What would make Perth "unboring"?

I'm sure most of you would have heard of the term "dullsville" for Perth (whether it's true or not, I'll leave that to your interpretation).

I migrated here 15 years ago. Apart from the "everywhere is too far apart" and "only available to Eastern State" issues, I honestly haven't really got too much to complain about. First of all, I must sincerely ask not turn this thread into east vs west or "Bash Barnett" please! lol

In your opinion, what would you like to see in Perth e.g. business, franchises, activities or anything that would make Perth unique/interesting? I know there's a lot happening in Perth at the moment i.e. new stadium, new waterfront etc, but what you reckon would set Perth apart from the rest of cities in Australia cuz they all have those mentioned?

I am looking to invest in a new business venture in Perth with a few mates. At this stage, most probably a new franchise from Asia to Perth. We have the vision to start an AU first franchise in Perth, then slowly expand to the east if opportunity present itself. But honestly, nothing is concrete atm, so open minded to any ideas. But obviously the idea is to make it unique to Perth & go from there.

Love to hear your ideas! Please keep them coming! Thanks!

P/S Could we please get back to topic please? :P

Comments

  • +27

    Spaceport

    • Ok.. Let's not go that far lol..

      • +8

        Ok, then how about two AFL teams in the grand final ?

        • Considering that it's played in Melbourne I don't think it affects the excitement of Perth haha.

        • +1

          @ilikeradiohead: no, probably no-one in WA will care if its a Eagles v Dockers grand final.

  • +7

    I was just in Canada for a couple of months. Their coffee chain called Tim Horton's kicks ass for really tasty, healthy lunches FAST.. Drive thru or walk in. I ate there SO much because it was cheap and really interesting food. I reckon Perth is crying out for fast, cheap, delicious food & coffee.

    • +5

      I second that. Everything is expensive in perth including Coffee, Beer and even a bloody sandwich.

      • -3

        Unfortunately it had to do our high wage…can't change that, it's in our blood we wanna earn more but pay less.

        • +4

          Has nothing to do with high wages (were comparatively very similar to all Aus states). Has to do with a booming economy 3 years ago which allowed places to hike prices and not see a downturn in business. Now it has become the new normal.

    • +1

      Tim Horton's coffee tasted like water

      • Dirty water…

        • I believe the secret is to stir a brown crayon in hot water. Then add milk.

  • Something like ThinkGeek in US, but have an offline store so that people can look at weird, nerdy gadgets? I don't know, basically, a store with stuff that you know you don't need, but you want anyways; Be it a nerdy stuff, tech gadgety stuff, anything that's not exactly necessary but you want. A store that you can go in and gawk at things, basically.

    • +2

      Wouldn't those be jaycar and hobby stores?

      • I am thinking more of broader and more gawk inducing store. A place where general public can go in and think, that looks cool.
        There is a store in my home country that does what I've mentioned. Their moto is "All playthings for the Adults".
        They sell things ranging from headphones, drones, shoes, food, watch, fountain pen etc etc. They import stuff that makes you want to get it for no reason other than it looks cool or it's something that I need that's not sold anywhere.

        It's a store (they have both offline and online store) that I visited frequently, just because everything looked so cool on there.
        I went on there today (I rarely do it in Australia), and I now want a dutch coffee machine. Damn it.

    • +5

      That is gold - a bricks and mortar ThinkGeek equivalent would be awesome! Most people in Oz don't buy from ThinkGeek due to their ridiculous shipping costs.

      • +2

        or a brick and mortar thisiswhyimbroke.com

      • Isn't that basically what Zing is trying to be?

  • +1

    Bring back Troy Buswell

    • +10

      I'm still here

  • +31

    What would make Perth "unboring"?

    Comparing it to Adelaide.

    • +2

      from Radelaide can confirm :(

      • +2

        I was going to say. A stint in the department town of Canberra would make anywhere seem pretty exciting.

        Canberra: Imagine if you will, a magical place where they gathered up every government worker employee from the country and dumped them.

        That's Canberra right there. Sure, there are a few pockets of interesting things and people. e.g. you can now by "Raw Caramel Slice" and "Organic local Chi Latte" from a real hipster with a beard and tattoos. But for the most part they just get together at the local and discuss their pensions before heading to bed at 8.

    • +6

      What about Canberra??

      • +2

        At least in Canberra you can buy fireworks and decent pron…

        • +3

          Who pays for porn?

        • +1

          Nope, no fireworks in Canberra anymore.

          Too many dumbass kids kept blowing their fingers off, so the Government banned them.

      • +1

        questacon…

      • Canberra has a pretty kickass local original music scene going right now. Per capita one of the highest turnouts in the country.

  • +1

    Cheap flights to Mauritius

    • +2

      Cheap flights to most places I reckon :P

  • +9

    Making it a part of Australia.

