Every Sunday, an ordinary parking lot at La Trobe University is transformed into the Kingsbury Drive Community Market, making a typically quiet part of the Bundoora campus dense with music, food, and visitors. However, this atmosphere hasn’t come without complaints or compromises.

The Kingsbury market is run by the not-for-profit organisation Diamond Valley Community Support, who also facilitate the Hurstbridge and Macleod Markets.

For over a decade the market has been held on La Trobe ground, but in June 2023 it was moved. Its new home in Carpark 3 beside Chisholm College is still frequented by visitors, but there has been a significant difference in foot traffic compared to the crowds at the market’s previous location.

Central stalls remain busy, but toward the edge of the market, business is more modest and the picture less vibrant. This is where flower vendor Ali Masomi sets up his stall every week. The buzz of the market is still audible by his stall, but it’s markedly quieter. The row across from his van is completely empty. For Masomi, the vacant spots are a sign of the increasing difficulty to make ends meet for the vendors.

“They couldn’t make enough money,” he tells upstart . “They knew they’re not going to make money, so they didn’t show up.”

Masomi says that his sales have dropped by 80 percent since the market moved from Carpark 2 to Carpark 3. These days he also can’t afford to hire anyone to help work in his stall like he could in the past.

“I used to have two more people,” he says. “I’m just by myself, I’m barely able to pay for my lunch working [here now].”

While not everyone has experienced such an extreme decline in sales, five other stallholders agreed that business has significantly decreased since the location changed.

The move to the new spot, however, was made by the university to address safety concerns regarding the expanded Sports Park Precinct, which is adjacent to Carpark 2.

“Football Victoria and Rugby Victoria events have attracted crowds of more than 1,500 people,” a spokesperson for the university said. “An Event Traffic Management Plan highlighted the need for Carparks 1 and 2 to be designated as overflow parking for the Sports Park Precinct to ensure the safety of all visitors.”

The market organisers chose Carpark 3. Unfortunately, the confusion among vendors over the exact reason for the move and the hit to their margins has caused problems.

Parking has been another problem. Originally, customers were able to park beside vendors in the same lot, but visitors now need to park in the adjacent Carpark 4. Overflow parking is even further in Carpark 6. For someone selling 8kg watermelons, it has become harder to sell to people who may have parked hundreds of metres away.

While acknowledging the traffic management plan is necessary for future events, fresh produce stallholder Bilal Alhawli says that the old lot has been consistently empty every Sunday he has driven past it.

Alhawli has been running his business from the Kingsbury Drive Community Market for five years and is still able to hire several extra hands on deck. Regardless, his stall hasn’t been unaffected. He believes parking changes since the move are partly linked to the 50 percent decline in his sales.

“Before, it’s a lot better than now,” he says. “Before is more easy [sic] for the customer. They can park the car next to the stall.”

“We can feel it, it’s a drop.”

Flower vendor Masomi says greater advertising could help prevent vendors from leaving the market.

“I know that a lot of people I knew, they had a stand here, they couldn’t afford anymore,” he says. “They couldn’t pay for that stand. They couldn’t pay that $50.”

“We’re not being looked after as well.”

Diamond Valley Community Support were contacted regarding concerns from vendors but declined to comment. La Trobe’s spokesperson says that the university were not made aware of the decline in vendor’s sales.

The market’s transition has been difficult for Masomi, Alhawli, and other stallholders. Speculation over the reason for the move show that vendors lack clarity on the necessary if painful changes the market is facing. Both Masomi and Alhawli made it clear they had a strong desire to move back to where they were, even though Ali acknowledged this required some “miracle”.

“All our conversation is if we are going to survive next week,” he says.

“Hopefully more people come and spend some money here, so hopefully we survive. It’s hard. There’s a lot of people depending on us, our family, our kids, and, yeah, this is our income.”

Article: Lewis Cain-McAliece is a second-year Bachelor of Media and Communications (Journalism) student at La Trobe University. You can follow him on Twitter @LewisCM4769.

Photo: Image of flower stand at the Kingsbury Drive Community Market, supplied by author.