Deborah Caldwell is somewhere between the regional cities of Shepparton and Bendigo in Victoria. It is the first time Caldwell has been available to chat in the weeks since starting her role as regional ambassador for trade fair Fashion Exposed and, in the discussion that follows, the reason for this becomes very clear. “I’m driving around like a wild woman possessed and I’m not far from the next location,” she breathes into her mobile phone. “Let’s see how we go, but when I get to the next town I’m going to have to jump out and keep running! Sorry, but I’m racing against the clock today.” This is Caldwell’s first response to my impromptu interview request. Regional retailers are the sole focus for the former retail executive, who will visit 400-plus regional operators by the time the trade fair rolls around in late August. The position is a demanding one, with Caldwell sticking to a busy schedule requiring her to visit 50-60 regional retailers per week spanning from Mildura to Aubrey, down to Portland and beyond. Her mission – to contact, meet, greet, inform and engage with regional retailers in remote Australian locations. “I’m visiting mainly central, north and western Victoria, but as this is a new initiative I have mainly concentrated my travels from northern Victoria through to the west of the state. I know this area of the state very well so it was the best route to start,” Caldwell says. “I also have many contacts interstate, and while I may not be able to visit these retailers’ stores I will be making contact over the phone.” Overall, Caldwell says the response from the country traders so far has been extremely positive, with many eager for the opportunity to engage with the broader retail sector. But, in addition, many regional retailers have also divulged the struggles they have, or are, experiencing with running a retail operation in rural Australia. “Country people are very friendly, and they’re into conversations – they don’t want to be grilled over things – whereas perhaps city people are happy to answer questions straight off the cusp. There’s more of a relationship and a conversational style to what I’m doing now, and they respond well to the personable approach,” she says. “Generally when I have these discussions with them, I’m not finding online retailing to be a great threat to them at this point in time. Although there are obviously financial struggles and climate issues where there’s drought or food or bushfires out here that the city people don’t have to deal with. When these events occur, and farmer’s have a bad year or season, that means retail clients, such as farmers and farmer’s wives, aren’t spending.” Caldwell adds that the increasing presence of discount department stores rolling out across regional areas is also an issue challenging regional traders, but she says country communities tend to stick together and fight it out, so are faring quite well, despite these obstacles. “When times are tough country people tend to shop in their local town rather than taking a day trip to the next big city as they would have done in the past, so this and the fact that country retailers tend to have more variety in their stores, targeting a wider age bracket and styles means country retail is possibly faring better than city stores at the moment,” she says. “Of course, country retailers always have various battles on their hands such as the drought of the past 10 years and more recently floods, as well as discount department stores cropping up, however, as communities band together in tougher times this means country retailers are able to weather the storms.” However, should advice be needed, Caldwell is also well-prepared, having spent over two decades in the retail industry, across various different roles. To date, she has worked in retail for 27-odd years, starting out as a junior sales assistant in the Dress Fabrics section of fabrics’ wholesaler Spotlight in 1984, then moving onto roles as a rep, agent, and an importer, before finally settling as divisional manager at one of Australia’s largest buying groups, where she has spent the last 10 years. While she garnered many contacts over the course of her career in retail, she says it was here, working with over 800 independent retailers and several hundred suppliers Australia-wide, that she acquired many of the regional retailer contacts that are vital to her current position with Fashion Exposed. Bolstering Caldwell’s professional experience, contact network and business acumen is her own experience of living in a regional area, a fact she admits has helped her to connect with regional retailers over the course of her trip. “After living in Melbourne most of my life, I moved to Bendigo, Victoria in 2000; I’m still based there and I love it,” she says. “And they love it. Regional retailers love it when I say I’m a local or they find out I’m also a country chick. Because immediately they know I have an understanding of challenges like distance and time and climate – and I also live on the land, so they understand that I know what it’s like struggling with a bad year for sheep or things like that.” Caldwell will be stationed at a concierge area at Fashion Exposed to guide many of these regional contacts through the fair. If all goes to plan, she will also be on hand at next year’s spring/summer instalment in Sydney, after visiting more rural retailers and businesses in the region. Before I can ask another question, my time is up as Caldwell prepares to park, but out of interest, I ask her to sum up her time as regional ambassador in three words. “Interesting, exciting, challenging. But I’ve had a ball.” And with that, she’s off again.
