A cafe is moving in the latest sign of how much the centre of Bendigo is changing to accommodate office workers.
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The Anxious Goat plans to close its Hargreaves Street premises on April 26.
Owner Mandy Bloomfield is shifting her operation to 87 View Street to take advantage of a changing city centre.
"People are coming back [to the office] but only a couple of days a week so our whole clientele has changed," she said.
It has been a while since the cafe's baristas could expect to work non-stop from 8am to 12pm to keep up with office workers' coffee and lunch orders.
"There's still a few businesspeople but it is definitely not what it was four or five years ago," Ms Bloomfield said.
"COVID really made all of us look at what's working, what's not working and make some changes.
"I can't blame people for wanting to work from home if that is an option for them."
The cafe is increasingly likely to serve retirees and out-of-towners, along with workers dividing their time between the office and home.
It makes a move closer to the Bendigo Art Gallery and its tourist foot-traffic more enticing, Ms Bloomfield said.
She expects The Anxious Goat will change its opening hours to weekends for the first time as it tries to draw in tourists.
The new site is also close enough to her current one to keep serving loyal customers from the Bendigo Bank headquarters and other major businesses which cafes at the eastern end of the city centre rely on, Ms Bloomfield said.
The new premise is likely to be operating by the early weeks of May but exact dates are still to be locked in.
City centre reinventing itself
Multiple businesses have been considering what staying in the city centre will look like in the post-COVID era.
Queen Street's Ray White Bendigo has gone on record saying its three-storey redevelopment hopes have been shaped by a determination to stay in the middle of town.
"We could have opted to move out of town but that takes people out, and then all of a sudden they are not buying the pie or spending money at the shop on their lunch break," managing director Rory Somerville said in March as he discussed rebuild plans.
"We want to keep people in the CBD. We need that to have a vibrant city centre."
Tom O'Callaghan
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
