole went backwards in real terms over the decade, as their benefits increased in line with inflation, but their household costs went up by an even greater 38 per cent. Necessities make up a bigger slice of spending for lower income households and these items dominate a list of the…

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