The Target Store located at 147 Murray Street, Colac which is in the heart of the township of Colac. The town of Colac has a population of around 12,000 people & the Colac Otway Shire has around 21,000 people overall in it's region.

The Colac Target Store is set for closure in early/mid 2021, if this does eventuate this will have a huge downfall for not just Colac but our region, as a lot of the Colac Otway Community Member's shop at Target Colac, and has for many years for many generations of families, for many special events.

The closure of the Colac Store will also have a damaging effect on Local Jobs for Local People, especially with the COVID 19 Pandemic causing undue stress for so many locals already being out of work, then knowing we could have more local people out of work due to a store closure will have huge impact on their Mental Health for these people out of job & no work to go to each and every single day. Many current Colac Target employees have young families with many of their children at school, they also go to sporting events, to give their Child the best lifestyle they can but when and if Target Colac closes thus will offer many issues financially with no job to earn an income on a weekly basis.

Colac Target is located in the heart of the Colac Shopping Precinct, if we lost Target this will have a major flow on affects for all our local Businesses who are located in Target's Precinct. As people would not then come into town to shop as we wouldn't have not a major Chain Store, which attracts people into the city center on a daily basis.

As I look at the big picture and listen to many Local Business Owners, closing the Target Store will also have major impacts for our Local Traders are already struggling with COVID 19 Pandemic, losing Target Colac could be potentially the final straw for many Businesses, and then we would see more empty shops on top of the current 43 empty stores we already have.

As a community we are urging Wesfarmers & their Shareholders to either rethink their closure of Target and/or covert to a KMART Hub, and even if they cant offer the community this, find a business that can go in there, then simply leaving it empty, for potentially months and/or years will have many consequences for a Country Town, Local Businesses, and Community Members.

Kindest Regards

Colac Otway Community