Retail News

Bowen’s Health opens Chemist Outlet at East Gosford

Erina based pharmacy marketing group, Bowen’s Health Services, has opened its third Central Coast Chemist Outlet at East Gosford. The opening of this outlet is part of the group’s plan to add ten new chemist outlets to their portfolio of thirty over the next six months, making them a significant player in the ‘big box’ discount pharmacy business in Australia. The thirty stores are located through NSW, Queensland and Tasmania.

Directors Niels Bowen and Jayne Cannon said that the group’s turnover by the end of 2010 would be in the order of $120 million with plans for that to increase to $180-$200 million in the next twelve months. “The public wants to buy discounted pharmacy products,” said Mr Bowen, “and we see this market sector growing at around 30% each year.”

The growth of Bowen’s Health Services is another Central Coast success story. Niels Bowen opened his first chemist shop at Wyoming Shopping Centre in 1972 and Australia’s first Pharmacy by Mail operation at Niagara Park in 1998. This store was subsequently relocated to Lisarow Shopping Centre to become one of their Chemist Outlet stores. Since then the group has rapidly expanded and now employs over four hundred people. The Group’s Head Office at Platinum Erina controls all marketing operations, payroll and purchasing.

Commenting on the opening of their East Gosford store, Mr Bowen said that he was disappointed with the attitude of Gosford Council’s planning department which has placed unreal signage restrictions on the store while allowing a competitor in the main street of Gosford to do what they like. “The store was an eyesore to start with and we want to improve its image with suitable signage so that it attracts customers,” he said.

“We have stores everywhere including seven in Newcastle and the Hunter, as well as Nowra, Grafton, Dubbo, Townsville, Toowoomba and elsewhere and we have never struck a problem with any Council in respect to signage. It appears that we have been commercially disadvantaged by such high signage restrictions compared to our opposition,” said Mr Bowen.

Deepwater Plaza keeps its place among top 20 ‘Mini Gun’ shopping centres in Australia

Deepwater Plaza Shopping Centre at Woy Woy remains among the top twenty of the 154 ‘Mini Gun’ shopping centres in Australia. The 2009 Shopping Centre News survey of ‘Mini Gun’ centres puts the Centre at 16th place in terms of Gross Lettable Area (GLA) with 18,360 square metres. (‘Mini Gun’ shopping centres are those with 6,000sqm to 20,000sqm of GLA).

According to SCN the Centre increased its Moving Average Turnover* (MAT) from $118.3 million in 2008 to $121.8 million in 2009 – an increase in turnover is 2.98%. MAT per square metre increased by 2.4% from $6,590 sqm to $6,751 sqm.
*Turnover figures relate to the period 1 August 2008 to 31 July 2009 and include GST.

Extensions for West Gosford Shopping Centre

Gosford Council has approved an application from the owners of West Gosford Shopping Centre for an extension and reconfiguration to the ground and first floors of the Centre. This will include the addition of 600sqm of floor space and construction of a three level car park. The Centre was built around twenty-five years ago and has not seen any major changes since then except for the construction of a tavern and liquor store at the southern end. The anchor tenant in the Centre is a Coles Supermarket.

Myer expansion to include new store at Tuggerah

Myer has announced that it plans to open three new stores toward the end of 2013 and one of these will be at Westfield Tuggerah. The store will comprise two levels and will be approximately 12,000 square meters.

Barbeques Galore opens at Lake Haven

The Barbeques Galore group has opened a franchised store at Lake Haven on the corner of Pacific Highway and Lake Haven Drive. This is the second store for Maitland Barbeques Galore franchisees, the Newcombe family, who won the National Franchisee of the Year award for their Maitland store. Barbeques Galore has an extensive retail and franchise store network, with 41 company-owned retail stores (located in metropolitan areas) and 46 franchise stores (typically located in regional areas).

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