APP: Westfield Marion Expansion | $350m

[Nathan]

Fake reasons? Supplying parking costs money. Lots of money. It requires substantial amounts of land, which could otherwise be used for more practical purposes than storing empty metal shells for much of the day. Comparing free parking to the availability of water and air is ridiculous, yet sadly reflective of the perspective of many in a car dominated society.

[Hooligan]

First world problems......

[Aidan]

However I certainly feel parking my car is something I expect to be able to do for free and with ease.

Why do expect to be able to do that for free and with ease?

Why not? Life's expensive and complicated enough without adding parking hassles to it! I've always been able to park easily and for free both in Britain and Australia and I don't believe there's any good reason that should change now!

If you want to park for free in Britain, you'll have to avoid the cities. The days of widespread free parking are long gone. Free spaces have become a minority in London's outer suburbs, and are getting rarer in suburbs and towns elsewheree in the country.

I guess you could say I refuse to pay for parking for the same reason I refuse to pay for drinking water. It's just something that's simple and freely available everywhere. Any charges imposed on it are purely artificial and only paid by those who can't see through the fake reasons given by those who impose the charges. Next they'll be charging us for air, but I'll refuse to pay for that too (please don't think I'm joking)!

You don't pay water bills?

Back when land was cheap and abundant, free parking made sense and there we plenty of spaces available. But Marion's changed. The shopping centre's much bigger now, there's more demand, and parking structures cost thousands of dollars per space, and you have to get there early to be sure of getting a space immediately. Keeping parking free is neither natural nor sensible.

[mattblack]

STOP IT. All these logical arguments as to why parking should be charged are going to burst pushbuttons little bubble of car security. You probably also expect to park within 50m of your destination. About 1 million other people have the same expectations as you in this city. Cars are made to take you out of reality with sound systems, climate control, LCD screens and so on. The notion that this convenience comes at ever increasing costs is a reality check that most people dont want to deal with.

[JamesXander]

Non of these westfield expansions are going to occur in the current retail environment. As I have said before, Westfield locks most of its tenants into 5-10 year contracts, 5% increases yearly. Westfields rents are HUGE. Factor in increasing wages, the increase to super (from 9 to 12% with now no cut in the company tax rate), a massive increase in electricity costs & the most important point FLAT o declining sales growth (look at Myer, DJ's, JB, Harvey Norman, all good indications of the current retail sector). IMO if we don't see strong retail growth soon, many many more retail stores will close. The suburban shopping centre upgrades will become few & at between over the next 5 years.

[JamesXander]

And an interesting point is that Westfield posted a great profit result last year... But the fine print read that sales DECREASED in their malls last FY. Unsustainable in high turnover, low margin centers like westfield

[pushbutton]

We've really gone a long way off topic, but I guess since there's no sign of the Marion expansion happening soon it's all we can put in this thread for now!

I'm a believer in not being overcharged for anything. I saw an article in the paper last week about some new coffee shops opening in Adelaide that will charge $30 for a cup of coffee, and have plans to introduce $75 cups in the near future!

Just proves there's still some morons with money to waste. A cup of coffee is worth about 50c and I wouldn't dream of paying more than 80c. I don't pay water bills but that's not relevant because I was referring to bottled water. I simply wouldn't be stupid enough to buy bottled water at any price. I can just turn on my tap and get the same stuff for free. Washing your car costs around 10c maximum, yet some people are apparently happy to pay up to $75 for it. Washing your dog costs about the same, but we now have "dog salons" charging us who knows how much.

Parking is also worth $0, and that's all I've ever paid for it! If people are willing to pay for these things, there will always be people willing to charge them. My bet is people will pay for parking at Westfield, so Westfield will happily let them. If on the other hand nobody paid, Westfield would very quickly relent and remove the boom gates, because those will actually cost something to run and manage.

[Omicron]

Parking is also worth $0, and that's all I've ever paid for it! If people are willing to pay for these things, there will always be people willing to charge them. My bet is people will pay for parking at Westfield, so Westfield will happily let them. If on the other hand nobody paid, Westfield would very quickly relent and remove the boom gates, because those will actually cost something to run and manage.

Hello and welcome to the free market at work. Good to have you on board!

[Ben]

Coldrock recently closed down, along with the Our Home store, Rishi, Fletcher Jones and Esprit Kids.

Medicare is moving out in June.

A couple of new stores soon to open are R.M. Williams, Bing Boy, BreadTop and Menchies Frozen Yogurt.

[Omicron]

Bing Boy! I keep buying the blasted things.

[Hooligan]

Breadtop is awesome. There's one up here in Elizabeth but is there anymore around Adelaide?

[Nathan]

Breadtop is awesome. There's one up here in Elizabeth but is there anymore around Adelaide?

One on King William St at the entrance to Southern Cross Arcade, and one on Grote St just a bit east of Moonta St. I can't get enough of their red bean buns!

[Ben]

Game closed yesterday as they are now in Administration.

Crabtree and Evelyn are to open their second Adelaide store soon.

[The Scooter Guy]

Game closed yesterday as they are now in Administration.

Crabtree and Evelyn are to open their second Adelaide store soon.

The last time I went to Marion a few weeks ago, Game was still there.

[Ben]

Game traders are using the space but game definitely closed.