Warrnambool’s CBD will be home to at least three new businesses with manchester giant Sheridan confirming it will set up an outlet and a Japanese restaurant and clothing store also opening.
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The Sheridan outlet store offering discount bed linen, towels and accessories will create five new jobs when it opens on August 30 at the top end of Liebig Street next to Sportspower.
On Wednesday, the ‘opening soon’ sign went up on the new Southern Country clothing store on Liebig Street which will open on July 16.
Owner Sue Miller said the store was undergoing refurbishment to make way for a range of country-theme clothing such as Thomas Cook, Wrangler and Akubra.
“I was looking for a business to buy in Warrnambool and when Country Attitude closed I thought ‘here’s an opportunity to fill that gap’,” she said.
Work has also begun on fitting out a Koroit Street shopfront for a new Japanese restaurant called Ichiban Izakaya which is expected to open at the end of August.
Owner Eric Chung said he already had a Japanese takeaway store at Gateway Plaza and was now opening a restaurant in the shop where the old Bus Stop Cafe was once located.
It follows last week’s opening of the Bonds clothing store in Liebig Street and the Early Settler furniture shop at the Homemaker Centre. Beacon Lighting is also expected to open in August.
The influx of new businesses comes on the back of a $15 million CBD revamp.
In a bid to revive a bygone era of late-night shopping, retail businesses in the CBD kept their doors open until 8pm on Friday.
Organisers hope to have late-night shopping once a month until summer when it could become weekly.
Phinc owner Tracey Togni said the feedback had been amazing. “It was just a really nice buzz,” she said. “The amount of memories it’s brought back about Friday night shopping.”
The Athlete’s Foot franchisee Rachael Hoffmann said customers and businesses she’d spoken to were positive about late-night shopping with many customers commenting that with everyone so time-pressed, it was nice to come down the street and just wander.
Gazman manager Kelly Curran said the Friday shopping event was a success and they would consider doing it again. “I drove down here at 7pm and you couldn’t get a park,” she said.
