The breakfast wrap is a good addition. On the odd occasion that I’m on the go and want an egg & bacon breakfast I generally opt for HJ as they have wraps, which I much prefer than thick white muffins.
Wish they’d do a breakfast burrito - my favourite of the US McDonalds menu.
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Yeah, but the US McDonald’s one is more like a snack wrap in terms of how much food it is, rather than the ‘meal’ that those full burritos are. Plus, I paid almost $20 for a breakfast burrito combo at GyG last time I got one - that’s lunch prices.
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Speaking of Gloria Jeans. The one at the shopping centre a suburb over from me is now a Muffin Break
My local one went bankrupt a few months.
Ironically it was one of three cafes which were basically next to each other in a tiny shopping centre. Now the centre has no cafes.
Sounds like the shopping centre is charging too much rent and nobody can make it work.
My local shopping centre has three cafes, Oliver Brown, Michel’s Patisserie and a private one called Ditto Cafe.
We also had a fourth cafe which is the biggest and in the middle of the shopping centre. It was once a Gloria Jeans but after it closed there have been two unsuccessful attempts to keep a cafe going there. The last one was also a chain ME Coffee Merchants. I suspect the location means it has the highest rent and it just isn’t working.
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All the retailers left are big name brands so it wouldn’t surprise me.
I can almost understand holding out for rent when it’s a standalone store in a shopping strip, as so much of the value of property is tied up in multiplying rental income, but if you’re a big shopping centre, surely the damage it does of feeling empty creating a death spiral is far more important than the marginal extra rent from squeezing them?
It doesn’t take many closures to go from a thriving place to a dead one.
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The only reason the place is still afloat is because it’s the only Coles store within a 30 minute radius.
I used to see a lot of pensioners at the cafes, but since they all closed i’ve only seen, urm… happy people… hanging around the place.
Yeah. It doesn’t look good to have your showcase cafe empty and the furniture piled up around it, right in the middle of the main square looking quite derelict.
Yeah, I’ve known a few shopowners in my local centre who closed down because they’ve told me that the centre keeps increasing the rents too much.
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They’re also forced to do new shop fittings which is like the final straw. We’ve had the fruit shop, butcher, Asian grocer and fish monger all leave the centre this past year because they can’t afford the fit outs.
Luckily, a new fruit shop/deli opened and it is doing better than the old one. The verdict is still out on the Asisn grocer because even though a new one opened now, it’s new position in the shopping centre is not as good and it looks like it’s struggling to attract as many customers. The butcher is currently being rebuilt by a new owner but unfortunately the seafood shop has been shut for nearly two years now so not likely to return.
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There might not be a Big W in Northern Tasmania despite there being 3 in Hobart (whenever a shop is proposed anywhere in Tasmania people always demand it to be a Big W for some reason) however there’s going to be a Nandos soon in Launceston after there have been 2 in Hobart for a long time. The best thing though - this pun on the window while they’re setting up… or maybe I’m just tired.
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Gives a new meaning to the term ‘fast food’.
Queues out the door at new all-you-can-eat restaurant
It’s hard work to get a seat at this South East Qld restaurant newcomer but the buffet meals for just $50 are seriously good value.
In fact, this is my third attempt to dine at the venue, turned away twice previously because it was too full and being advised that if I wanted to secure a table I would need to arrive at 5pm as the restaurant doesn’t take bookings for groups of less than four. So what’s drawing in such crowds when hospitality is supposedly suffering with fewer people dining out?
No doubt it’s the cost of living-friendly prices of just $49.90 per person for a 90 minute all-you-can-eat feed. It’s even cheaper at lunchtime, coming in at $43.90pp. Kids aged 4-9 are always 50 per cent off, while weekends and public holidays incur a $5pp surcharge.
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