This month Rimu takes us home to meet the folks and along the way points out a few of the changes happening in his home town of Armidale.

Urban Excursions has taken you all to some amazing places around the world – Ushuaia, Edmonton, Vegas, London, Paihia. This month we take a look at a town that’s a little closer to home, and a little closer to my heart. While it may not rate amongst the great cities of the world, Armidale NSW is seeing some interesting changes, from a retail perspective at least.

Growing up in Armidale, nothing ever changed. The same shops were in the same place. The same restaurants were owned by the same families. There was no population growth. There was no job growth. The town was stagnant, listless and, some might even say, lifeless.

After high school there was little prospect of a job, as such, the options were to move to the city (generally Sydney) to study/find work or stay and study at the university and then move on. Even then, the local university is a last resort for most kids, it’s seen as a bit of a joke.

Over the last five years; however, retail growth has instigated change. The benefits to Armidale from the retail led growth include significant employment growth; an inflow of private investment into the city; and, after nine consecutive years of negative population growth, positive population growth in both 2006 and 2007.

For as long as I can remember, Armidale has had the same amount and variety of shops. The most exciting changes I can remember were when Fosseys changed to Target Country and Fair Dinkum Bargains changed to the Warehouse sometime in the early 1990’s. Fosseys changing to Target Country was a big thing in our town; it meant that we had made it (whatever ‘it’ is).

In around 2002 however, new retail started to pop up around town. A new Coles shopping centre opened, with a full-line supermarket and some 10 specialties, leaving the old Coles store to be filled by Bi-Lo. Fantastic Furniture and a range of showrooms popped up in the industrial area. The K-Mart arcade was expanded to envelop most of its car park and the old Fosseys/Target Country store. Mitre 10 consolidated its two stores to a single, larger store in the industrial area, allowing Best and Less into the CBD. And finally in 2007, the Big W complex (Centro Armidale) was completed, which provides a full-line Woolworths, 30 specialties and of course a Big W (unfortunately, as yet, the old Woolworths site has not been re-tenanted).

All of this in the light of a declining population. And how? Armidale has changed the role it plays in the retail network.

When I was growing up, if you needed a new television, couch or washing machine, you’d go to Tamworth or Coffs Harbour. For clothes shopping, you would often wait until on holidays somewhere where the range is better. As such, a large portion of Armidale’s retail expenditure was leaking to other towns. Moreover, a large amount of retail expenditure was travelling through the town. For example, residents of Guyra, Glenn Innes, Ebor and Inverell (towns all located north of Armidale), historically would travel through Armidale on the way to Tamworth to do their comparative shopping. Finally, residents of Uralla and Walcha, which are located between Armidale and Tamworth would go to Tamworth for their comparative shopping needs.  

The additions to the retail facilities in Armidale have increased its critical mass significantly and enabled it to capture much of the leaked and through expenditure. Now, the battle/trade area lines are drawn somewhere south of Armidale, between Uralla and Tamworth, an invisible wall keeping shoppers north and capturing a portion of their retail spend. 

The retail expansion in Armidale has had a range of effects on the Town; significant employment, private fixed capital investment, increased dwelling approvals and population growth after a decade of shrinking. All these suggest the expansion has given the local economy a significant injection. But, what are the long term implications?

Residents now have to travel less to fulfil their retail needs, saving time, effort and money, additionally, they have a wider range of employment options (albeit predominantly retail based). They are the winners. But, adding to the retail floorspace in Armidale without population growth is a zero sum game; the expenditure captured by Armidale must be taken from elsewhere. In this case expenditure is taken from Coffs Harbour and Tamworth. 

Coffs Harbour over the last decade has achieved growth rates double that of the state and draws its retail expenditure from a significant and growing north-south catchment. As such, impacts on Coffs Harbour have been minimal. Tamworth however, has seen low levels of growth and draws trade from regional areas that have seen negative population growth over the last decade. As such, impacts on Tamworth are likely to be significant and ongoing. These impacts are evidenced by my close friend’s father, who in 2003, after a lifetime of working and managing retail stores, decided to open up a large retail chain store in Tamworth. By mid 2006, he had shut the doors.    

Irrespective of the impacts on competitive towns in the region, Armidale still has a long way to go as a town. It needs to hold on to its youth, it needs to continue to diversify its employment possibilities and it needs to change the way in which locals view the university. 

Retail growth has given Armidale a kick start. Now, it must to capitalise on its momentum in order to promote future growth.

Old house - Armidale	Centro - Armidale

By: Rimu Nelson