Parking meters and half-hour time restrictions are being blamed for sucking the life out of once busy Burelli St, killing off business on the retail strip and sending customers elsewhere.
Retailers east of Greater Union Cinemas and the bus stops have struggled to attract customers all week, with only a handful of cars parked at any one time from Kembla St to Church St.
Businessman Jim McDonogh said yesterday he feared Burelli St could go down the same path as the west end of Crown St as businesses shut up shop.
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Drivers baffled by parking meter signsMr McDonogh's engraving and repair business on Church St, Mr Quickfix, had between three and seven customers each day.
"Normally it could be 20 or 30 customers a day," he said.
"For me to survive, I think I will have to move to the suburbs."
The concerns about the half-hour limit were echoed by retailers along Burelli St, where one-hour time limits applied before last week.
Gareth Leyshon of Gala Trophies had just three customers on Thursday and said there were no more than seven cars parked at any time between 9am and 12pm. Yesterday, there were up to 17 or 18 cars briefly around lunchtime.
"We can't discuss a trophy in half an hour and it is not enough time to go to the mall. Wollongong City Council has destroyed the retail sector of Burelli St," Mr Leyshon said.
Yesterday, he distributed flyers to business owners, urging them to attend Tuesday's council meeting to speak out.
Santana Coffee owner Azbie Fejzuli said 30 minutes was barely long enough to enjoy a coffee, even if drivers were prepared to pay $2 on top of their $3 coffee.
Alex Costanzo from phone repairer Fonebiz said half-hour parking was hard on a business that offered "one hour repairs".
"People would drop their phone in and go to the shops. They can't do that now unless they move the car and pay for parking again."
Camera House has the same difficulty with its one-hour photo processing.
"A lot of our customers are now parking in Crown Central," manager Ian Sackett said.
"We are worried they will go somewhere closer to the mall or go to Warrawong where it is free."
Council general manager David Farmer said the reaction was as expected.
"We saw the all-day parkers move away, which was what we intended. But there was also a fear factor," he said.
"There has been a 40 per cent increase in the usage of the machines from Monday to Thursday and every day has grown."
Mr Farmer conceded that minor issues, like time limits in some areas, could be reviewed after a month. A major review will be undertaken after three to four months.
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