  • +3

    It needs a Lindt cafe and a harbour. Although Melby has the Yarra and that's shit too lol

    • +2

      a chocolate shop and water, man thats not too unique. he was asking for cool ideas not something every big city has.

    • +1

      Perth is getting Elizabeth Quay already…

  • +3

    How about affordable real estate and lower taxes?

    • +2

      We're actually not that bad in that department compared to Sydney and Melbourne….

      We just need more jobs other than minings to help with the economy..

  • +20

    A giant statue of Gina Rinehart

    • ewww…

      • Why not? We have to live with a giant statue of Queen Victoria in Sydney.

        • cuz we're not Sydney, and don't wanna be one ? ;P

        • +4

          @Droid11: You guys deserve a fat lady statue too! ;)

    • don't really wanna look at giant big momma every day, unless she's happy to share her fortune with WA people ..then by all mean build as big as she wants ;P

    • +9

      A giant statue of Gina Rinehart

      So that'll be a life-sized model then..?

      • In a dystopian future, maybe.

      • +2

        A statue of giant Gina Rinehart

  • +5

    24 hour trading, cheaper beer at the pub and no laws against street drinking. At least, that's what I liked about places in Europe and the US.

  • A hyperloop.

  • +12

    Perth isn't boring. I love Perth, but I am boring.

  • +1

    In my opinion, we're primed to take in the tourism dollar from Asia due to closest proximity to the region, and we're a multicultural & friendly city. Also with the AUD staying low for foreseeable future, tourism to me is the answer to boost WA's economy in short to long term.

    I always wonder what would attract the tourist from Asia to visit Perth? Any ideas on this front?

    • we're a ….friendly city

      Hahaha have you been to William Street at night?

      • Your point being? Every city has a bad street …so your argument is rendered invalid ..

        • I dunno, i've never seen a daytime street fight in Sydney, ever. Saw one in Perth.

          Parent visited for 3 weeks, saw 3 arrests on the street. Has never seen an arrest IRL until then.

          Large homeless problem, aboriginals causing problems constantly, just randomly yelling at people

          People seem to be genuinely critical of Easterners, and not just banter.

          Sorry, but it's not a friendly city.

        • @Davo1111:I struggled to understand your logic…street fight = unfriendly? More junkies or idiots maybe, but how would that translate to them being unfriendly to strangers..

        • @Droid11:

          I didnt realise junkies and idiots ask where you're from before they yell at/attack you

          IMO unsafe city = unfriendly city. People are not going to engage with you if they feel unsafe. Agree to disagree.

        • @Davo1111:

          I'd agree,only ever spent 1 night in Perth, got hassled by the aboriginals and felt generally intimidated. Haven't had that in other cities.

          Every city has a bad street …

          And on the Gold Coast, most would say that would be Cavill Avenue, I live there, but i feel safe walking the street at any time day or night. As do all the tourists/families with kids etc.

  • +3

    Ok you got me going… I was in the Us and Canada not long ago. Can’t agree that the quality of their Food and coffee is better. In the US food was very American with the odd pleasant unexpected exception, Coffee was trash just about everywhere. In Canada both were better but the coffee was still not up to standard.
    Drinking laws in the US are far stricter than in Oz,. In many states the drinking age is 21 and there is a push to make it uniform across the US. What they have got over us, especially in Perth is lower prices for Alcohol, food and coffee and of course fuel to cart it all around.

    Europe is much more relaxed in terms of eating and drinking – however they don’t do the open 24/7 thing any where like the US.

    Perth actually made a point of not trying to be like the big city eastern states cousins some time back who we perceived to emulate big US or European cities. Maybe that what’s made WA “boring in the 90’s” maybe not – don’t know. However we have a couple of things going for us - lots of good music has come out of WA over the last 60 or so years. Lots of good looking models also. Fashion labels that have made it inside of some of the world’s best Fashion houses. Stefano Carboni and the Art gallery of WA. Breed lots of sporting greats. Incredible landscapes and oceans. Bunnings, Great wineries, Great Sailing, Windsurfing and Kitesurfing conditions and space. There was a serious attempt to get a Snow Park off the ground about 8 years ago, Given how many people from WA travel to the snow, it seemed like a great idea but the GFC and high cost of energy stalled it. An English company is now bringing a Wave arena to WA so we can go surfing on a lake.

    The cost of labour has been our biggest problem over the last 10 years. That in turn pushed the price of everything else up too. With the boom going to bust, wages and poor attitudes will re adjust until the next boom – that’s been the nature of WA.

