Helensburgh residents showed no love for Coles or its proposal for a Liquorland store in the town centre, during an at times heated public meeting on Monday night.
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Speaker after speaker at the community forum organised by the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA), spoke against the proposal.
About 100 people showed up to Tradies Helensburgh club for the meeting, which got heated at times, especially after speaker after speaker outlined how "detrimental" a fourth liquor store in the town centre would be.
There were seven registered speakers but more than double that amount of people spoke on the night, telling Coles to "put people before profits and withdraw their application".
The local pastor, a doctor and a teacher were among the speakers who outlined various reasons why another liquor store was bad for Helensburgh. Their reasons included health concerns, traffic congestion and an increase in anti-social behaviour in a town with "little to no police presence".
The biggest cheer on the night went to long-time Helensburgh resident Ron Kissell.
The well-known real estate agent said as a businessman he could see the bright side of competition.
"But what we are talking about here is a fourth liquor store in 190 metres in the main street of Helensburgh," Mr Kissell said.
"You [ILGA] talk about balanced development of the industry - well here are some statistics. Per 100,000 people the availability of packaged liquor stores in Helensburgh is 31.3 per cent.
"The Wollongong LGA is 25, major cities in Australia is 28.1 and all of NSW is 30.7.
"Helensburgh is the highest with 31.3. With a fourth liquor store it would move to 46.99 per cent. That's ridiculous."
Mr Kissell also hit out moves to put Liquorland at 19 Walker Street, where the town's only delicatessen used to operate out of.
"it is interesting that once the delicatessen closed, so did the one in the Coles supermarket.
"I have a suggestion for Coles. Why don't you bring the delicatessen back and make the supermarket bigger instead of putting in another unwanted liquor store," he asked.
The decision in relation to the Helensburgh Liquorland ultimately lies with the ILGA.
In response to Mercury's questions about community opposition to the proposal, a Coles spokesperson said "Coles has played a significant role in the Helensburgh community for close to 20 years and we are proud of the work we've done with our community partners.
"A new Liquorland store will support the local economy in Helensburgh with local retail and construction jobs as well as supporting local liquor producers through our commitment to offering greater choice and a tailored selection of local products."
Helensburgh father-of-two and landscape-architect Scott Spiers said another liquor outlet in the heart of the village was 'ludicrous'.
"For 20 years my focus has been on designing and implementing healthy public places for people. Dropping a Liquorland in the heart of the village is going to be detrimental for a number of reasons, especially from a functionality perspective," he said.
"I use the analogy of a kitchen with six microwaves and no oven or no fridge. Another analogy I use is if you put a candy shop in every second store, all our kids' teeth are going to fall out. It doesn't make sense, does it?"
Mr Spiers added his background was about creating places for the health and wellbeing of communities, and invigorating town centres with healthy outdoor spaces as well as businesses and shops that help to connect the outdoor spaces together.
A town centre should really be designed to allow people to spend time there and connect with each other not to pull up and grab a whole lot of booze and drive off again.
- Scott Spiers
"A town centre should really be designed to allow people to spend time there and connect with each other not to pull up and grab a whole lot of booze and drive off again," he said.
"Town centres should be places where you do your shopping, then go and get a newspaper, then go to the butcher.....and in doing that you maybe have interacted with 20 to 30 people in the town centre and that creates a healthy community where we can actually engage with each other and look after each other.
"Having another liquor shop in the town is really taking away from that healthy experience "
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
