The fed-up owner of a butcher in NSW has come up with a brilliant way to stop people using her carpark.
People have been using the private carpark at the Bulli Meats & Seafood Fresh in Wollongong for years, despite polite warnings that it was meant for use of customers.
This week, the business owner Julie Scalco kicked things up a notch and threatened to park people in and force them to buy $50 worth of meat before allowing them to leave.
She told news.com.au she was tired of people using her carpark to go to the “gym or hairdresser” and leaving no parking space for her customers.
Her sign — which spells out the $50 threat — quickly caught attention and has been shared widely in local Facebook groups. Ms Scalco said she made the sign as a “gimmick” to see if anyone would pay attention.
“The (regular parking) signs we’ve had for six years but people don’t see them. It’s an ongoing frustrating thing that happens every day,” she told news.com.au.
“We’re not bad people, we donate to charities, we help our customers. We just don’t want people parking there who aren’t customers.”
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Ms Scalco said at one point yesterday there were seven cars in the carpark and only one was from a paying customer.
She said it had been an issue since she opened the business 16 years ago and a regular customer recently told her they went to Woolworths because they couldn’t find a parking spot.
Ms Scalco said she paid about $12,000 in rates every year for the business and its adjoining carpark but she believed surrounding businesses were benefiting.
“I pay rent for the business and the parking,” Ms Scalco said.
Ms Scalco, who recently sold the building, but continues to run her butchery there, said it was particularly frustrating as she bought the building because it had a carpark.
She said she wasn’t angry the sign had caught attention and been shared on social media.
“We have great customers, it was a gimmick,” she said.
Any money collected from the parking would be given to charity, she added.
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