Tama Farewells Its Best Scoop

By Marcus Braid on October 2, 2014 in News

Tamarama residents have bid a fond farewell to James Gao and his friendly family, who ran the popular Scoop Supermarket on Fletcher Street.

Mr Gao has been forced to close the supermarket after 15 years to appease the wishes of developers, who will turn 49-51 Fletcher Street into an apartment block.

“I’m very sad because l’m leaving this nice community,” Mr Gao said. “On the other side, it could be a change for good. After 15 years of very hard work, I need a break.”

Mr Gao received the letters of intent a month ago, effectively terminating the business.

“On July 22, the developer said the business needs to be terminated,” Mr Gao said. “Everyone agreed we’ll go. It’s very hard to run the business day by day.”

Mr Gao and his family acquired the supermarket in 1999, along with what is now M Deli, which is also on Fletcher Street.

“It was very good for the community because at that time, we had two shops,” Mr Gao said. “We had the [current] M Deli at the corner of Fletcher Street and Dudley Street. After five years, that supermarket was sold and turned into M Deli.”

Tamarama resident Sam Reid echoed the thoughts of the local community in paying tribute to Mr Gao and his friendly demeanour.

“While I’m going to miss being able to go and get my bread, milk and cereal so easily, what will be missed more is Jam’s smiling face and his every optimistic ‘hello buddy’ as you walk past or walk in the door,” Mr Reid said.

“I’m sure the residents of Dudley, Fletcher and Dellview Street will miss James and his family.”

The supermarket, located on the bottom floor of the developer-owned land, has been the subject of controversy since a development application was put before Waverley Council ten years ago.

“When they put an application to Council, the response was that the first option is to keep the shop here,” Mr Gao said.

“Everyone loved the shop because of the location. Council said the first option is to have the shop and we can negotiate to give floor space ratio for the developer. The developer’s [proposal] was too much and Council said ‘this is not right’.”

However, the matter went before the NSW Planning and Environment Court, which ruled in favour of the developer.

“The court said this is a developer’s property and they have to make a decision,” Mr Gao said. “That’s why Council lost. Council supported the locals to keep the shop and the developer didn’t want to. This was about five years ago.”

Mr Gao will take a holiday to Shanghai before returning to mull over his next move. He has not ruled out a return to the Tama community.

“I’d like to stay here,” Mr Gao said. “I love this area because the community is so nice and so good, but business is hard and tough.

“After 15 years of working from 5am to 8.30pm, I’m going to go on holiday. When I come back, of course I will try and come back to this area, but it’s very hard. It’s hard to find a spot… there’s no spot there.”

The Tama community bid farewell to Mr Gao and his supermarket with a party in early September.

James Gao’s son, Bob, who works at Scoop Supermarket, also paid tribute to the hard work of his father.

“I’ve got mixed emotions,” he said. “I’m upset that the business is going but at the same time, I’m trying to see it as an opportunity for change. My father did do a very good job.”