15. APP J. Economic Needs Report

7.3 POTENTIAL IMPACT ON EXISTING RETAILERS
It is unlikely that a local service station with a small convenience offer would cause significant impacts on the
major supermarkets and centres servicing the area today and into the future. The scale of the proposed
development would mean that its offer would be qualitative and quantitatively different from the larger format
retailers servicing the area.


7.4 BENEFITS AND NEED
As a convenience offer, however, there is considerable merit to the proposed development.
Service centre-based convenience retailing can be treated as today’s corner store, especially when they are open
on a 24/7 basis. Contemporary consumers certainly treat service stations as more than just places to buy petrol. In
effect, this is what is proposed for the subject site.
There is, furthermore a surrounding catchment of a very large number of workers. There are presently extremely
limited lunchtime options for these workers to buy lunch, and enjoy a short break away from their places of work.
Workers in the Lionel Donovan Drive segment, which does not have immediate access to such services,
particularly feel these limits. The proposed café will meet a clear need for more and better lunchtime options for
the local workforce. In this regard, the proposed café could be described as a “tradies’ café”. A convenience
retailing offer – such as would be offered by a small facility attached to a service centre – would also meet an
after-work need for workers who may need to pick up a few items on their way home.
Lastly, there is Noosaville’s permanent residential population for whom the proposed development would be a
small but convenient part of the overall retailing infrastructure servicing the community. The proposed
development will neither compete with nor, as a result, threaten the viability of existing large format retailers.
Rather, it will be a proportionate complement to the higher order retailing that already services the Trade Area’s
population.




                                                          [NOOSAVILLE-SS-ECON-041214-V1.3F.DOCX]       PAGE 29 of 29