News / Business
Lygon Street traders seek a collective voice
Business association could promote and advocate for shopping strip
Mark Phillips
BUSINESSES in Lygon Street in Brunswick East are looking for ways they can work together with a collective voice to lobby for improvements to the shopping strip.
While discussions are still at an early stage, if enough businesses got on board it could result in a formal traders group modelled on the successful Sydney Road Brunswick Association.
About 20 business owners and operators attended a first meeting in August where they discussed the strip’s pros and cons and how to build upon its popularity. Another meeting will be held this month.
Lygon Street rivals Sydney Road for the variety of restaurants, bars and cafes with good public transport access but there is no organisation to speak on behalf of the dozens of businesses along the 1.8 km between Brunswick Road and Albion Street.
Like Sydney Road, Lygon Street has a significant number of vacant shopfronts and a graffiti and vandalism problem, and motor vehicle traffic is an issue exacerbated by a shortage of off-street parking.
But the strip is also experiencing a spate of new businesses opening, including the relocation from Fitzroy of cult record shop Strangeworld and a new venue operated by the same team as the acclaimed Etta restaurant.
While popular with local residents, some traders believe the strip has untapped potential to attract more visitors from other parts of Melbourne.
Traders who attended the first meeting say there was a shared commitment to continue working towards something more formal.
Among the business owners pushing for a Lygon Street traders’ association are Brendan Lang and Khloe Meacock, who recently moved their business Get Off Gas to a new showroom near the corner of Glenlyon Road.
They said their interest in the project was driven as much by being regular customers at the strip’s restaurants and cafes as it was by owning a business in Lygon Street.
“[The Lygon Street strip] is definitely on the up, so there’s a good opportunity for a traders’ association to seize that and make the most of it,” Lang said.
He said that while there was agreement that businesses could work better with each other to promote the area, it was important not to rush to quickly towards a more formal structure.
Sydney Road has had a traders’ association since 1992 and has grown to 545 businesses. Funded by a special levy that raises about $390,000 a year, it employs two staff who co-ordinate a year-round marketing and promotional program. The association has a website, a large social media presence, and produces a range of collateral to promote the strip, including brochures, booklets and magazines, t-shirts and tote bags.
Traders collectively fund street decorations and events, and the association also gives businesses a collective voice to advocate about common issues such as crime or traffic.
Most traders pay a levy of between $585 and $670 a year, but a few pay with properties valued at more than $4 million as much as $1900 and some pay only $260. In all, 601 properties were subject to the special charge when it was last struck in 2023.
Central Coburg also has a business association similar to Sydney Road. Both are governed by a committee of management made up of traders and property owners.
There are dozens of other traders associations around Melbourne.
Sydney Road Brunswick Association manager Troy Stuchbree spoke at the first Lygon Street traders’ meeting and is keen to share knowledge and resources to help a fledgling Lygon Street organisation get off the ground.
“The distinct advantage of an association like Sydney Road is we’re able to act quickly and proactively to address situations happening at a hyperlocal level, creating campaigns or business initiatives or upskilling opportunities for a specific area,” he said.
“When there is a big project like the LXRP, we can advocate for the hyperlocal concerns of businesses in this area.”
Stuchbree said collective marketing and promotion, a strong digital presence, and annual events had allowed the Sydney Road precinct to develop a distinct identity to appeal to local shoppers and bring visitors into the area.
He said there was potential for the two precincts to collaborate to benefit both of them.
“I think we’ve got two distinct areas and two distinct identities and wouldn’t see it [Lygon Street] as competition… Anything good for both precincts is good for Brunswick and where there’s opportunities to cross promote or work together, we would be open to discussing it.
“It’s an exciting time.”
Alice Chan, who has operated Matsumoto restaurant on the corner of Weston Street for more than two decades, said she understood the value of a traders’ association from her experience with a second restaurant she owns in East Ivanhoe Village.
As a member of the East Ivanhoe Traders Association, she pays about $600 a year into a marketing fund administered by Banyule Council, as do about 80 other businesses along Lower Heidelberg Road.
“They employ an organiser to organise meetings and to negotiate with different traders and organise activities,” she said.
“Something very similar here would be good, I think.”
Chan said she would like to see more events held during the year to bring crowds to Lygon Street.
After a trial of 30 kmh speed limit was approved earlier this year, Lang and Meacock are both keen to see a strategy develop for Lygon Street, including accessible tram stops and better cycling infrastructure that would encourage visitors to the area without adding to its traffic congestion.
But the imposition of a new levy to fund the traders association is likely to be a concern for some business owners and landlords.
“People want to see that first step of an informal communication, not necessarily jump straight to being a formal traders’ association, but just start to communicate and work out what each person’s concerns are because the businesses are so different,” Lang said.
“I think the framework is there. We just need to work out how we get from where we are now to something that works harmoniously.
“We’re in a fortunate position, we can follow the lead of … Sydney Road.
“The longevity and the success of Sydney Road and other trader organisations where there is a fee associated, proves that it’s worthwhile. If it wasn’t worthwhile, then it would have stopped long ago.”
“They wouldn’t keep paying the money,” added Meacock.
Merri-bek councillor Adam Pulford, whose Warrk-Warrk ward covers Brunswick East, attended the first meeting and said it had been promising.
Pulford said a formal association wasn’t the only direction that traders could go in working together.
“This could look like adding more people to the existing WhatsApp group for local businesses, hosting regular informal meetings between businesses or establishing or joining an official traders’ association,” he said.
“I encourage anyone interested to keep the converstations going with each other and council. By joining together, your voices will be louder and more easily heard by council and all levels of government.”
The second traders’ meeting will be held on October 15.
If you liked this story, have you thought about supporting our work?
We are an independent, volunteer-run hyperlocal news organisation owned and run by the people in your community. With your support, we can continue to produce unique and valuable local journalism for Brunswick, Coburg and the inner north of Melbourne.
