‘Nightmare’: Toorak traders urge compensation over car park closure

One day, business at Karlie Crow’s Toorak Village clothing shop was booming. The next, she saw foot traffic plummet and sales drop.

Crow decided to move her business away from Carters Avenue off Toorak Road after learning a Stonnington Council-owned car park opposite her shop would shut for three years during construction on a new development from James Packer-backed Orchard Piper.

Even though Crow expected to take a hit when the 43 spots were fenced off in late April, she was still shocked by how quickly customers stopped popping in.

“I’ve had to relocate my business in order to survive,” Crow said.

“The majority of my foot traffic at the old shop came from the car park, people parking their cars, seeing my store, coming in. Without that, I had zero visibility, I simply don’t exist.”

Crow has now fully moved Beach to Bar Wear to Toorak Road as she wanted to stay close to her existing customers. She is keeping her old premises as a storage space because her landlord reduced the rent, with plans for her to move back.

She supports the One Toorak Place development, which will include luxury apartments and a Chris Lucas dining precinct, but said moving was expensive.

George Tannous, owner of nearby Romeo’s of Toorak restaurant, said parking had become a “real nightmare” and his lunchtime trade dropped once the car park closed. He was disappointed traders weren’t consulted and fears the strip has not yet experienced the worst of the car park closure as it only happened a month ago.

“People walk in at dinner at 7pm going ‘Oh my god, we’ve been driving around for half an hour looking for parking’, so it’s already evident. Meantime, we’ve got 40 car parks around the corner, all fenced off, empty,” he said.

“All these restaurants are the opening up, great for the village, long term it’s fantastic. But right now, short term, where are these people going to park? Because they don’t all catch Ubers.”

Crow and Tannous are among traders calling on the council to provide some form of compensation or financial assistance during the closure, with suggestions ranging from reduced permit fees for signs on footpaths, subsidies for paid spots or even rate reductions.

Toorak Village Traders Association president Don Gurr said while at first glance 43 spots did not sound like a lot, Carters Avenue had up to five car turnovers per day which added up to a significant amount of money not spent within the village over three years.

“The feeling is ‘it’s Toorak, you people can afford it’. Well no, it’s just a shopping strip like anywhere else,” he said.

“The people that