Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council (CGRC) has joined the fight to save Cootamundra’s Target store.
The announcement from Target operators, Wesfarmers, came stating that many country stores will be closed. The popular Cootamundra store was named in the list of closures to happen in early to mid-2021.
Council has been in contact with NSW State Government member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke and CGRC mayor Cr Abb McAlister has requested a meeting with Wesfarmers representatives to put forward a case to save the store.
Council will be co-ordinating a public campaign to present to Wesfarmers the communities outrage at the planned closure. Cr McAlister is urging members of the community to write letters to the group requesting the decision be overturned.
“Residents can write directly to Wesfarmers, but we would like them to write letters and send them to Council. We will bundle the letters and present them as a whole community response. We want this to be more than a petition, we need to show the decision makers that members of our community as passionate about their store and they are willing to put pen to paper to demonstrate that passion,” Cr McAlister said.
“The economic benefits these types of stores bring to a town are huge, their very presence has a spin off effect for all our retailers, and the closing of this store could have serious consequences for future growth of the region.
Council is encouraging as many people as possible who value this store remaining open to participate in writing a letter, it can be short it can be long, we all need to pull together and make our pleas to those who make these decisions real and meaningful,” Cr McAlister added.
Community members can write their letters and either drop them at Council offices, mail them to PO Box 420 Cootamundra NSW, or email them to mail@cgrc.nsw.gov.au. Please mark ‘SAVE OUR TARGET’ in the subject line.
Photo and caption:
Cootamundra’s Target store is set for closure, by corporate giant Wesfarmers. CGRC will be co-ordinating a public campaign to save the store.