Work on new supermarket imminent

SMYTHESDALE’S long-awaited new supermarket and retail-business complex could be up and running by the end of this year.

The Golden Plains Shire granted final planning approval for the $8 million development last month, with Country Grocers owner and applicant Allister Lee now putting the final touches to the plans.

The development, stretching from 34 to 40 Brooke Street (the existing supermarket is at 40 Brooke Street), will offer a much bigger supermarket and at least 10 tenancies for other businesses.

Mr Lee, who owns Country Grocers as part of a family business, said he wants to ideally make a start on the development before winter.

“Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we can lodge our demolition permit so we can get moving,” he said.

“Everyone wants to know what’s going on.

“Once we see some movement on the ground, everyone will start getting excited about it.”

The existing supermarket building will eventually be turned into car parking, but will remain in operation until the new supermarket opens.

Stage one will consist of the supermarket and five tenancies; stage two will have a further six tenancies.

“We’re going to build a supermarket as soon as we can so that we can get in there and get trading, and get out of the little old building that we’re in currently which is falling down around us,” Mr Lee said.

Mr Lee said he would probably be looking for stage one tenants in the next couple of months.

“We want to get on the ground and get moving before winter,” he said.

“Ideally I would like to be in by Christmas … but definitely by Easter next year we’ll be in and trading.”

The existing supermarket has about 200 square metres of retail space; the new one will have 1200 square metres of space on a 1500-square-metre floor plan.

Mr Lee said the new supermarket will be comparable in size to the IGA outlet in Creswick.

It will be large enough to service a wide area taking in Linton, Scarsdale, part of Skipton, Mount Mercer and even the developing part of Smythes Creek.

“There’s a big catchment area,” Mr Lee said. “We look at the potential, not what’s in the town but what’s around the town.

“We’re hoping to capture a bit of that (Smythes Creek) as well.”

The Brooke Street frontage will have three two-storey tenancies and the supermarket will be built behind it. The car park will be able to accommodate about 60 vehicles.

The Smythesdale outlet is one of five stores in family ownership – the others are in Ballan, Skipton, Trentham and Avoca – and was purchased in 2018.

A planning permit was already approved when Mr Lee and his partners bought it.

They extended the permit by two years and ultimately settled on the current proposal, which Mr Lee said would create something of a hub for the community.

“We played around on the single block that we had for a couple of years and we had a couple of different options,” he said.

But after buying three adjoining blocks, a redesign resulted in the new plan.