When walking down the main street of Hamilton, a small town located in the south-west of Victoria, would-be patrons are presented with a bleak picture. Several shops are full of empty shelves. Windows display signs saying ‘FOR SALE’ or ‘FOR LEASE’ in big, bolded letters. Local store owners have been left devastated by the rising cost-of-living, forcing more businesses to close their doors.

The main income source for Hamilton, a town of around 10,000 people, and a median age of 45 is farming and service industries. During the summer months, tourism business is strong in Hamilton and surrounding areas like Port Fairy and the Grampians. Retail is also a major factor.

The Western District Chamber (WDC), an association that represents and promotes companies in Western District Victoria, supplied upstart with data that shows almost 20 store closures in Hamilton since 2021.

Darcy Walker, the President of the WDC, tells upstart that multiple industries have been hit hard in Hamilton.

“The business closures are coming on top of the general costs of living, so there are a lot of pressures coming on from a lot of different directions,” he says. “Everyone’s feeling a lot of pressure.”

Lindsay Fush, a local business owner, knows the hefty demands of running a store all too well. Forced to close his restaurant, Jack and Jude, in the backend of 2021, he tells upstart that the hospitality industry is struggling.

“It’s probably been the quietest I’ve seen it in the last six years to be honest,” he says. “Especially, because we got hit with the interest rates, cost of living, which we’re all well aware of.”

Walker says that maintaining a local business has always been challenging, and that significant increases in rental, electricity, and production costs have created unexpected challenges for store owners, rivalling the struggles faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As a rural economy I wouldn’t say this is unprecedented, but we haven’t had everything all at once [before],” he says.

Hamilton is home to around 300 businesses, with the hospitality, retail and agricultural industries accounting for around 30 percent of Hamilton’s entire business sector.

According to the 2021 Hamilton Census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 10.6 percent of employees worked in retail and hospitality occupations. Walker says that while these industries are crucial drivers of the local economy, they are also facing the most pressure.

“The ones that are sort of reinvesting and are proactive businesses, they’re still going fine,” he says.

“But retail, hospitality and the cost impostors on those, they are the ones that are doing it the hardest.”

Fush describes the economic situation as being hit by the “perfect storm” in Hamilton.

“A lot of our businesses were upheld with government grants. Then all of a sudden, they wanted to start getting their money back,” he says.

Some owners feel like there is no solution or way out. However, Walker believes that the proper management of local businesses are among the most important aspects to surviving and thriving.

“Certainly, just your cross-control is critical, and I think that’s probably where Hamilton sees a lot of businesses hold on through these times,” he says.

“People are cutting back on staff and working longer hours, it’s just not sustainable in the longer term. So, that’s where the burnout becomes a factor on your mental health. It takes a toll in the longer term.”

After closing Jack and Jude, Fush decided to adopt a simpler model to create a successful business. He believes this has been the key to overcoming the challenges of running a business in a regional area.

He now owns two companies, a coffee shop called Two Doors and a café called Groke, which transforms into a restaurant and bar at night.

“I’ve taken my ‘Jack and Jude’ model but simplified it, so it now runs at a smaller footprint, on a smaller cost,” he says. “I sell and turn over more money in my takeaway coffee shop [Two Doors], then what I did when I had a 90-seater café.”

“I’ve been in business by myself for six years now but what I’ve seen in six years has probably elevated my business by 12-15 years because we’ve had to be able to pivot. We’ve had to be dynamic in how we operate.”

While there still appears to be some hope that businesses can begin to thrive once again, Walker says that most are still apprehensive when looking to the future.

“There’s a lot of businesses that are holding on and looking to see what the next six or 12 months brings,” he says.

Article: Connor Burns is a third-year Bachelor of Media and Communications (Sports Media and Journalism) student at La Trobe University. You can follow him on Twitter @connor_burns52

Photo: Supplied by author.