NEWS
Goodwill totally lacking
Corey Hamilton, owner of the Autographed Memorabilia shop in McWhirters Centre, is doubtful the closed walkway is going to open any time soon – and points to a total lack of goodwill being shown by the owners of the Happy Valley and Walton’s buildings, not only to each other but to all the business people suffering as a result. “There’s no goodwill anymore. If they had wanted a solution they would have found one by now. If we traders had gone to the parties over the past five weeks with every solution to every problem, they would still have kept the doors shut.” Corey has told his landlord he needs some rent relief for the period of the walkway closure and for a month after it reopens - if it ever does. Otherwise he’ll have to walk away from his lease.
Trying to hang in
After seeing her passing potential customer trade dry up to a trickle over the past month or more, Maryanne Hutchison who runs OOO Look Shiny pop culture collectables shop in McWhirters with her husband Pat says simply: “We are struggling”.
She would prefer not to close down but that might depend on whether her landlord agrees to similar rent relief to that sought by her neighbour Corey. Maryanne does not see any one particular villain in the walkway closure but, like her business neighbours, simply just wants it resolved. “There is no finger of blame we can point at any one person at this point in time,” she says.
Staff might be cut
Long-term Fortitude Valley farmers’ markets operator Nick Criticos was stunned to return from Christmas holidays to see the walkway still closed.
“It’s unbelievable. We had a business and all of a sudden we have no business,” he says. “People have got to come together. Let’s just get this fixed.” Nick simply cannot believe that a passageway that has been accepted as a public walkway for decades could simply be closed off at a property owner’s whim. “We’ve never had an issue with it and then it comes to this.” He said he would be forced to consider laying off staff if the walkway remained closed.
