Ke
en readers of this column will know I’m an enthusiastic participant in Parramatta Parkrun.
The free community event, in which hundreds of people test their stamina every Saturday morning over a five-kilometre course, is actually held in Ermington’s George Kendall Riverside Park.
Which provides an excellent reason to pour into one of the suburb’s cafes afterwards. These include riverside Café W, where parents can grab a coffee while letting their kids play on the equipment, or the lovely Café 4TY7 on Boronia Street.
If you’re like me and my friends, you stick firmly with tradition, which means heading all the way back to the Ermington shops just off Victoria Road.
Sally, Sam and the team at Corroboree do a generous fry-up big breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast and thick tomato. Perfect recovery nosh, great value for money and served with a smile.
A tea or coffee around the table can easily turn into two or three as the conversation flows. Very frequently, the adjoining tables are taken up by others who’ve also completed the race.
It’s open-air community spirit at its best and I’ve come to feel great affection for many of the shops on the strip.
There’s superb fish and chips, charcoal chicken and Vietnamese hot bread; a Vinnies, Thai massage, post office and decent butcher. Clean, functional public toilets and drinking fountains. Even a laneway dividing the precinct where the occasional busker is known to play in front of Campos Coffee.
Casual and unpretentious, you can show up if you’ve just rolled out of bed. There’s also a colourful mix of characters; and the very occasional screech of tyres and insult hurled from a passing car. But that’s just Ermo being Ermo.
Having been coming by for several years, admittedly with a large break for COVID, I’m struck by the retail precinct’s ongoing popularity.
Compared with, say, the Parramatta CBD or Oxford Street in Sydney, there are no vacant shopfronts. Every space, and frequently every parking spot, is used. It tells of a shopping strip that is appreciated and in sync with the surrounding community.
I believe the key to its success is its strategic positioning.
Much like the convenience of a stop in Singapore or Dubai on a long-haul journey to Europe, the Ermington shops are perfect for a quick grocery run when driving home from the city to Parramatta. Or perhaps having ducked down Pennant Hills Road and Marsden Road from the north-west suburbs. You can get to the Woolies and make a quick park (provided you know how to reverse in at an angle). All without having the stress of entering a shopping centre or punching a ticket.
It all harks back to a simpler time before the advent of mega shopping malls when everyone bumped into each other on the high street. That said, Ermington is facing population pressures from big new apartment complexes by the river, and medium density townhouses replacing the old army blocks. Walking all the way up and down the hill to these residences carrying shopping bags is impractical for most people. Massive new development is also taking shape in Melrose Park down the road.
This creates traffic around the shops and makes it increasingly dangerous to enter and exit. People also have increased expectations of community spaces since the pandemic. Through its Better Neighbourhoods Program, the City of Parramatta is recognising this by working to upgrade the area with new street furniture, trees and hanging lighting.
That said, the Ermington shops are faring better than most and there are many local retail strips in the Parramatta and Cumberland areas that could do with this level of attention.
We all deserve to feel there’s a place we can gather with friends, walk the dog, or have a chat with the local café owner or chemist. As society changes fast, the Ermington shops remain a place for these simple pleasures – a rare place in Parramatta where time has managed to stand still. Almost.
Alan is a journalist and communications specialist. He writes a weekly column for Parra News.