THERE'S a big push to shop local these days and the newly refurbished Pavilions Marketplace at Terranora provides a great opportunity to support small businesses.

Terry and Catherine Harmer, from Harbour Property Group, wanted to create a new shopping experience offering a vibrant tenancy mix.

The centre is focussed on delivering a quality community space and hosts different events across the year, including Second Hand Saturday on today.

We chat to Terry about Pavilions Marketplace:

What encouraged the revamp?

The motivation behind creating the Pavilions Marketplace was the special connection that was felt by both Catherine and I when we first visited the location.

In more than 30 years of being involved in unique projects in beautiful locations, this is the most exciting yet.

This excitement is a combination of an immediate love personally of the Tweed and Terranora, the beautiful location of the Shopping Village with its unsurpassed views over Terranora Lake, the shared vision of how special this shopping village would be and the beautiful sense of community that we felt from the locals and continue to feel. It is their encouragement that continues to give us the motivation, passion and strength to endure the many obstacles so far.

What makes the Pavilions different from other shopping complexes?

Its unique design conceptually combined with the high calibre and mix of shops on offer overall to create more than just a shopping venue but instead a shopping experience.

The community's expectation of a shopping experience has changed dramatically over the last few years as previously mentioned. There is now a move back to supporting local, as long as it is worthy of support of course. Our philosophy is about providing the experience, a feel good experience first and foremost.

What will be involved in the Second Hand Saturday event?

This is a free community event promoting sustainability through a philosophy of the reuse of pre-loved goods as an alternative to buying new and discarding of the old.

The local retailers within the shopping village are providing a sausage sizzle for gold coin donation, with any proceeds going to Tweed Valley Wildlife Carers.

What are your plans for the future?

We are now just over two years into the redevelopment of The Pavilions Marketplace.

The next 12 months will see the final stages of completion including the opening of our last few exciting new shops for the community.

Go shopping

What: Second Hand Saturday.

When: 8-11am today.

Where: The Pavilions Marketplace is at 2-14 Henry Lawson Dr, Terranora.