There is no doubt that the western end of Crown street is a shopping district in terminal decline. It contains 230 shops - and 54 of them stand empty.
There is nothing like an empty shop with it's image of business failure to turn away shoppers. An empty shop quickly spells failure - and inevitably it becomes covered in graffiti. It is a disease that quickly spreads to it's neighbours.
This happened to the Newcastle CBD. Corrective action was taken and that shopping centre has been restored to health. The same can be done in west Crown street - and the only question is why this has taken so long ?
It just takes a little imagination to put those empty shops to use. Make them available to charitable enterprises to breathe new life into the street. Offer them free - or at peppercorn rent for those trying to start a new business - and as a last resort - allow other traders to fill them with display goods to drive shoppers to their own stores.
A clean window and a lick of new paint can work wonders. All it takes is for shop owners to bite the bullet and be innovative. An empty shop attracts no rent. It is better to revive a shopping centre to health - and reap a future reward than to leave it empty - and to spread the " empty shop " disease.
All this could have been done years ago, when the decline started. It remains to be seen if the business community has the acumen to seize the moment and restore west Crown street - or if apathy will continue to allow this important part of Wollongong to further stagnate.
It only takes a little spark to create a successful restoration !
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