Retail News

Singo’s Wholesale Meats expands, opens at Erina

Dean Singleton, owner of Singo’s Wholesale Meats, opened his third butchery at Erina in mid-December. Two other stores are operated at West Gosford and Morisset.

The 440sqm premises, opposite the Woodport Primary School, includes a large retail display area, freezers and chillers, boning room and cutting room where customers’ bulk meat purchases are cut to their requirements. Mr Singleton has invested almost a million dollars in the Erina store setting a new standard in butcher shop design and operation. “It is unique and carries over twelve hundred lines including fish and poultry,” Mr Singleton said.

Asked whether the Erina store would impact on his West Gosford store, Mr Singleton said that surveys they had carried out in recent times showed that ninety-five percent of customers come from within a 5 km radius.“It was this finding that has encouraged us to look at Erina and we are planning a similar store at Lake Haven and later in the year in Newcastle,” he said. “I believe we have our merchandising and marketing fine-tuned now and are in a position to expand. I am expecting a turnover for the three stores to be around $16 million per year.

Mr Singleton started his first butcher shop at Ourimbah some fifteen years ago and subsequently bought his father’s West Gosford business when he retired. “We are heavily into sports promotion and support a lot of sporting groups and charities.” he said.

Mr Singleton said that he has now got the operating model right for a meat wholesaling business to the public and is now looking at franchising. “We will start pushing into franchising in late 2009 and this is a reason for introducing the “Silly Singo” logo which will be readily recognisable. Singleton’s is the longest established butchery on the Central Coat having been in business for forty-three years.

Woolworths heading for Lake Munmorah

Woolworths are proposing to build a Shopping Centre on an 8 ha site on the corner of Tall Timbers Road and Pacific Highway at Lake Munmorah (the site previously occupied by Mitchells Concrete Products). The Shopping Centre, with a gross floor area of up to 10,000sqm proposes a mix of uses including supermarket, service station, specialty shops, homemaker/lifestyle uses and health/medical centre.

The company has applied to Wyong Council for a rezoning of the property which is presently zoned industrial. At its January 28 meeting Wyong Council staff recommended that a draft LEP be prepared to progress the rezoning and that Retail Consultant, Peter Leyshon, report to Council in March 2009.

Bunnings to open at Morisset

Retail hardware giant, Bunnings, has won its fight with Lake Macquarie Council to open a Bunnings Warehouse in Morisset's Gateway Industrial Park with a consent being granted last month. Bunnings will operate a 2,593 sqm store with a 1,000 sqm timber trade yard and 832 sqm nursery out of the former Power Barn store which closed in 2007. Bunnings' application had been vigorously opposed by some thirty-five traders in Morisset who claimed it would be detrimental to their business.

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