Mackay City Heart

Welcome to Mackay City Heart’s Facebook Page! This is a page set up by local businesses and run by local businesses to keep locals and other interested people up-to-date with just what is happening in our City.

The doomsayers would say the City Heart is dead, but we are here to let you know we are very much alive! Our challenges are not unique - CBDs all over Australia have been facing competition from mega-retailers since Australia’s first suburban shopping centre opened in Brisbane in 1957. And now, many cities are turning back towards their inner-cities and revitalising the Heart of their communities to limit the negative effects of suburban sprawl.

*So why should you shop in our City Heart?*

For an experience you can get nowhere else in THE WORLD! You’ll find shops run by local people that you can’t find anywhere else. We’re not big franchises full of the same stock from city to city. We’re not a monotonous, homogenous windowless box; we’re varied and unique and, yes, a little bit gritty! Shopping in the City Heart is an experience to embrace... stroll the tree-lined streets in the fresh air, stop for a chat and listen to the squawking of the Rainbow Lorikeets.

And if that is not enough, by shopping in the City Heart:

1. You keep money in the local economy
Money that stays within a community circulates and eventually benefits everyone.

2. You embrace what makes us unique
You wouldn’t want your house to look like everyone else’s – why would you want your community to look that way?

3. You create local jobs
Local businesses are better at creating high-paying jobs for local people.

4. You help the environment
Buying from a local business conserves energy and resources in the form of less fuel for transportation, less packaging, and products that you know are safe and well-made because we stand behind them.

5. You nurture community
We know you and you know us. Studies have show that local businesses donate to community causes at more than twice the rate of non-local businesses.

6. You help keep the City Heart healthy
Supporting local businesses means more colour and variety in the city centre and creates more reasons for local authorities to support us.

7. You create more choice
We pick the items we sell based on what we know you like and want. Local businesses carry a wider array of unique products because we buy for our own individual market.

8. You take advantage of our expertise
You are our friends and neighbours, and we have a vested interest in knowing how to serve you. We’re passionate about what we do. Why not take advantage of it?

9. You investe in entrepreneurship
Creativity and entrepreneurship are crucial to our economy. Nurturing local business ensures a strong community.

10. You make us a destination
The more interesting and unique we are as a community, the more we will attract new neighbours, visitors, and guests. This benefits everyone!