What's Selling In Noosa Heads, QLD
In just over five months time, Noosa Heads will house the country's second most expensive shopping strip. The Hastings Street precinct – a localised version of Melbourne's Chapel Street and Sydney's Pitt Street strip, if you will – has been undergoing a $10 million revamp with new pedestrian walkways, street crossings and shared zones aiming to create a "village" style shopping experience. This will no doubt provide a considerable boost to the many independent boutiques and mass-market chains aiming for the lucrative tourist dollar.
However in the meantime, "village" is the last word local retailers use to describe the revamp, with both noise and visual pollution creating a strain on local trade. Traffic issues, witnessed first-hand during a recent shopping expedition, are also a concern with motorists attempting to enter and exit the strip often coming to a standstill.
For local traders such as Keith and Sandra Coates, who own and operate the Coco Beach chain, the positives far outweigh the negatives.
"Our boutique is set back off the main road and construction in our zone finished early," Keith Coates says. "Some people have had to close their shops for a couple of days while construction goes on but it'll be great once it's all finished."
Catering to the more mature-aged consumer, Coco Beach is a vertical operation with as many as five retail stores throughout Queensland and 40 national wholesale accounts. Seasonal womenswear collections span across several categories – from streetwear to eveningwear – and are moderately priced from $59.95 to $149.95.
Although Coates says he enjoys working within the retail sector, particularly at the flagship store in Noosa Heads, the brand has diversified into production and manufacturing in recent times.
"We had ten stores at one stage but with all the leases and rental costs, we winded it down," he said. "Now we help other brands manufacture their clothes in China and this has become a strong part of the business."
Blue Heaven, another Noosa Heads boutique catering to women aged 35+, is equally optimistic about the revamp of Hastings Street. Buyer Miranda Vidor says an attractive shopping strip will attract the right type of consumer.
"We stock quite a few European and Australian labels such as Sandra Steiner, Sandra Soulos, Maryan Mehlhorn, Betty Barclay and Olsen," she says. "Metalicus is probably our strongest seller."
Vidor says the boutique, which has operated in the Noosa Heads precinct for over six years, has not been heavily affected by construction along Hastings Street and will continue to trade on.
"It will be finished before our busiest selling period which is over the September and October period," she says. "I'd say 70 per cent of our consumers are tourists so it will be a great drawcard."
Location: 160kms north of Brisbane
Population: 10 000
Stores:Coco Beach, Blue Heaven
Brands: Metalicus, Coco Beach, Maryan Mehlhorn, Betty Barclay, Olsen, Sandra Steiner, Sandra Soulos.
By Assia Benmedjdoub