Why CBD Car Park Thinking Is Wrong For QVM

QVM is desperately trying to get locals back to our market. That is implicit in their desire to make QVM one of the great food markets of the world. Yes, we are growing our nearby customer base through a high rate of apartment construction but encouraging the wider population of locals to do their weekly shopping at QVM is a key part of our future.

CBD car parking is expensive. There simply isn’t enough space and our city fathers are actively discouraging vehicles from entering the city. As the city spreads our market becomes more enveloped by the CBD “no car” mentality.

But that is contrary to local shopping and particularly relevant when it comes to food. You can do some serious shopping at some of our new high profile clothing outlets in the city, let’s say some underwear, a shirt, pair of pants or a dress, a jacket, and some shoes and you are only toting around 3 kilos home on the train or tram. Try fitting your weekly food needs into that weight. That is why QVM needs adequate car parking and it needs to be competitive with suburban shopping facilities.

Major suburban shopping centres wouldn’t think of charging for parking. They know that they need to make their retailers as popular and profitable as possible and free car parking attracts customers. They know that if they get the mix right they will be able to maximise rents and there is no point in double dipping.

QVM on the other hand sees car park fees as legitimate income and the impact of fees on the retail trade done at our market seems of little concern to them. The fact that our car park fees are outrageously high when compared with our customer’s alternatives seems inconsequential. That is the major difference between major shopping centres and our market. Sure, when you compare our fees with the CBD we are competitive,but the CBD retailers are not our competitors. QVM’s competitors exist out in the fee-free suburban areas.

This is a dilemma we need to fix. QVM needs to abandon its CBD mentality when it comes to car parking revenue and the closer management work to rent parity the less they can argue against double-dipping. There is a way to give our customers free parking and we simply need to find the management desire to achieve that.

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Comments:
14/01/2015 20:58:10 car parking "A type of validation system would benefit our customers which could be stamped at the F1 office and the higher priced parking could be charged for non market shoppers using our limited spaces .
An eftpos or hand written receipt by a stall holder could be used to verify customers.
If the rates were lifted for non market uses the free parking before 10 am could still apply." steve  

 14/01/2015 22:10:27 car parking "You hit the nail on the head....do as the shopping centres do.....they have the formula right...3 hours free parking, as well as ease the prohibitive time restrictions around the market." Andy

14/01/2015 22:32:15  car parking  “I think the pricing needs a rethink to try and maintain income and achieve a good deal for customers. For example our maximum daily charge is low this could be increased to offset a free first hour and low $5 second hour. Increase the hourly rate to $9 for the third plus hours. Stop advertising the vouchers and abolish the free morning hours.”

15/01/2015 10:10:35  Car parking   "I strongly agree that extended stays at the car park should be penalised with heavier costs but that in itself  may cause problems for GM and take-away food – fresh food will be well served with cheaper short term cheap parking. I would have thought that shoppers who want to also roam the GM areas or stop to eat and have coffee would do so more leisurely. And so at what point in time do we charge more to $9 per hour? Is a stay less than 3 hours sufficient time for all areas to benefit of a visit?"