see the Myer windows and get a coffee, and then they’ll leave.” Poulakis thinks this needs to change, and that’s why she has decided to run for Melbourne City Council. The luxury department store owner announced her candidacy this week. It will be her third attempt at getting elected to the local governing body.  “The reason I’m running is because we need a business voice for retail on the council, so they can influence and be a part of the conversations about shaping the city of the future,” she said. “I know I’ve got something to offer.”   More than just the laneways A big part of Poulakis’ platform involves promoting the CBD’s retail offering beyond just the laneways.  “We haven’t talked about the above-awning retail component that exists and the services, artisans, makers, designers and curators as well as we could, and I don’t think we’ve spoken about the underground component as well as we could either,” she said.  “It’s about having that holistic view of what retail is and what makes up world-class retail, and celebrating that as much as we can, rather than celebrating one component which doesn’t appeal to everybody.” The CBD retail component Poulakis is most passionate about is Collins Street, one of the city centre’s main arteries that is home to major luxury brands, including Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Celine and, of course, Harrolds.  “Collins Street should be heaving and bustling with shoppers like Rodeo Drive or the Champs-Élysées, or Madison, Park or Fifth,” she said.  “This is Australia’s premier boulevard, it’s got heritage, it’s got architecture, it’s got everything a grand boulevard anywhere in the world has, and we don’t talk about it. We direct people to Bourke Street.”  If Poulakis were elected, she would change the way the city markets its CBD retail offering. Besides focusing more on Collins Street and other overlooked precincts, she would seek to change the perception that shopping in the CBD is too hard.  “The consumer perception of coming to the CBD is that it’s too hard. It’s too hard to navigate, the parking is too expensive, it’s not easily accessible,” she said.  On the issue of parking, she said 15-minute street parking is not conducive to having an enjoyable shopping experience and making a considered purchase in a story like Harrolds.  “We put up hurdles in the CBD that make it really easy for the consumer to shop locally,” she said, and it’s hurting businesses that have chosen to pay CBD rents.  “Sparkling clean and functioning” At the moment, however, this is something of a moot point, since foot traffic in the CBD is down around 90 per cent due to Covid-19 restrictions.  Under the current Stage 4 restrictions, most people are required to work from home and shop within a 5km radius of their house. The travel limit is set to lift in mid-October, but people will still be required to work from home if they can for the foreseeable future. Will a new marketing campaign from the City Council really matter if the State Government ensures that office buildings remain empty and theatres and stadiums can only open with capacity limits?  Poulakis believes a new marketing campaign will help bring the CBD back to life. “Things will return slowly over a staggered approach, and in our family business, I’m very conscious of the amount of people I can have in my store, not just to make the customer feel comfortable, but so my staff feel comfortable,” she said.  “Visual perception, messaging and communication will build consumer confidence and patronage.”  In fact, Poulakis believes Covid-19 has made her plan to change consumers’ perception of Melbourne’s CBD even more relevant.  To get people to return to the city, “it needs to look amazing, it needs to be sparkling clean and functioning,” she said. “And it should be that anyway.”