QVMAC Representatives have been involved in discussion with
leading international markets consultant, David O’Neil since his arrival on
Tuesday. David has been brought to Melbourne by QVM to assist in our
considerations of a QVM renewal and he brings with him a wealth of experience
including consulting on over 200 historic and new market precincts.
This meeting on Wednesday involved David, and QVMAC
Representatives Kha Nguyen, George Milonas, Joe Stolarek, Ivano Guseli and Greg
Smith.
We covered many subjects including prominent US markets like
Detroit which is a 24 hour market with wholesale activities at night giving way
to retail during the day. Pike’s Place Market, which is similar in many
respects to QVM, has just undergone a renewal financed by a public subscription
model. We talked about UK markets and the Bazaar of Tabriz in Iran which has recently
gained UNESCO Heritage Site endorsement.
We talked about global experience on how to mitigate the
impact of renewal construction on traders and customers through a range of
options including consideration of individual traders needs. We also talked
about the danger of turning public retail markets into tourist markets. Tourists
are important to many markets around the world. However, it is the inherent
community characteristics of markets that attract tourists and changing the
balance could be a mistake. We had a
productive discussion about how traders might best organise themselves to achieve
a level of professionalism aimed at maximising results for traders.
David O’Neil will be presenting to a larger group of traders
on Thursday afternoon and then participating in a tour of Footscray, Prahran,
and South Melbourne markets on Friday. We look forward to more productive
discussions with this markets expert.