It seems that the debate over Wollongong Mall is never ending. Money has been allocated for refurbishing but the design pleases few people - and the question of a closed mall or a traffic flow defies resolution.
Unfortunately a force of nature indicates a natural decline for Wollongong Mall.
Crown street - before the Mall - was a seedy street of ageing shops, rapidly being replaced by a new, vibrant shopping centre in Shellharbour - the geographical centre of the twin city complex.
Property owners in Wollongong established the Mall as a desperation move to try and halt this degeneration. It lacked " soul " - was short of parking facilities - and totally failed to establish a night scene.
Wollongong is wedged between the escarpment and the sea. Population growth can only expand south of the city and we already see the migration of shopping to where the people are. This is evidenced by the concentration of big discount stores in Warrawang. Not a single store of this nature now exists in our city centre.
The Mall - in the form of a regional centre - will continue, but in a slowly reduced form. It is inevitable that the business migration will continue to expand south of here because that is where the future population will be housed.
We need to face the fact that Crown street is no longer the geographic centre of this region !
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