Paid parking at shopping centres

Now that Carousel Shopping Centre has been renovated, the improved shopping and recreation amenities are expected to draw increasing crowds to the centre. The next shopping centre to undertake renovation is Innaloo Shopping Centre closely followed by Karrinyup Shopping Centre.

Now the issue of paid parking at the three shopping centres has been raised. Never before in Perth have we had paid for parking centres, the decision to charge for parking at hospitals has been met with opposition in the community. In relation to hospitals, you don't have much choice, nobody wants to go to hospitals, this is the one place we seek to avoid at all costs.

Not so with shopping, there are a multitude of choices from local shopping centres, the main shopping precincts of Perth and Fremantle are also entertainment centres with restaurants, bars and other facilities such as cinema, showrooms and service providers.

People now have the option to shop online avoiding bricks and mortar retailers who are already reeling from the take-up of online sales. Now Amazon has opened in Australia we can expect greater online competition. If retailers wish to attract people back to large shopping centres then they need to reduce and remove barriers for people to remain customers.

Now, I realise the first three hours are free at this stage; however, the ticketing system has been installed then the situation could rapidly change and shorter times introduced or no free parking at all. People will just not go, another reason to shop online. 

Just as bad, employees of retailers are not offered special conditions and pay for their vehicle to sit in car parks. Generally speaking, retail workers are on lower pay structures and conditions, this decision affects the more vulnerable workers.

One hopes shopping centre managers are listening as large grocery retailers such as Coles and Woolworths and large retailers such as David Jones, Myer, Big W, Kmart and Target are able to exert influence on Westfield management and cut a better deal for not only their employees but their customers too.