THE number of empty shop fronts does mean the Sanctuary Point shopping area is dying, according to several people who run businesses in the area.
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However, at first glance things just don’t look good.
The village recently lost its video shop and The Sugar Sanctuary, a lolly business, is also is also closing down.
Several other shop fronts are also empty and are looking for tenants.
The arrival of a large shopping centre, just down the road, looks to be sucking some business away.
Soon there will be another empty shop when the Commonwealth Bank shuts its branch down.
Branch manager of the Sanctuary Point and Districts Bendigo Community Bank, Keith Robinson, and Phil Kennedy, principal of Bosco Accounting, both think it’s more than viable to run a business in Sanctuary Point.
Mr Robinson does not think business is dying.
“We have probably found the opposite and we have been here nearly 15 years and we have grown year on year every year,” he said.
Watch the video to hear more of Mr Robinson’s views.
Mr Kennedy has been business in Sanctuary Point for close to 30 years and has not noticed a major change.
“There has not been a great downturn and nor has there been a great upturn,” he said.
He thinks what we are seeing at the moment is a natural cycle.
“Small businesses come and go - that is the nature of things,” he said.
However, one business owner is weighing up his options after over a decade in the village.
He said the opening of the Vincentia Marketplace Shopping Centre had hurt many Sanctuary Point business owners, his included.
An investment in infrastructure, like more car-parks, is one thing he would like to see.
The business owner said locals stay away from sections of the business area on school days as they know getting a park in the morning and afternoons is difficult.