News & Discussion: CBD Retail

[Nathan]

Meanwhile Ban Ban and something called "Super Egg" are opening in Adelaide Central Plaza, next to Jarn Leva. I wonder what that means for Little Ban Ban in Rundle Mall Plaza.

[Nathan]

Rundle St news:

Dangerfield has moved across the road to where MJ Bale was (who have shifted to the smaller space formally occupied by Jack London).
Megabike has just closed up after finishing their lease.
Taste Baguette has also closed, after having very sporadic hours over the past year.
Mekong Vietnamese closed, sticker says the space has already been leased.
The Subtype store (in the former T2) is now being fit out. Building was re-painted last week.
KAFI:N, after soft launching last year in the former Cibo space, is now doing a more proper re-fit.

[Mpol02]

Wow Rundle st really has gone to the pits.

[Brucetiki]

A little bit of CBD retail infamy today - today is 30 years since the Myer Centre opened

[Nathan]

Wow Rundle st really has gone to the pits.

To be honest, I don't think it's fared any worse than elsewhere over the past year.

[gnrc_louis]

Wow Rundle st really has gone to the pits.

To be honest, I don't think it's fared any worse than elsewhere over the past year.

Agree with Nathan. I think places like Peel street etc have also increased competition for dining in the CBD. Online shopping has impacted retail of course too. Overall, Rundle st is still mostly fairly busy, just consumers have more options now - which is a great thing for the city.

[Patrick_27]

Wow Rundle st really has gone to the pits.

To be honest, I don't think it's fared any worse than elsewhere over the past year.

Agree with Nathan. I think places like Peel street etc have also increased competition for dining in the CBD. Online shopping has impacted retail of course too. Overall, Rundle st is still mostly fairly busy, just consumers have more options now - which is a great thing for the city.

Agree with the sentiments above. If anything, I think the pandemic is giving Rundle Street the necessary rejuvenation that it needs. Dangerfield moving, for instance, will allow its former shopfront along with adjoining former Smokemart to clean itself up and become something new. A lot of the bars along this strip have also undergone some necessary upgrades. I think the only downside to this is that we've seen the loss of some of Rundle's quirkiness in the way of unique business offerings... i.e. Vego N Lovin' It (more recently, Vego's) have recently closed, The Austral's upgrade whilst nice inside feels a bit sterile, and the new op shops, whilst a welcome addition, don't really offer anything unique or special. I think Rundle Street would benefit greatly from a decrease/capping of rental prices whether that be an ACC or Renew Adelaide initiative where they subsidise a portion of rent, but has the potential to offer some really interesting retail options. And might also benefit if Renew SA considered allowing the entrepreneurial-aspect of Lot 14 to sprawl into the Rundle Street precinct and occupy some of the empty upstairs tenancies along the main street.

[Nathan]

I wasn't even aware Vego's had closed. Just checked the Cherry Darling facebook page, and it seems like they still have the lease and weighing up what they do with it in future.

I think the laneways around the East End serve that opportunity for cheaper rents and getting some more unique offerings, but clearly there's some landlords on Rundle St that need to drop theirs to a degree. You see some places close and then get snapped up straight away, while some places remain perpetually empty.

[Mpol02]

Okay great to hear!

Had a lot of the bridge luxury retail closed? Zimmermans, Jacks and Calibre have left?

[Nathan]

Okay great to hear!

Had a lot of the bridge luxury retail closed? Zimmermans, Jacks and Calibre have left?

Calibre left around three years ago. Zimmermans is still there. It's really just been Jack London (who have closed all their stores nationally, except for Chadstone. Apparently having had most of their stores in Melbourne, the first extended lockdown last year really really hurt them), and the swimwear stores (Tigerlilly and Seafolly), that have closed.

[Mpol02]

Jack London are a very 00s look and concept so without progressing it isn’t hard to see why they fell under. A shame though.

And two swimwear brands very close to each other aren’t amazing either. Hopefully they find a few brands that work.

Maybe some bridge luxury international labels would fit well there. Reiss, Pull & Bear, etc may be worth exploring if they are already in Aus

[Nathan]

Jack London are a very 00s look and concept so without progressing it isn’t hard to see why they fell under. A shame though.

And two swimwear brands very close to each other aren’t amazing either. Hopefully they find a few brands that work.

Maybe some bridge luxury international labels would fit well there. Reiss, Pull & Bear, etc may be worth exploring if they are already in Aus

Jack London have been putting more emphasis on their suits than they did in the past. I used to buy a fair bit from there, but their slimmer fits became less accomodating for a growing beer belly...

[Nort]

I'm very much of the opinion that they should semi-pedestrianize Rundle Street.

Make the footpaths wider with more space for street dining, and reduce the road to one lane of one way traffic for access.

If that is successful, move to making the street closed off like during Fringe weekends for all summer weekend evenings.

[Llessur2002]

I'm very much of the opinion that they should semi-pedestrianize Rundle Street.

Make the footpaths wider with more space for street dining, and reduce the road to one lane of one way traffic for access.

If that is successful, move to making the street closed off like during Fringe weekends for all summer weekend evenings.

Absolutely agree - have all car park access from Pulteney Street on a two way access road that would extend no further than the Wilson car park entry and make the remaining portions beween Wilson and Frome and West Terrace single lane and ideally shared-space as opposed to a dedicated vehicle lane. Potentially, when the UPark is gone then the Wilson access could be reconfigured to be off of Pulteney Street north of Centrepoint.

Ideally this would be a precursor to a full pedestrianisation.

[ChillyPhilly]

I'm very much of the opinion that they should semi-pedestrianize Rundle Street.

Make the footpaths wider with more space for street dining, and reduce the road to one lane of one way traffic for access.

If that is successful, move to making the street closed off like during Fringe weekends for all summer weekend evenings.

Absolutely agree - have all car park access from Pulteney Street on a two way access road that would extend no further than the Wilson car park entry and make the remaining portions beween Wilson and Frome and West Terrace single lane and ideally shared-space as opposed to a dedicated vehicle lane. Potentially, when the UPark is gone then the Wilson access could be reconfigured to be off of Pulteney Street north of Centrepoint.

Ideally this would be a precursor to a full pedestrianisation.

I'm a big fan of all of these ideas.