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One Warkworth Business Association manager Murray Chapman says the opening of The Oaks on Neville retirement village represents a huge opportunity for local shops.
Once fully occupied, the Oaks will see around 100 relatively affluent seniors situated on Warkworth’s main street – right on retailers’ doorsteps.
And when family and friends come to visit, the number of shoppers increases further still.
Moreover, Murray believes seniors are less likely to shop online, meaning local shops will be enormously important to them.
“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that these newcomers are going to bring a fair amount of money into town,” Murray says.
Meanwhile, Murray hopes any lingering resentment concerning the appearance of the Oaks can be set aside.
He says a number of people have approached him, including some retailers, who have indicated they are unhappy with the development.
He suspects opposition stems from the fact that Warkworth has acquired a certain character and quirkiness, and they fear this is something the Oaks detracts from.
He says such sentiments might have been understandable during construction, when unsightly scaffolding dominated the skyline. But as the scaffolding comes down and the buildings become visible, he feels they look attractive and fit in well.
“Most people have trouble with change, but we have got it here now. The question now is, how can we make it work best for the town and its residents?”
Murray says retailers should be thinking of putting together welcome packs for the new residents, featuring discounts and special offers such as, “buy a muffin and have a coffee on us” type of deals.
He says that while retailers shouldn’t go overboard by re-orientating all their stock to appeal to an older age group, they should certainly be asking questions of their new customers and figuring out how they can best meet their needs.
This also applies to visitors of residents.
“The last thing you want is for them to decide to take off to Silverdale to do their shopping. You want them to stay here and do the touristy things, have a coffee here and then go across to Warkworth Menswear and buy their clothes,” he says.
Moreover, Murray also believes Oaks residents have the potential to enhance the experience for all shoppers in Warkworth.
For example, many will have given up gardens to come and live at the Oaks. One idea Murray would like to explore is to install planter boxes along Queen Street and invite Oaks residents to plant flowers and take care of them.
This would mean seniors would get out of their apartments, into the main street and be interacting with the rest of the community.
“It could be really colourful and come at virtually no cost to the town,” he says.
“To me, flowers lift the spirits and they make people feel good about their town.”
Retailer’s viewpoint
Owner of Warkworth Menswear Matt Henderson (pictured) sees the opening of The Oaks on Neville as being a huge plus for retailers and likely to lead to longer opening hours.
He says there are going to be people in town who will be around all the time, making it worthwhile for retailers to open longer on Saturday and start trading on Sunday.
“We have never had the situation in town where we have people right on our doorstep that don’t need to find a carpark,” he says. “I’m definitely looking forward to it opening up.”
