A few months ago the Vineyard Centre in Somerset West started upgrading its premises with a fresh coat of paint and renovations to problem areas in its variety of stores. The public responded with excitement at the prospect of having a clean and decent “face”, because the Vineyard of late had started looking rundown and unkept.
The centre is an integral part of the shopping experience for a huge number of clients in the Helderberg, as the public transport interchange taxi rank ferries customers to and from it.
But amid this excitement a rumour started doing the rounds that the Vineyard had been sold and had new owners.
The centre’s manager was approached and asked if the rumours were true, but they were denied.
The Somerset West central business district has been experiencing a decline in business interest for some time.
What’s more, the prospect of having a vibrant and market-related shopping centre in its midst has been marred by this uncertainty about the status of the Vineyard Centre.
Some residents asked, “Why do we want to know if the Vineyard Centre has new owners?”
Maybe the answer lies in whether it is uplifting to know that there is positive improvement in your town, because if we stop caring it can lead to further decay and uncertainty.
Should this “rumour” be treated as a guarded secret, or should the Vineyard Centre take its patrons into their confidence and explain the situation?
