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Now, the mall is supposed to be as much for the business people as the customers.
It is not doing the businesses any good at all to have these delays on the reconstruction.
It has taken them so long just to put pavers in front of our shop.
It's incredible.
We had about a few bad months. We've got problems.
And of course the building of the mall hasn't done our trade any good at all.
It's been a major struggle.
But thankfully, because of the type of operation that we have, people haven't forgotten us.
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Very much so, I remember the days of David Jones and coming into town
and having to get dressed up and going to the cafe there was a big deal
and coming into the city was a big deal.
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Four years ago, moved here into the CBD.
I moved in at a time where the mall was considered to be very derelict and dated and stale.
So I commenced the trading here in what was considered a fairly poor trading environment.
I'd certainly be lying if I said that it hasn't had an effect.
It has, not to the degree that I was dreading,
but I guess it's the Sunday that has taken the beating.
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We're given a newsletter from time to time
and lately the newsletter at least has been pretty up to date
and they seem to be keeping on schedule with what they say they're doing.
But the sooner they get on with getting this thing open
so people can look across the street and walk across the street
and we can keep our doors open to the outside, the better it'll be.
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It is hard I guess for people to remain positive when they're undergoing something like this.
There is no compensation, but I am of the mindset that no pain, no gain
and we do stand to benefit enormously.
There are going to be some quality retailers that will be attracted to the CBD
and any city or regional town or the calibre of towns will really does need a CBD
that is thriving and alive and having attended a lot of the meetings
and seen the revitalisation that is going to occur,
it is going to be very exciting for Townsville.
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The curiosity factor has been there right from the outset
and now that we're on the home straight,
people can see it and are starting to comment about how fantastic it looks
and just to be able to see the facades again and have all that dated clutter ripped out.
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We see a flickering light at the end of the tunnel,
we don't see a search light by any chance means
because the future is very iffy.
What are they going to do with the next block on the other side?
Is there going to be any big promotions by the council to attract new shops to this area?
Just what's going to happen?
That's the glimmer that there is, or the flicker.
There's some light there but it's an uncertain light.
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