Molong Traders Meeting

The next meeting will be held Monday night, 31 July at 7 p.m. in the Freemasons Hotel dining room.

Meetings are open to traders, building owners, home-based small business owners … in fact – traders and business owners of any and every size – of any kind – who would like to help Molong and business in town progress.

By way of clarification the informal (at this stage) group grew out of Friday night drinks at the Freemasons and, in particular, the apparent disinterest in some towns wanting to take up Cabonne Council’s offer to plan projects to spend some $2.5 million set aside for the Village Enhancement Program and instead concentrate on maintenance and cleaning . (See Molong Express report of 1 June 2017)

Molong is a “Working Town”. Its business areas see a constant stream of residents, farmers (themselves “business owners) coming to conduct their affairs – whether they be at the accountants, banks, real estate agents, supermarkets, cafes and retailers.

It is vital for the whole district that the town remains viable in the business sense. This viability can only be enhanced by attracting tourists and passing traffic to spend a little time here.

Three meetings have now been held – the first with some 30 turning up who provided valuable input.

The second and third meetings have not attracted positive numbers due to it being winter, cold nights … and of course – long days working in their businesses.
This is understandable … we all love to head to a warm home, family and other commitments after a normal Monday.

That’s okay – the group understand that a number of traders are very early risers to open their doors on the cold frosty mornings – and at daylight for some. The organisers and those who can participate are not worried – just mindful that ‘time in business’ is precious – and so is time at home.

David Scobie (Cabonne Councils Heritage Advisor) has been wonderful in facilitating the groups and the learning we have been able to gain from David’s experiences as a heritage/planning/MainStreet consultant across NSW has been of immense importance.

David will return to Molong Monday next – 30 July @ 7 p.m. at the Freemasons Hotel where he will lead those who can come along and participate – to new ideas, a new way of looking at Molong … and what we do here. This is all valuable information in progressing not only our own businesses – but also the needed infrastructure to encourage stopovers and business visits in Molong.

Some examples of town enhancement have already been identified. For example welcoming unique town entrance signage – CBD pointers – tidying up the shabbiness of Watson St – better use of the railway station and other visual marketing.

The get togethers also give the traders an opportunity to exchange views and ideas and generally better get to know each other for the benefit of all. The Traders after all have “skin in the game” – Its their money that is on the line.

The Molong Advancement Group (MAG) is Molong’s formal community based progress group, and what tremendous progress it has made in many areas across many projects.

MAG and the Council will be the trader’s first port of call when they have finalised some conclusions on projects that will contribute to town (and business) enhancement and viability.

Love to hear your thoughts.