Sky-high commercial rents, staff shortages produced by the housing crisis, and the broader economic downturn have placed an unsustainable burden on dozens of local businesses in Byron Bay.
As the town experiences a quieter than usual off-season, multiple local businesses have been forced to either close or relocate, leaving a growing number of shop fronts empty.
It has raised concerns that only large corporate chains will be able to afford to set up shop in the town in the future, which could change the face of the town permanently.
‘A lot of true local businesses are struggling to make ends meet,’ the President of the Byron Bay Chamber of Commerce, Jason Bentley, told The Echo.
‘There’s multiple factors – rents, interest rate hikes, rising costs, staffing issues… it’s a trend that’s likely to continue’.
‘Rents are definitely a factor. Quite a few commercial property owners are bringing leases up to market value when they come up for renewal.
‘A number of businesses in the old Woolies car park are looking for new spots, and it’s double the rent they’ve been paying to get a new lease.
‘I think you’re going to see a changing landscape where you’re seeing bigger international brands moving downtown, because they’re the ones who can afford to lease space there.’
The Echo is aware of at least a dozen local operations that have closed or relocated in recent months.
These include well-known longstanding businesses such as the Byron Fresh restaurant, and the Stoked surf fashion shop, both on Jonson Street, and Craig Parry Photography.
Mr Parry told The Echo that high rents were a key contributing factor in his decision to move on, and that he was considering Lennox Head and the Byron Arts and Industry Estate as possible new locations.
‘We’ve realised that we don’t need to be in the middle of Byron Bay anymore,’ Mr Parry said.
‘We don’t need to spend $110,000 every year in rent for a spot in the Bay. We can do half that for a good spot somewhere else and that’s fine.’
World opening up
Mr Parry said that another factor affecting his business was the rollercoaster ride the region had experienced after COVID-19.
‘Covid was actually an exceptional boom time for us, and for many businesses in the town,’ he said. ‘The government was handing out money, tourism rates were up because no one could travel overseas, and so everyone was coming to Byron with money to spend.’
‘Then the floods came, and that was obviously a big blow. We’ve come out of that and thought “this summer is going to be great”, but then we had high interest rates, which really affected the retail market and everyone in the town was like, “okay, we’ve held on enough, it’s time to go”.’
Mr Bentley agreed that Byron Bay has experienced a downturn in trade.
‘The town was 30 to 40 per cent down on sales over the Christmas period,’ he said.
‘We’re in a tight situation now. It’s the quietest time of the year and everyone has shot off overseas.’
Staff shortages
Another key factor impacting many local businesses is the chronic shortage of staff, a situation that has been created in no small part by the housing crisis.
‘The biggest factor for us in closing our Byron store was staffing,’ said Michelle Loschiavo, the director of Byron Compounding Chemist.
‘None of our staff could afford to live in the area’.
‘They were living in Banora and Kingscliff, and had to commute into town every day.
‘In the end, they just got worn out. We advertised for local staff, but couldn’t find anyone, so we were stuck.’
The chemist is continuing to operate via its shop on the Gold Coast, and is servicing many of its local customers over the phone and via its webpage.
With the pressures on local businesses expected to continue, and possibly worsen over the coming months, it is likely that more local businesses will have to either close or relocate.
‘The centre of town will be a place for marketing,’ Mr Parry said.
‘Multinationals will have their shops there, so that they can be seen by people visiting the town – shop-front marketing.’
‘They’ll be the only ones able to sustain the rents there.’
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