One in five shops along Melbourne St, North Adelaide, vacant, with high rent, parking and online retail blamed
HIGH rents and online stores are being blamed for a swath of empty shops along a once-bustling, high-profile retail strip, traders and councillors say.
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HIGH rents and online stores are being blamed for a swath of empty shops along the once-bustling Melbourne St, traders and city councillors say.
A survey last week of City North Messenger found that almost one in five shops on Melbourne St were vacant, or 17 out of 88.
There were nine shops out of 95 empty along O’Connell St last week.
Di Gianni hair, which is on Melbourne St, owner Tony Primaro said other business on the strip were worried about the vacant shops.
“Less shops means there is less people walking around,” Mr Primaro said. “You need that foot traffic to attract new people to the street.
“People want to go shopping were there is a variety of shops, not just a few of the same.”
Mr Primaro said the main issues were high rent and limited parking.
“At the end of the day it comes down to rent being too high,” he said.
“From a council perspective, you need to fix parking to allow more people in the area. The internet has also killed a lot of the smaller businesses.”
Gerald Matthews, whose family architecture firm has been based in Melbourne St for the past 40 years, said shopfronts were in transition.
“Melbourne St has gone through plenty of cycles over my career,” Mr Matthews said.
“It’s become restaurants and cafes after it there was once a lot service-based stores like music recording studios.
Every time there is a transition there is a lull in between. I think what we’re seeing now is a transitioning from one thing to another. We just don’t know what the new thing is yet.”
Adelaide City Councillor Phil Martin said he knew of several businesses “on the verge of walking away” because rent was too high.
“Some landlords might be able to justify high rent in good times,” Cr Martin said.
“But in the other times, such as now, they need to be realistic. I cannot believe any landlord would be happy to have an empty property.”
Cr Martin said he would work with other councillors and the North Adelaide Precinct Association early next year to address the vacancy rates.
“We need to find a way to attract businesses back to North Adelaide,” he says. “It’s hard to stimulate foot traffic when retail offer is ever decreasing.
A report released by Adelaide City Council in March found that Melbourne St had failed to capitalise on more activity in the CBD over recent years.
In contrast, events at Adelaide Oval, talk of development on the long-vacant former Le Cornu site as well as the prospect of a tram line extension connecting North Adelaide with the CBD has helped buoyed O’Connell St.
Results of a community survey of 100 people, printed in a section of the report, showed a fifth of respondents would not recommend Melbourne St to friends or business contacts.
Earlier this year, City North Messenger reported a vacancy rise in the southern end of O’Connell St, with as many as six of the 13 shops available.
That figure has since dropped to four, but still makes up almost half of the vacancies along the thoroughfare.