Boost Juice owner Craige Peterie is in retail to make money and normally goes out of his way to attract as many customers as possible.
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Yesterday he stood behind his counter at Orana Mall with gritted teeth because he didn’t want to be there.
Mr Peterie dreamed of celebrating Australia Day with family and friends but felt compelled to trade from 10am to 4pm because of tough shopping centre lease restrictions.
“If I shut up shop I could have been fined $100 an hour by Orana Mall management and it simply wasn’t worth the risk,’’ he said.
“I ended up losing money because turnover on the day didn’t cover costs - that’s what happens when the culture of Australia changes and people expect to be able to shop as a leisure activity seven days a week.’’
Mr Peterie has been a retailer for 16 years and is not troubled by trading on most public holidays.
But he regards Australia Day and Anzac Day as sacrosanct and questions lack of respect for special occasions of national significance.
“Retail is not an essential service, no one would have died if shopping centres across Australia were closed yesterday,’’ Mr Peterie said.
“I’m not knocking Orana Mall because management is simply following the rules.
“The reality is I would have been breaching my lease agreement if I opted to remain closed out of respect for Australia Day.
“Mall management would have been within its rights to action the $100 an hour fine for failing to trade core hours and if the fine wasn’t imposed a whole heap of other traders could have tried to do the same thing next year.’’
Orana Mall manager David Fenwick was enjoying a day off yesterday but responded to a message to call the Daily Liberal.
He defended the shopping centre and said trading hours were determined by the state government.
“We don’t have the luxury of opening or closing whenever we like,’’ Mr Fenwick said.
“I cannot say if fines would have been initiated if Mr Peterie had elected not to trade.
“It’s a matter of sending the right message to the public.
“We live in an environment where shops are expected to be open seven days a week.
“Customers don’t want to go into shopping centres and find half the stores closed.
“Mall management would take a serious look at what the trader did.
“If there was an accident or some other problem it would be a different story to simply decide not to trade.’’
Mr Fenwick said he was “as Australian as the next guy” and he respected Mr Peterie’s right to voice his opinion.
“But retailers know what they are getting into when they sign a shopping centre lease agreement,’’ Mr Fenwick said.
