Chris Sergi knows a thing or two of the highs and lows of doing business in a rapidly growing community.
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Mr Sergi, owner of Inspirations Paint on Yambil street is caught right in the thick of Council's Stage Three Yambil street beautification project. And although 2020 had some unexpected wins for the business, construction has ensured a challenging start to the new year.
"We had a little rush during COVID because everyone was doing renovations on their house, which was great," Mr Sergi said.
"But the Christmas rush never came. We had a closed road and I had a lot customers contacting to say they couldn't get to me.
"My figures from the years before have dropped."
Construction on Stage Three began early December, 2020 which saw the northern side of Yambil street between Kookora and Ulong streets blocked off for work to commence.
Mr Sergi was disappointed to learn that construction could not wait until after the Christmas rush, and he was not the only one who expressed concerns.
"We had requested that they delay starting until the middle of January, obviously to allow for the Christmas trade," Kim Savage, manager at JB Sports explained.
"Obviously coming off the back of a very difficult year for all of retail we thought that would be considered so we requested a four week delay to the start."
JB Sports also raised concerns around parking, however Mrs Savage explained that, after a week of confusion for her customers, Council were responsive.
"We definitely understand that the process needs to take place, we just had questions of timing and extra car spaces at the beginning that hadn't been addressed initially," she said.
Director of utilities at Griffith City Council, Graham Gordon said that beginning construction in summer provides for the best conditions for road work projects.
"Construction was always scheduled to start at the beginning of summer to take advantage of the warmest months which are better for building roads," Mr Graham said.
"Given the extent of excavation required for Stage 3, the December 2020 start has given optimal use of the summer months."
Access to Inspirations Paint is now on Daines street via Banna lane where there is on-site parking accessible for customers. Mr Sergi is grateful to his customers for sticking it out and continuing to support local business.
"I love working in a small town where everyone knows each other. Griffith is a pretty friendly community to live in."
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Kat is a former English teacher to international students and has taught all over the world. She is beginning a new career as a journalist with the Area News. Got something you want to chat about? She's all ears.
Kat is a former English teacher to international students and has taught all over the world. She is beginning a new career as a journalist with the Area News. Got something you want to chat about? She's all ears.
