More than 35 cafes, restaurants and bars have opened in Wollongong’s CBD in the last two years leading to fears establishments will cannibalise each others profits.
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However, Wollongong City Council’s projected CBD population boom in the next three years should ensure demand keeps up with supply.
Graze cafe owner Andrej Gacesa set up shop in Crown Street Mall six months ago and has mixed feelings about how Wollongong’s venue boom will affect business owners.
‘‘Someone told me more than 30 had opened over the last 24 months and I feel very 50/50 about it,’’ he said.
‘‘You don’t want the same over and over, that’s bad for everyone, but as long as you can offer something different you can hold on to business.’’
Mr Gacesa said capturing the lunchtime crowd was crucial in Wollongong for restaurant operators.
‘‘Competing against GPT is tricky because all the food places are clumped together and people haven’t come back to the mall yet since the renovation.’’
Across the street, Arsh Kohli, owner of The Square, disagrees competition will eat into profits.
Mr Kohli, who only opened the doors to his new cafe days ago, chose Wollongong over cafe-mecca Surry Hills to establish his venue after perceiving a gap in the Illawarra market.
‘‘I saw Wollongong was lacking a Sydney style cafe ... it really is a coffee culture up there where people want to take their time and sample things like single origin coffees,’’ he said.
‘‘As soon as I saw the location I wanted the place, after speaking to shoppers they were all looking for a place to enjoy the view of the mall and it gave me the idea.’’
The career barista isn’t threatened by fellow single origin and cold brew provider Sifters, instead he was adamant competition increased business.
‘‘Competition is better when you open up 10 places of say women’s boutiques, everyone knows where to go to buy a dress,’’ he said.
‘‘More places bring more people and more employment which all brings more money.’’
Wollongong City Council economic development manager Mark Grimson echoed similar sentiments that more options drew more customers to the CBD. ‘‘There’s no doubt cafes and new restaurants are enticing people to come into the CBD which wasn’t previously the case,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s fair to say there is a pent up demand from a period of time when Wollongong didn’t have these types of venues.’’
According to Mr Grimson, residents chose to stay in Wollongong for the weekend rather then seek out Sydney’s venues.
Potential oversaturation of bars and cafes would be mitigated by a substantial influx of residents into the CBD, according to council projections.
‘‘We’re predicting a 97 per cent increase in the next two or three years of people living in the CBD which is a massive increase over a short space of time,’’ he said.
New development and increased eating, dining and drinking establishments enjoyed a co-dependent relationship, Mr Grimson said.
‘‘People want to live in the CBD because they see new ventures creating a cosmopolitan culture that traditionally had been lacking,’’ he said.