A Trader
says it is so frustrating when there are reasonable crowds but very few
customers come on to your stall.
Reports of
plenty of diners at the first night of the Hawker Night Market, and some
encouraging sales for new Specialty Merchandise Traders although a bit patchy
out in String Bean Alley.
A Trader
made an interesting observation about retail marketing – in strip shopping
centres you are on your own – in Shopping Centres the landlord promotes the
centre – at QVM the landlord promotes the market and individual Traders. And yes that is a compliment.
Apparently
CEO Stan Liacos was out talking to Traders in the Upper Market on Friday. He suggested
to one Trader that he needed to lift his game on stall presentation and the
Trader agreed, making some immediate improvements.
Keeping a
clear vista out in String Bean Alley is an obvious priority with one Trader
asked to modify their veranda display so it didn’t block the view of other
Traders.
Bad (but irresistible)
Joke of the Week – Johnny took his new puppy to the vet. He asked “Why does he
keep putting his head in the sink?” The vet said “ Well he is a plug!!!!”
A Trader
says he is noticing that some retailers who feed him marketing material are
going way up-market in their offers as they test out consumer sentiment in
these difficult times.
Our photo
shows a group of visitors lining up in a strange way in an aisle last week.
Apparently they were on a cooking challenge involving a number of special tests
around our market. One of the participants said “We were just a bit tired”.
Another explained that they were from New Zealand and nothing more really needed
to be said.
A customer
at the Night Market said she was enjoying her visit but found it very hard to
work out what some of the food stalls were actually selling. She wasn’t familiar
with some of the food names and because the food was all prepared fresh (which
was a good thing) there weren’t any dishes on display.
A Trader commented how a few extra buses up on Peel St. seem to make a big difference to crowd numbers (Sunday).