Strathalbyn Antiques Town

A strategic plan is to be developed to promote Strathalbyn as a national antiques town.

The Strathalbyn District Commerce Association will develop the plan through its antiques town committee, which has been provided with funding from the Federal and State governments.

The commerce association formed a special task force to pursue the concept of promoting Strathalbyn as a major antiques hub.

It hopes the concept could lead to more than 60 new jobs and 25 new small businesses in the town within five years.

Chairman of the antiques town committee Bill Hall said the funding would allow a specialist retailing consultant to be employed to assist in the development of a strategic plan, as well as for surveys to be conducted.

"We will be surveying the local community, tourism operators and other relevant bodies to see how we can best build upon Strathalbyn’s reputation as an antiques town," Dr Hall said.

Dr Hall said the antique trade was a major component of Strathalbyn’s retailing sector, and that the whole community would benefit from an increase in antiques trade.

"We calculate that 35 people make their living from antiques in Strathalbyn, and we believe we can build upon this by attracting more businesses to the town," Dr Hall said.

Dr Hall said the other local retailers, such as food traders, would benefit from a projected increase in the number of people visiting the town.

"We also want to increase the amount of time which tourism operators allow for people to explore Strathalbyn which would have a flow-on effect for the whole community," he said.

Work on the strategic plan should begin in January and be completed by the middle of next year.

"The next phase would then be the implementation of our findings" he said. "It will mean a lot of hard work, but the whole community is dedicated to the project."

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