People power targets closure

Wesfarmers’ decision to close eight of its WA Target stores outside of Perth has left regional communities in a state of anger, with some local families fighting back. The Perth-based company last month published a list, which showed eight WA stores would close by mid-2021, while another four WA stores would be rebranded to Kmart. Narrogin Target was on the list of closures. Narrogin mother-of-two Brooke Shanks said her biggest concern was that there would be no options for children’s clothing once Target left town. “We won’t have anywhere to come down and quickly grab something,” she said. “Quite often on a weekend, something pops up, the weather changes and especially with small kids, you need to grab a jumper or winter clothes — whatever it may be — and with Target gone, we’ll have to make special trips to Perth. “That’s not always easy with kids. It takes time, a bit of planning.” Ms Shanks said she visited the store at least three times a week. “A store like Target is important in the country because it services more than just Narrogin; there are the small towns and the farming community,” she said. “It’s important because it saves the trip to Perth. We just need somewhere in town to grab those necessities, whether it be clothing, new crockery, cutlery, blankets or bedding.” Wheatbelt man Caleb Levy has started petitions to save the Narrogin and Merredin Target stores. The community has thrown its weight behind Mr Levy, with more than 3000 signatures between the two petitions. Mr Levy, a former Narrogin resident, said he was amazed by the response. “By putting these petitions forward to Wesfarmers and towards their board, maybe them seeing how many people actually rely on these shops and all the people who have said how much it means to them, hopefully we can change their mind,” he said. “At this point in time I feel we are halfway there. It’s going to be a hard one because the decision has been made, but if we have the right motive behind it and enough people supporting it, hopefully we can persuade them to change their mind.” For people in Narrogin, the nearest Target stores are Pinjarra, Bunbury or Armadale. Mr Levy said travelling more than 150km for clothing and other goods was not feasible. “People who live on farms are already an hour out of town and rely on these regional hubs like Narrogin and Merredin to do their shopping,” he said. “Having to drive the extra hour, or even to Perth, just to pick up a pair of pants, a shirt or something for the kids — it’s not viable,” he said. “If people are already leaving the community to go to Perth to pick up clothes, they’re going to start buying things elsewhere, which means shopping local is basically thrown out the window.” Narrogin Shire president Leigh Ballard said Target’s announcement came as a surprise. “I certainly wasn’t expecting it. The announcement just came out of the blue and it was just unfortunate there was no pre-warning,” he said. Cr Ballard said the council was looking at options to fill the retail gap Target would leave behind. “We are doing further investigations into other chains, such as Best n Less or Big W-type discount stores that might be interested in moving to Narrogin and how we might be able to help them or support them moving,” he said. “If some of the stores currently in Narrogin want to look at bringing in some of those clothing lines that will be lost, it’s certainly an opportunity if a business wants to diversify slightly — and we’ll support that.”