Bendigo's business council is optimistic about the outlook for 2023 despite the challenges the sector is facing, chief executive officer Rob Herbert says.
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Those challenges include inflation putting pressure on people's willingness to spend and staff shortages, which "are a constant ... across the board, particularly for larger regional cities".
On the staffing problem, there was no single solution the Be.Bendigo CEO said, but longer-term measures - including more migrant workers, the alignment of education pathways to business needs, greater access to local affordable housing and improved public transport options - would all contribute to alleviating it.
There is also an issue with commercial tenancy in the heart of the city.
When Be.Bendigo moved its office into the Hargreaves Street mall in 2019 then-CEO Dennis Bice said the organisation aimed to "try and change the dynamics" there and "have these premises be part of a solution."
But four years later, times are still tough for the strip.
DCK real estate agency director Matt Bowles told the Bendigo Advertiser 10 of 38 properties in the mall were vacant, with the vacancy rate rising to around 34 per cent if pop-up shops operating on a charity basis and Officeworks, which has shut its doors to the pedestrian area, are included.
Mr Bowles said the market was dictating commercial rents in the mall of around half what owners had previously been able to secure for them.
Nevertheless there were positive developments among the properties he manages, with the former Typo premises set to launch as a new bar, and a legal office opening next door to Evans Shoes.
In 2023 Be.Bendigo plans to help facilitate sessions on Commonwealth Games-related opportunities for businesses and run events canvassing the state of the economy, workplace law changes and Bendigo's Big Build program.
"The key message is there is a huge opportunity for Greater Bendigo and to allow business and the broader community to prosper, we need to find solutions to these challenges," Mr Herbert said.
Given the ongoing difficulties of the past three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Herbert welcomed a federal government announcement a program providing free mental health and financial counselling support to small businesses would be continued.
