“Looking after the neighbours”: Why it’s time to keep Sydney’s corner store dream alive

Anna Bian is so confident about her Bexley corner shop business, that she has decided to extend her lease for another six years and is now looking for a barista to make coffee.

“Old people like it here, they choose the traditional way to shop,” Ms Bian said. “When I get some coffee more people will come here, to sit and chat, I can give them a peaceful environment.”

“I like this neighbourhood….and I want to look after the neighbours.”

Ms Bian has operated the shop, which dominates the intersection of New Illawarra Rd and Ellerslie Rd at Bexley, since October last year.

However, in recent times, Ms Bian’s confidence in her business has not necessarily been replicated by dozens of shop owners across Sydney.

There was a time when it seemed every Sydney corner had…well…a corner shop.

That time is long gone.

Since around 2008, Google Streetview has made it easy to trace the changing nature of our neighbourhoods. Over that time, I’ve been able to find around 80 corner and ‘mixed business’ type shops which have been converted to other uses, such as cafes or homes, or simply abandoned.

There are many reasons for this.

The declining fortunes of the newspaper industry, the reduced number of smokers in the community, increased competition from service stations and the rise of grocery home deliveries have provided less reasons to take a stroll to the local corner shop.

In addition, COVID-19 has brought us the work from home trend, and sky-rocketing housing prices, which has seen corner shops converted to homes and cafes.

Some local councils also don’t do corner shops any favours, by either zoning them for, or allowing the shopfronts to be converted to, residential purposes (Anna’s shop at New Illawarra Rd, Bexley is not one of these, with the Bayside Council zoning system protecting the shopfront from being converted to a home).

It’s all a bit of a shame, given that corner shops have traditionally played such an important role in the mental and physical health of Sydneysiders.

As Anna notes, corner shops help connect neighbours and communities – providing a ready-made antidote to loneliness and an environment where personal confidence can grow.

They are the places where youngsters may experience their first taste of independence, and where oldies can enjoy a chat and buy the newspaper.

Importantly, corner shops also get us up and independent.

So many businesses these days are seeking to profit from inactivity – the home delivery, service station and video game industries being chief among these.

More often than not, corner shops force us to go for a healthy walk.

Finally, corner shops deliver bright signage and frequent customer movements which add some colour and variety to areas of Sydney that would otherwise be very bland. 

There is nothing more depressing than a closed or abandoned shopfront, which now provides no clear purpose for society.

Anna has only been living in Australia since 2019 (she moved from China) and is now learning English so she can better interact with her customers.

She works long days, starting at 6:30am to collect the milk, although she is helped during the week by colleagues such as Sue Ren.

She has renovated the store, turning it from something which she says was “old and dirty” to a shop floor which is fresh and clean, with new displays.

It is time for the planning system to celebrate the role that corner shops, such as the one run by Anna, play in our society.

While it’s understandable that the planning system would allow neighbourhood shops to be converted to cafes, surely it is time to re-examine whether standalone retail premises should be allowed to shut and become homes.

By the same token, you couldn’t imagine it would be a good decision for the trade and industry development arm of governments to support so-called “innovative” businesses – including delivery apps – that encourage inactivity and undermine corner shops.

And what’s more, we should all do out bit to support our local corner shop!

PS – Anna is still looking for that barista – email me at mark@storypowercomms.com.au if you are interested