Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Zuccoli IGA owner Shelly Lay says removing grog from corner stores would see many forced to close down, giving more power to major retailers

Transcript

Zuccoli IGA owner Shelly Lay says removing grog from corner stores would see many forced to close down, giving more power to major retailers · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We know on the show yesterday that Darwin's Lord Mayor,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Conbat Scaralis was touting removing alcohol from corner stores as
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: a measure to reduce violence and crime by restricting supply,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: saying the government should acquire their licenses. But that could
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: spell the end for many operators, giving more power to
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: major retailers. Now joining me on the line to tell
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  Speaker 1: us more is one of those corner store owners. Shelley
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Lay from zacholi IgA. Good morning to you, Shelley.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Hi Katie, how are you?
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah? Really good, Happy new Year and thanks for joining
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: us this morning.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Happy to you for you too. It's hard
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: to deliver in February.
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  Speaker 1: I know it's flying by now, Shelley. What was your
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: reaction to the comments from the Lord Mayor. And it's
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: not sort of the first time that we've heard somebody say, oh, well,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: maybe we need to restrict corner stores from having alcohol
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: or get rid of alcohol from those stores.
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  Speaker 2: Look, there's a few points to consider there, Katie. Throwing
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: out things like get rid of it from corner stores
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  Speaker 2: is personally highly offensive to me. We're already working under
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  Speaker 2: a restriction of trade which states that our sales in
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  Speaker 2: the liquor store cannot be more than twenty five percent
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  Speaker 2: of our total turnover. This law does not apply to
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  Speaker 2: some of the major bottle shops. So when you come
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  Speaker 2: to your your grocery liquor store, let's put it in
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  Speaker 2: round figures. So if we're turning over one hundred grand
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  Speaker 2: a week, we can only trade twenty five thousand from
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  Speaker 2: the liquor store. Let's talk about woolies in town. They
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  Speaker 2: don't have any restrictions at all on what they can
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  Speaker 2: trade from their bottle shop. And even if they did,
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  Speaker 2: if there was the same laws, they were all on
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  Speaker 2: the playing field, they would be turning over in excess
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  Speaker 2: of a million dollars a week. That would be like
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  Speaker 2: two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in liquor sales. So
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  Speaker 2: where who's supplying the majority of the liquor to people?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I get what you're saying. So it's not really
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  Speaker 1: you know, like it's it's not a situation where if
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  Speaker 1: you if you stop corner stores from having alcohol, Like
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  Speaker 1: the fact is that you guys are very limited in
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: what you can actually sell anyway.
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  Speaker 2: Correct, correct, And just overnight last week they change that
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  Speaker 2: law that the twenty five percent. Instead of measuring that annually,
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  Speaker 2: they're now going to measure that quarterly, so which means
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  Speaker 2: a lot of stores like ours could potentially close down.
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  Speaker 2: So we're transient, as you know. So the twenty five
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  Speaker 2: percent rule sort of evens out over the wet and
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  Speaker 2: the dry. Yeah, if we're looking at a quarter that
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  Speaker 2: just totally dry season when everyone is in town, socializing,
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  Speaker 2: buying a bit more grog, then that could mean our
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  Speaker 2: shop would have to permanently close down forever. Now, that
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  Speaker 2: flow on effect is massive. That's affecting territorians, the money
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  Speaker 2: that's staying in the territory, the owners of these corner stores.
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  Speaker 2: It's not the big majors, and the only people that
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  Speaker 2: will benefit are the majors who aren't restricted in trade anyway.
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  Speaker 2: So it's just so frustrating.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, right, And so I mean, how do you feel
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  Speaker 1: them when you do hear comments like that from the
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  Speaker 1: Lord mayor.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I feel like they're thrown out without the correct education.
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  Speaker 2: And people just think that they can gain access to
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  Speaker 2: grog from a corner store, but they can. People can
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: gain access to grog anywhere or from any liquor store.
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  Speaker 2: So why just pinpoint and harm some businesses and not others.
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  Speaker 2: And I feel, of course, you know that the businesses
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  Speaker 2: that are being pinpointed here are the really hard working Territorians, And.
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  Speaker 1: Shelley, I would imagine that you, like you guys, have
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  Speaker 1: to be pretty strict, not only with how much alcohol
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: you're you're selling, but obviously you've got to adhere to
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  Speaker 1: the same rules and regulations as everybody else, with the BDR,
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  Speaker 1: with the floor price, with all that kind of.
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  Speaker 2: Thing, one hundred percent. So that's meant to be in
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  Speaker 2: place to stop people who can't handle their alcohol, have
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: an issue with alcohol from gaining access to it already,
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  Speaker 2: But then there's all these other additional measures that need
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  Speaker 2: to be in place. But what I'm just saying is,
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  Speaker 2: if you're going to throw out close down the local
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  Speaker 2: corner store, let's put us all on an even playing field.
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  Speaker 2: All grocery stores that have a liquor store next to
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  Speaker 2: them inside them, let's be all on a fair playing
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  Speaker 2: field because the majority of the alcohol has been sold
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  Speaker 2: by the majors who do not have any restriction of trade.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Shelley, when you talk about the fact that you know,
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  Speaker 1: like when you talk about what the Lord Bear had
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  Speaker 1: said on the show. What would removing grog from your
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  Speaker 1: store actually mean for your business?
