Good News Story One - One of our A Shed Traders has said that Saturday
business has improved significantly since vehicle parking was removed from
Queen St. Apparently the ability for customers to move more freely between the
upper and lower precincts of the market has paid dividends, at least for this
trader.
Good News Story Two – this story concerns outstanding customer service
and all without the knowledge of our stallholder. Our stallholder was visited by a customer who
was extremely effusive about his purchase a few weeks ago. This trader is used
to receiving good feedback about his goods but the praise from this customer
went beyond the normal compliments.
After the customer had left a staff member explained
that this customer had made his purchase while the owner was overseas on holidays.
On that occasion the customer paid cash for his goods and left the stall. A few
minutes later the staff discovered that the customer had overpaid by $100. When
staff realised the mistake they went to great lengths to find the customer and
finally tracked him down 4 aisles away and returned the overpayment.
Understandably the customer, and now the stall owner, were
impressed with their efforts.
Smelly Story – last week’s reference to a bad smell coming from
the top of L Shed has been addressed. Apparently a containment tank adjacent to
a coffee shop requires a special cleaning process and the new cleaning
contractors have been appraised of their responsibilities. Traders in the area are
asked to contact management staff immediately any similar problem arises.
Christmas Trading One – Many traders have
been quick to embrace the opportunity to trade on the Friday before Christmas
as an extended trading day and an opportunity to cash in on Christmas demand.
The arrangement may not suit every trader and it is
possible that the day may have to be a “curated” trading day with those who
wish to trade into the evening being positioned around Queen St. and those
wishing to depart early being positioned in other areas where their departure
will not inconvenience trade.
Christmas Trading Two – A number of top end traders have voiced their
disapproval at closing the market on the Tuesday after Christmas. The way
Christmas falls this year we could lose 4 straight days of trading. Management have
indicated that they are keen to embrace trading opportunities and they will now
conduct a survey over the coming week to see how many traders would like to
trade at this busy time of year.
Guru Pete Hits The Airwaves – The intrepid radio broadcasters from Field Theory
were keen to interview Guru Pete as part of their 9000 Minutes broadcast for
the Biennial Lab public art project. Pete’s talents as a horse tipper on the
Victraders Facebook page had apparently reached their ears. Pete sat in front
of the microphone and answered questions about a number of diverse topics
including horse tipping, class distinction, and even romance under the sheds.
Parking Vouchers – We posted an article about this matter recently and we
are hoping that traders might be able to pick up vouchers at the F1 Shop right
up until closing time rather than the current arrangement where they are
unavailable after 11:00am. More to come on this one.