Retail giant Myer’s announcement to close stores in Wollongong and Orange has seen residents hit out at the department store chain on social media for abandoning regional shoppers.
The Wollongong store will shut in October and the Orange chain closes in January.
Learne Spicer ‘s first job was at the Myer Orange building on Summer St in 1983, when it was formally known as Grace Bros.
“I still live in Orange and I have a small business, and by losing a huge store like this it will just make shoppers go elsewhere to shop,” she told Kidspot.
Learne Spicer has a business in Orange and said the Myer closure would hit the town hard. Picture: Facebook.
“Orange needs that spot filled straight away. You need these big places to attract the people to town to shop.”
She said shoppers in smaller towns surrounding Orange, “definitely” travelled to the regional city in the state’s central west to shop, particularly with Myer as a destination.
“I hope there is a plan for this vacant store,” she said. “This is not good for Orange.”
The department store announced the move on Friday with plans to to provide a “sharper” and “more focused” offering.
But John Iffland wrote on Facebook the decision would “carve out the heart of Orange’s shopping area” and Lesley Nolan claimed it would “punish the regional cities”.
Even though Wollongong is the third-largest city in NSW, its shopping offering is apparently lacking, and the Myer closure would make it worse according to Shayne Hope on Facebook.
Comments about Myer closing. Picture: Facebook
“There’s going to be no shopping in Wollongong anymore. Hopeless,” she wrote.
But others said the Wollongong store was long overdue for a revamp.
“The Wollongong store has needed work for a long time… Probably a good thing. The shop floor can be revamped to match the rest of the CBD revamp and become more enticing to shoppers,” Dave Eiche-höhle offered.
Shopping in Wollonging is about to get worse with Myer closing in October.
— Mel. (@Mj_Richardson) May 20, 2016
Sharing the bad news
Not only does the move reduce shopping options, it also cuts jobs with an estimated 130 people working across both stores, according to the ABC.
Myer representatives were in store on Friday informing local team members in Wollongong and Orange that their stores would be closing.
But obviously not every worker could be there, so many found out via public announcements in the media and on social media.
Alex Camilleri commented on a public post, that “it would have been decent to tell the staff, before it was publicly announced”.
The latest closures follow announcements that Myer stores in Coomera in Queensland and Tuggerah in NSW would not be going ahead, and that Brisbane’s Brookside store would also close.
Myer CEO Richard Umbers. Picture: David Geraghty
“Improving productivity”
Myer’s chief executive Richard Umbers said the decision to close the stores is part of the company’s strategy to “improve productivity” and “deliver a sharper and more focused offer” to return Myer to profitable growth.
He said “the difficult but important decisions” were “a necessary step”.
“While decisions to close stores are never easy, the process of reshaping our store network to better align with our primary customers is an essential part of the strategy,” he said in a statement on Friday.
“We are committed to supporting all impacted team members, and we will work with them through this process.”
Shoppers at Myer. Picture: Tara Croser
Changing the way we shop
Myer has recently teamed up with eBay to revolutionise the online shopping experience by creating the world’s first virtual reality department store.
Users would need a VR headset, an iOS or Android device and the ‘eBay Virtual Reality Department Store’ app to browse and create a custom virtual store with over 12,000 products.
Ben Williams and Tracy Hall tryithe Myer and EBay virtual reality shopping. Picture: Justin Lloyd
While Myer is making innovative moves in cyber space, maybe the company should put a little bit of extra attention into its current online offering.
Myer’s Facebook review page is littered with complaints for the store’s internet and delivery service.
Just on Tuesday this week, three different shoppers asked for a ‘please explain’.
Jenelle Marsh complained that when she made an online purchase that offered a gift with purchase, no gift was delivered.
Tammy Apoyan tried all day calling customer service about an online purchase, but was was never able to get through despite “being on hold for over 10 minutes every time”.
Sandy Hope received a refund for her online order that she definitely wasn’t expecting. “Am I to assume that my order has been cancelled … some information would be nice”.