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  Speaker 2: Well, what it means is that obviously you lose that
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  Speaker 2: income that comes from the alcohol sales. Yes, but then
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  Speaker 2: and that's one thing. But what happens is that people
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  Speaker 2: will then not shop with us because we're not convenient anymore.
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  Speaker 2: They will go to a store that has the alcohol
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  Speaker 2: offering next door. Food and drink go hand in hand.
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  Speaker 2: People love convenience. So then the grocery sales go down
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  Speaker 2: and it doesn't become a viable business anymore, which in
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  Speaker 2: turn affect the good people. It affects for our shop,
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  Speaker 2: in particular, the good people of Zucoli or their house
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  Speaker 2: values will go down because this whole center would shut
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  Speaker 2: down because if the anchor tenant's not here, none of
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  Speaker 2: the other shops will survive. And then and then this
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  Speaker 2: will will become a derelict center. And then the good
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  Speaker 2: people of the Collie their house prices will go down.
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  Speaker 2: Like it has a massive flow on effect. So we
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  Speaker 2: really need to be careful when these type of words
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  Speaker 2: are thrown around that we're put on all I'm saying,
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  Speaker 2: we need to be put on an even or fair
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  Speaker 2: playing field.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, Shelly, have you heard much from you know, like
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  Speaker 1: the IDAs in Ellice Springs or any of the corner
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  Speaker 1: stores in Elie Springs, how they're going so far with
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  Speaker 1: those restrictions that are in place in Alice.
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  Speaker 2: I haven't heard about the Monday and Tuesday restriction as such.
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  Speaker 2: But with this twenty five percent rule and the change
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  Speaker 2: virtually overnight to measure this quarterly instead of annually, will
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  Speaker 2: also cripple their businesses because they are very curisty and
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  Speaker 2: transient with their sales, and that will close them down.
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  Speaker 2: So that means, you know, in exus of one hundred
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  Speaker 2: people will be losing their jobs. Like it's just we've
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  Speaker 2: got to work together to find a solution. And when
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  Speaker 2: I and people aren't educated and they don't understand or
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  Speaker 2: know about this rule that is imposed on the smaller
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  Speaker 2: grocery stores. But as an example, if you came and
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: bought a carton of Great Northern here paid fifty bucks,
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  Speaker 2: you would have to spend one hundred and fifty dollars
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  Speaker 2: in the IgA to offset that so that we can
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  Speaker 2: keep the liquor store open.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, right, and so how do you kind of manage
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  Speaker 1: that as a business? So are you going to get
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  Speaker 1: to the point where you've got to have it open
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  Speaker 1: for lease hours. Like, what's the answer for you guys?
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  Speaker 2: One hundred percent. Yes, if we want to stay open
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  Speaker 2: and not break these.
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  Speaker 3: Laws that have just imposed on us overnight, we will
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: then have to close our doors on certain days of
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  Speaker 3: the week. And what on us is we need a
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  Speaker 3: risk based approach, Like we've got good people here. Why
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  Speaker 3: should they then have to drive up to the major
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  Speaker 3: up the road at Bakewell and give them their business.
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  Speaker 3: They're having to drive further and then they're giving the
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  Speaker 3: major their business.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it should be local, that's right.
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  Speaker 1: It should be people's choice, you know, it's it's up
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  Speaker 1: to them to determine whether they want to shop with you,
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  Speaker 1: whether they want to shop with Major supermarket, whatever they
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: want to do. But it should be their choice, and
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  Speaker 1: you know, and fair for people.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And look, there's no doubt we've got some issues
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  Speaker 2: here in the territory with alcohol, especially at the moment
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  Speaker 2: as we're seeing in our springs. And look, we all
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  Speaker 2: want to play our part and help and and you know,
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  Speaker 2: I know more than many people in the territory how
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: these different things affect businesses with break in and theft
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  Speaker 2: and what have you, and we're all trying to play
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  Speaker 2: our part and to help it, but we need to
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  Speaker 2: work together, and I just feel like we, the good people,
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  Speaker 2: are being unfairly targeted by saying that our licenses should
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: be taken away from us, because in turn that would
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  Speaker 2: then cripple the entire business and then have a flow
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  Speaker 2: on effect to the cafe in our sensor, to the
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  Speaker 2: pizza shop, to the gym, the chemist, the doctor, you
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  Speaker 2: know what I mean. Like, it's just it's bigger than
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: just taking away these licenses.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, Shelley Lay, the owner of zacholi IgA, I
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  Speaker 1: really appreciate you having a chat with this this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Thanks Katie. I appreciate your time. And look,
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  Speaker 2: I just want it yet people to know that really
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  Speaker 2: there is a rule that's in place that not many
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  Speaker 2: people are aware of that we're really adhering to to
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  Speaker 2: play our part in this, but it's not across the board,
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  Speaker 2: across all liquors shops.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I appreciate it. I think a lot of
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: people will be surprised to hear that. So I appreciate
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: you having a chat with us this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Thanks Katie.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Thanks Shelley see