    ONWARDS…..
    1. Replacing the boom I would like to see some entrepreneurialship in the area of high Tec Engineering, science and high skill manufacturing – I think that is something WA could do well
    2. Regardless of the boom I would like to see an ongoing push in expanding an intelligent or smart tourism industry.
    3. What most people who came to live in WA (especially so during the boom) from the East or across the globe said, was the money was obviously the draw card, but once that got here they could not believe the great life style and how we took it for granted – I don’t want us to lose track of what we have or take it for granted as that is what makes us un competitive nationally and globally.
    4. Return of local Media presence to WA. TVW channel 7 were pioneers at the beginning of TV in Australia. Some of the things they attempted and succeeded with were far ahead of the curve. A Local media presence incorporating the remainder of the country rather than them representing us will give us some identity again – maybe the loss of local media production and control is what made us boring in the 90’s.

    And space port too!

    • Agreed, we definitely could use more high tech or niche manufacturing industry in WA. Solar energy would be one, but too bad the Liberal just thrashed it. Unfortunately this is not my field, so I can only hope the government spend money on manufacturing. Manufacturing could easily employ thousands of people if the right resource is there, but I certainly none ends up like Holden factory etc in Vic & SA

      This thing abour Wave Arena..any link to that? I personally think it would be a good investment if it can be done near one of our beach or even Swan River..

  • Sorry not Wave Arena its… http://www.wavegarden.com/ scroll down the home page and you will see Business Opertunities.

    • Not a big fan of surfing, but can see it will be very popular in Australia. It says there's one in Perth coming, so I guess someone already invested in one. No point looking to add in a second one then, unless we're talking about Margaret River or Karratha area..

  • Just spent 5 weeks in Cornwall and there were lots of things for our boys to do. Zipwires, zorbing, flowrider, soccer golf, assault courses up in the tree canopy (http://treesurfers.co.uk/) Need more of these sorts of activities in or near Perth.

    • would be nice if there's one in Kings Park eh…

  • +2

    LSD

  • The CBD is a ghost town on Sundays

    • +1

      Cuz can't bloody find parking in CBD, and hardly any public transport on Sun

      • If you don't mind walking, park on the roads past Pier street. They are all free on Saturday and Sunday. You can also take the CAT busses towards the CBD from there. I never had a problem finding parking on weekends. Read the parking signs carefully and you won't get fined on weekends.

        I love Perth. My house is 17km from the CBD and it takes me 15 minutes to get there most days. It takes ~30-35 minutes during peak traffic hours. I think sitting in traffic for hours on end is "Boring".

        • With the way we're going right now, we probably gonna see that "hours spent on traffic jam" scenario in 10-20 years time..

        • @Droid11:

          By that time, everywhere else will be spending days in traffic :p.

  • +12

    The one thing that Perth does right is no pokies in bars and pubs. If anyone tries to suggest you can make Perth more 'exciting' and 'enticing for tourists' by bringing in these money suckers for the mindless, beat them about the head in a friendly manner until they change their mind.

    • +1

      except the drink prices are subsequently more expensive.

  • -4

    Tim Hortons makes good coffee? Obviously have never had coffee in Melbourne.

    But seriously, move to Melbourne.

    • One thing I can say for sure is the coffee and cafe here has improved significantly over the years..

  • Hadron Collider

    • ….something something black hole…..

  • DisneyOz

    Chick Fil A

    We're over your way next week, can you build those two in time?

    • Disney Oz would be awesome! But highly unlikely given the remoteness of our location and scarce population

    • I didn't think Chick Fil A was that amazing when I tried it last time I was in the US. Plus, they're closed on Sundays! In America!

      Chipotle on the other hand…

  • -2

    What's Perth?

    • +2

      Definitely not anonymous like your username suggested .

  • +1

    Introduce quokkas into Kings Park. It'll break up the Rottnest Island ferry racket.

    • Always wondered about this….but then you can see quokkas in zoo though..

  • +1

    Hey in Perth we have an exciting suburb, "Kuta" :p

    • Have to agree on this to some extent…it's amazing to see how many people from Perth in Bali at one given time..

      Maybe we should create something even the rich balinese would wanna come to us instead huh..

      • There's plenty of Indonesian tourists visiting Perth and Fremantle. If we offered a tourist visa on arrival, it would boom even more. Unfortunately Balinese less likely to travel compared to Jakarta counterparts because of commitments to local temples. But the "emerging middle class" are visiting!

        • Immigration is handled by the Federal government so there isn't really anything Perthsons could do other than ask Canberra to make it easier for Indonesians to visit.

  • +1

    Maybe start by keeping shops open till 9 or 10pm every day…then it feels like Hong Kong where it feels like busy interesting city…

    • The thing is I see half of my neighbourhood within 10km from city lights out by 9pm ….kind sad..lol

      • Too many retirees in Perth. 9pm is when my night begins !

        • Actually I kinda blame it on the traffic jam in the morning, else I would have gone to bed 11 or 12 on weekdays..

  • +2

    More bogans

  • Faster flights to sydney…

  • +8

    MONORAIL

    • +2

      What happens if the track would bend?

      • +3
        Not on your life, my russian friend. 
        
        • I hear those things are awfully loud

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