By Ashleigh Fielding | posted on January 17, 2019
AS A controversial Shell service station inches toward completion on Albany Highway, three businesses that have elsewhere co-located with Shell have ruled out occupying an attached shop and lunch bar.
Fresh Trading Co’s John Wood and Julie McCarron, whose business shares a service station with Shell in the Perth suburbs of Welshpool and Ascot, have told The Weekender they do not “have any properties forecast for the Albany region”.
Gloria Jean’s Coffees, which has a drive-thru service at Shell in Ascot, were in the same boat.
“I was really hoping it might be a Gloria Jean’s Coffees store opening at the Albany site but alas, it’s not,” said Christina Jones, a spokeswoman for the coffee chain.
And with more than 20 Shell servos across Perth having a Coles Express, a Coles spokesperson said the national food retailer had no plans to occupy the service station’s shop.
Project proponent Peter D. Webb & Associates director Nik Hidding said he was “not permitted” to speak with media about the service station.
Victorian-based developer Procon Developments was contacted for comment.
The emerging Shell has long been contentious due to its close proximity to Albany’s main entry roundabout, which sees more traffic crashes than any other intersection in regional Western Australia.
