Shopping Hungry
If you haven’t already noticed, times are a changing – including how we are shopping. Nowadays there is an online focus (did someone say ASOS?) and with the ease and convenience making it more accessible to all, this is a growing industry.
This has contributed in part to the demise of the traditional shopping high street… think Oxford Street, Sydney or Chapel Street and Bridge Road in Melbourne. These strips were once bustling fashion hubs and now it’s hard not to notice the vacant shop fronts and for lease signs in the windows.
It’s not just the online shopping, there are parking and traffic issues, high rents and competition from the larger shopping centres and the central city shopping precincts.
A recent article by Milanda Rout in The Australian also highlighted a “reluctance to face economic reality by many involved on the strips and a lack of any coherent plan to adapt to the changing market” as a contributing factor to this so-called demise.
In this regard, Chapel Street is well ahead with the long standing Chapel Street Precinct Association which unites traders and maps their vision going forward. This is supported by Stonnington City Council in planning for the future of these areas and recognising the issues faced through structure planning – Chapel Vision and the recently released Chapel reVision.
However, the Woollahra City Council has recently employed a placemaking consultancy, the Village Well, to save Oxford Street. The Village Well (read more here: http://www.villagewell.org/page/placemaking) is led by Gilbert Rochecouste – an international advisor on building communities and making places. The key points to come out of the assessment for Oxford Street recommend public realm improvements and making the street welcoming, which will require traffic improvements.
Oxford Street itself faces additional constraints; it is split between two local Councils – Woollahra and the City of Sydney (not to mention the State government-owned road) who both have different tactics for jump starting the street. The City of Sydney has gone down the creative avenue – such as offering start-up businesses discounted rent for short-term leases – while Woollahra has focused on more specific planning controls to promote growth.
It seems the solution lies in a combination of factors, but interestingly enough (and it seems obvious now) food will be central to the reactivation of these streets. Rochecouste’s theory is:
“Shoppers, especially Gen Y or millennials, will travel across town for artisan sourdough or a cold-drip coffee or a farmers’ market. Once people eat, they will linger, wander past a fashion boutique, browse in a local bookshop. This has happened on Crown Street, Surry Hills, and on Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, with both considered thriving high streets”.
This has contributed in part to the demise of the traditional shopping high street… think Oxford Street, Sydney or Chapel Street and Bridge Road in Melbourne. These strips were once bustling fashion hubs and now it’s hard not to notice the vacant shop fronts and for lease signs in the windows.
It’s not just the online shopping, there are parking and traffic issues, high rents and competition from the larger shopping centres and the central city shopping precincts.
A recent article by Milanda Rout in The Australian also highlighted a “reluctance to face economic reality by many involved on the strips and a lack of any coherent plan to adapt to the changing market” as a contributing factor to this so-called demise.
In this regard, Chapel Street is well ahead with the long standing Chapel Street Precinct Association which unites traders and maps their vision going forward. This is supported by Stonnington City Council in planning for the future of these areas and recognising the issues faced through structure planning – Chapel Vision and the recently released Chapel reVision.
However, the Woollahra City Council has recently employed a placemaking consultancy, the Village Well, to save Oxford Street. The Village Well (read more here: http://www.villagewell.org/page/placemaking) is led by Gilbert Rochecouste – an international advisor on building communities and making places. The key points to come out of the assessment for Oxford Street recommend public realm improvements and making the street welcoming, which will require traffic improvements.
Oxford Street itself faces additional constraints; it is split between two local Councils – Woollahra and the City of Sydney (not to mention the State government-owned road) who both have different tactics for jump starting the street. The City of Sydney has gone down the creative avenue – such as offering start-up businesses discounted rent for short-term leases – while Woollahra has focused on more specific planning controls to promote growth.
It seems the solution lies in a combination of factors, but interestingly enough (and it seems obvious now) food will be central to the reactivation of these streets. Rochecouste’s theory is:
“Shoppers, especially Gen Y or millennials, will travel across town for artisan sourdough or a cold-drip coffee or a farmers’ market. Once people eat, they will linger, wander past a fashion boutique, browse in a local bookshop. This has happened on Crown Street, Surry Hills, and on Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, with both considered thriving high streets”.
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| Image source: Mary Portas via telegraph.co.uk |
vs.
So watch this space, will there be a revitalisation of the local shopping strip or will the mighty mall continue to dominate?
Which shopping experience do you prefer? Do you like the experience of the high street or do you prefer the convenience of the mall?
Read more here: http://precinctnews.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/oxford-street-seeks-to-reclaim-its-reputation-as-a-lively-hub-of-fashion-food-and-the-arts/
Which shopping experience do you prefer? Do you like the experience of the high street or do you prefer the convenience of the mall?
Read more here: http://precinctnews.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/oxford-street-seeks-to-reclaim-its-reputation-as-a-lively-hub-of-fashion-food-and-the-arts/
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