25 February 1972
TOWN TRIES TO AVERT CLOSING OF MAIN STORE
(From our Cassilis correspondent)
What is it they say, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year?
It has been a very bleak and disappointing New Year to date for with in the space of a couple of months Cassilis has lost the services of a full-time banking service and now we learn that as from March 4, the G. J. Coles Pty. Ltd. owned and operated by (H. O. Haynes and Sons) general store at Cassilis will cease trading operations.
Employing a staff of eight on full time it is nothing short of a catastrophe for this village to lose this, its only general store and the largest employer of labour outside Dalkeith Pty. Ltd.
Reasons given by the firm of G. J. Coles Pty. Ltd. as the reasons for closing the store are the population drift away from the district, the steady decline in profits particularly since 1970 along with the usual hazards experienced with the running of a country store.
A public meeting of all interested persons concerned with the closing of the store, drew a capacity crowd of people to the Community Hall on Tuesday night.
Convened and Chaired by Mr. Alec Busby of Cassilis station, the meeting called for individual persons to write a letter of protest to the head office of G. J. Coles chain stores in Melbourne.
A petition was drawn up with the signatures of all persons in the Cassilis district affected by the closing of the store.
This petition will be sent to Melbourne also and together with the letters of protest, this community might well keep the store open temporarily at least.
Many suggestions have been put forward as to ways and means of keeping the business going including that of forming a co-operative society to purchase the business and run it along the lines of the numerous co-op stores in small country towns where the chain stores have no interest because of the small turnover.
It does appear at this stage that this community will have to think along the lines of similar communities and help ourselves by forming a co-operative society.
But right now it’s a case of wait and see.
Speakers at the meeting included the president of the Merriwa Shire, Mr. Brian Hegarty, Councillor David Morrow, C. B. Bettington and others.
At the close of the meeting people were invited to discuss their views with a representative of G. J. Coles present on the night1
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