The southern end of Church and Keira streets - south of Burelli St - will have one of the largest concentrations of machines, with 13 and 10 respectively.

Other parking hot spots will include Market St with 10 machines west of St Michael's Anglican Church and five east of the church. Victoria St and Burelli St will each have eight machines, while Kembla St has 12 machines.

The machines will service 850 of the city centre's 1440 parking spaces and a tender to supply and install them early in the new year was accepted by the council administrators last month.

But retailers are becoming increasingly worried that shoppers will go elsewhere.

The looming introduction of paid parking is the last straw for Pasta Fina owner Flaminio Fina. After more than 20 years on lower Crown St and a swag of awards for his pasta, Mr Fina will walk away from his shop after Christmas.

"I think what they are doing with the parking is wrong," he said.

"If customers have to pay $2 more for a packet of pasta or even for a coffee - because they have to pay to park - it is not going to be worthwhile."

He said the lack of parking had always been an issue.

"The council should remember Wollongong needs more parking instead of destroying Wollongong."

Jim McDonough has been surveying customers in his Church St shop, Mr Quickfix, for their opinion on parking meters. Of the 70 customers he has asked, only one supported parking meters.

"The other 69 have told me they will shop in Shellharbour, Figtree, Warrawong or Miranda because they don't have to pay for parking," he said.

"As far as I am concerned it is just revenue raising. We already have rangers monitoring these timed parking spaces and yet they still want to put in parking meters."

Skipp Surf owner John Skipp has been in business in Wollongong's main street for 40 years and said the council should have planned for more parking decades ago.

"In Crown St, the most common complaint I hear is there is no parking. And I don't think parking meters are going to help."

He too feared shoppers would leave town.

"There are too many other shopping centres in close proximity to Wollongong, all with free parking, and that will definitely encourage escape spending."