Shoppers have changed their mentality and are willing to spend more money since the Stawell Gold Mines was bought, according to a Stawell retail business.
Sneak a Peek store owner Adrienne Preston said she was “stoked” with the period leading up to Christmas and noticed sales were up compared to the same time in 2016.
“We just had a great lead up to Christmas and the month of November was massive,” she said.
“What I have noticed is ever since the Stawell Gold Mines was bought people have been a lot happier and prepared to spend a little bit extra.
“Instead of just buying a top, they will buy a pair of pants to go with the top – it’s things like that I have noticed a lot more.”
Ms Preston also said the word on the street was sounding a lot more positive.
“If you stepped outside over the Christmas period and listened to people talk you would have noticed that everyone was more excited about the future of the town and people were more positive,” she said.
“It has been very interesting to see and hear these reactions.”
Stawell Bi-Rite business owner Brett Crouch said townspeople would feel even better once Stawell Gold Mines started employing people.
“We’ll start to see a flow-on affect from then,” he said.
“But our Christmas period has been pretty strong. We found the start of December was similar to past years and then it got busy late.
“One of our most busiest period is generally post Christmas.”
Northern Grampians Shire mayor Cr Tony Driscoll said council welcomed Arete Capital Partners’ investment into the Stawell Gold Mines, buying the site in December.
“Any investment in potential jobs and growth within the Northern Grampians Shire is a welcome investment as far as this council is concerned,” he said.
“We realise that the suspension of works at the mine in 2016 impacted upon many of our residents, and hopefully, this will provide much-needed expansion in terms of employment for our region.”
