Matthew Barry's Reid Street store is well-located for him to be able to see and hear reactions to Wangaratta's current central business district parking arrangement - and he says it's clear it's not working.
Mr Barry, from Wangaratta Jewellers, launched a petition nine weeks ago suggesting the EasyPark app system introduced by council to the CBD to replace ageing parking meters was "not the correct course of action", and should be replaced by free, timed parking.
Residents eager to sign the petition have flooded into Mr Barry's store, and many others around the centre of Wangaratta, with signatures now numbering more than 1000.
The petition will remain available to sign until the end of October, and will be handed to the Rural City of Wangaratta council in November, in a bid to highlight support for the issues Mr Barry outlined to council during a recent meeting.
"I rang council to let them know what I was hearing from people on the street," he said.
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"We all whinge to each other, but do we tell the people who can do something about it?
"So I rang council and they asked me to meet with them.
"I told them we've got a problem, and we need to address it together.
"Council was very good with me; they listened and I felt I was heard, and there was robust back-and-forth discussion on the issues.
"However, I haven't seen a change."
Mr Barry said the parking issues in Wangaratta's CBD were two-fold.
"One is that you have to pay for parking, and the other is that you have to use the EasyPark app," he said.
"I feel we could solve the second issue overnight, while free parking will take some sorting through, but we have to at least have the discussion.
"To put more flesh on the bone, so it was not just me telling the story, I started the petition, and it's been tracking along and has really gained traction in the last three weeks.
"It was put up on Facebook, and I have almost had to re-carpet the shop with the number of people walking in here to sign it.
"The word I keep hearing is 'ridiculous'; people are really frustrated by (the app-based parking system).
"I feel for the current council administration, as they've inherited the situation as it is; I get it, it's not a simple fix, but it would make a difference if we could at least change the method of payment - that is the biggest issue.
"I can see out-of-towners turn up and park across the road from our store, and they get out, look at the sign, look at their phone, and then get back in their car and leave; you think, 'Were they coming here, were they going to the shoe shop, did the sandwich shop miss out because they were going there?'
"Out-of-towners don't want to download an app.
"Wangaratta is a service town, we service Bright, Myrtleford, Mansfield and the valleys, but people come here and don't understand this parking system.
"We need to see some change.
"It's got to be a two-stage thing; obviously agreements between council and the Co-Store need to be worked through, but we need to get some kind of physical infrastructure into our streets.
"We can't wait five years with the current system; putting barriers between traders and customers is a situation we don't need in the current climate."
The petition initiated by Mr Barry can be signed at Wangaratta Jewellers at 70 Reid Street, and is also available at many of Wangaratta's central business district stores.
