ALDI’s business model, not Dubbo City Council, is preventing the supermarket’s expansion to Dubbo, maintains the city’s mayor.
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Councillor Mathew Dickerson’s comments come after a Facebook page titled Bring Aldi To Dubbo published several rumours about why the German discount supermarket chain had yet to open a store in Dubbo, despite stores popping up in Mudgee, Bathurst, Young, Orange and one set to open in Parkes.
Several Facebook users who contributed to the page placed the blame squarely on Dubbo City Council.
When contacted by the Daily Liberal, Cr Dickerson said he had already tried to set the record straight on the Facebook page but it appeared his comments had been removed shortly after they were posted.
“I posted that I personally spoke with an ALDI representative on May 1, 2012 and was told by ALDI that council had not stifled ALDI progressing into Dubbo. The company said it was well aware of the potential that Dubbo offered.”
Cr Dickerson said he “got straight from the horse’s mouth” a reiteration from ALDI that its current business model was what was hindering its expansion to Dubbo, not council.
“ALDI owns all of its own trucks and logistics, and their model is such that drivers travel out and back in a single day,” he said.
“The additional distance of Dubbo from Sydney (790-kilometre round trip) as compared with a 530-kilometre round trip to Mudgee and a 708-kilometre round trip to Parkes does not work from a logistics perspective. Dubbo is ‘just over the edge’. At any rate, fatigue laws won’t let them do it.
“ALDI told me they are constantly reviewing their processes so it is not ‘no’ to Dubbo forever but it is until they modify their logistics model.
“I would love ALDI to come to Dubbo. We have said to them, ‘what can we do, legally, to help you come into Dubbo?’ They told us Dubbo hasn’t been struck off the map, but there’s nothing we can do at the moment except keep in constant communication with them in case anything changes.”
Cr Dickerson said he had also posted on the Facebook page a link to council minutes that proved he did not vote against Harris Farm moving to Dubbo, in response to an allegation made by the page’s administrator that he had done so. The mayor said that post had also disappeared.
The mayor said he would always welcome the idea of new businesses opening up in Dubbo.
“Our population may be 42,180, but there are between 140,000 and 160,000 from across the region who are attracted to our city to shop,” he said.
“The more we have to offer, the more it builds our reputation as a service centre,” he said.
He said another chain many Dubbo residents wanted to open in the city was Kmart, but ultimately it was not council’s decision as to whether it would include Dubbo in its expansion plans in the near future.
“My understanding is that Dubbo would rank number one as the site where Kmart would like to open next, but these things don’t happen overnight and a lot of things need to be taken into account in their business model, including finding a suitable site and the footprint of the area they service.”