Are you ready to transform your shopfront?

Hume City Council seeks to support retail and hospitality businesses with a shopfront including those that are in industrial estates, arcades and laneways to help create fresh facades and improve the presentation of their shopfronts to add to the overall streetscape visual appeal and to help drive foot trade.

Recognising the importance of supporting small businesses, Hume City Council is offering $200,000 to be allocated for a Shopfront Improvement Grant Program. The maximum amount that a business can receive is $7,500 (plus GST)

Applications can be made by owners of retail and hospitality businesses.

The street-facing shopfront must be in a shopping strip in Hume and not located inside a shopping centre.

Exception:

Businesses located within a shopping centre managed by an Owners Corporation or Body Corporate may be eligible. For example, retail and hospitality businesses located in Gladstone Park Shopping Centre, Craigieburn Plaza, Sunbury Central and Sunbury Target Centre may be eligible to apply.

Businesses located within a shopping centre are encouraged to contact Council prior to applying, to confirm their eligibility.

To give your application every opportunity, please read our guidelines and this document in full before starting your application.

You will need to provide the following as part of your application:

• a brief summary of your project – this should include 'before' photos of the shopfront
• quotes for the work – preferably by local Hume Contractors
• any relevant permits and/or licenses
• financial reports – last 12 months minimum required

Regularly save your application by clicking the 'Save Progress' button which appears at the top of your screen.

File Upload allows applicants to upload one or more file attachments in their application.  The recommended size of a file must be no bigger than 5mb.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Eligibility

To be eligible for a Shopfront Improvement Grant the business must:

• be located within Hume City
• hold a current Australian Business Number (ABN)
• be a shopfront in a shopping strip including those that are in an industrial estate, and not located inside a shopping centre (with the exception of Owner Corporation shopping centres)
• hold all appropriate permits and licenses; this will include but is not restricted to building and planning permits, liquor licenses, health, bankruptcy, and any other statutory permits or licenses that are required for the business to be legal
• have fully paid Council rates
• hold current public liability insurance
• not be in breach of any state/territory or local government law or regulation
• have a minimum of 12 months remaining on the lease for the premises

Ineligibility

The Hume City Shopfront Improvement Grant Program will not support applicants that:

• are political organisations or are deemed to have a political purpose
• are government departments of agencies, foundations or grant making bodies
• are charities and have a primary focus of fundraising
• own or operate electronic gaming machines (EGM) or receive funding or in-kind support from EGM venues
• are franchise businesses i.e., large corporations such as supermarkets
• do not meet the requirements or do not provide the relevant documentation
• incur revenue relating to alcohol, tobacco and tobacco-related products i.e., e-cigarettes, shisha, hookahs and pipes
• denigrate, exclude or offend parts of the community

All successful applicants will receive a sticker to display on their window or front entrance acknowledging the Hume Shopfront Improvement Grant Program.

Listed below are a few examples of what may be funded:

• accessibility access – installing automatic doors and installing a wheelchair ramp
• awning and canopies
• planter boxes
• external shopfront lighting
• new signage or replacing old signage in accordance with relevant regulatory requirements
• painting the facade of the shop
• redecorating exterior shopfront walls
• upgrades to windows and doors
• window decals
• digital display boards for the external walls
• serving windows
• cafe barriers

Please note:

- businesses must obtain approval from the property owner or agent for any works to be conducted

- all works to be undertaken need to comply with the Local Laws - Hume  City Council

- successful applicants may commence spending the grant funds once the signed Letter of Agreement has been returned to Council

- applicants must submit “after” photos as part of the acquittal process