Aussie retail laws make shoppers say ‘Oi!’

Australia’s getting it’s first Costco, don’t you know? Melbourne, on the extreme southern tip of the continent, is the location. The retailer is planning several more stores on the east coast. Syndey is a natural choice.

But what about the west coast? Austraila is a gigantic country. It’s not like western shoppers can just hop over to Melbourne for their weekly tub of margarine. The reason this matters to the citizens of Perth has to do with their antiquated restrictions on retail hours. The fact that Costco offers such a wide range of goods puts them in a binding situation. Grocers can’t open on Sundays or late on weeknights. Other kinds of stores can. Which one is Costco? Is that conundrum going to prevent them from establishing a presence in Western Australia?

And pardon my Amercian ignorance, but why does one half of the contient have shopping restrictions that don’t apply to the other? And what does that do to the price-controlling nature of competition among retailers that we Yankees enjoy? And finally, if you’re going to prevent one sector of merchandisers from doing business on Sundays, why choose grocers? My family is a lot more likely to need milk and bread on any given day than we are recliners and appliances.

Perhaps it’s an Australian thing that I wouldn’t understand.

New stores? Not so fast…

Looks like plans to put stores in Wasilla, AK and Manhattan (?) aren’t sitting all that well. There’s typical noise from the AK town about noise, congestion, and such, but the main beef seems to be about lack of honest information.

Interesting post here about the value of a big-box store on the “UWS” vs. the push for more public transportation and alternatives to cars. How is a Manhattanite gonna get a gross of TP home on a Vespa?

Over on the other side of the country, the proposed Costco on the Upper West Side of Manhattan has Mayor Bloomberg’s OK. Others are crying foul about risks to local grocery stores.

The new store underway in Peterborough, Ontario has received over 1,000 job applications.