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By Celine Maguet, Bond University journalism student
Varsity Lakes residents are used to see opening of new businesses and two more new businesses opened last month: Little Red Ant, a Singapore restaurant, and Special 365, a convenience store.
The reason a lot of businesses come and go is the area’s short lease lengths, which allow owners to test the market.
Special 365’s owner Vipin Khurana said the short lease was a way to give him a shot.
“We don’t really know for how much time we will continue there; we’re waiting to see if the shop does well,” he said.
“We are on a trial for two to three months.”
Little Red Ant owner Georgina Lee Crawford has build on a longer lease of three years.
“I am here to build something and if you want to sell your business, you need a long lease or nobody will want it,” she said.
Another issue for owner-managers is to make the shop known in the neighborhood.
Little Red Ant is working on word-of-mouth publicity and both new stores are trying to be competitive by displaying low prices.
“There is no Singapore food here and it’s a good value for money,” said Mrs Lee Crawford said.
“We know the student are often broke and we also did some marketing and research in order to fix our prices.”
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