Justin Smith: Why Melbourne’s once-thriving shopping strips are fighting a losing battle for survival
The depressingly high vacancy rate along Bridge Rd Richmond shows Melbourne’s once-thriving shopping strips are fighting a losing battle for survival.
Across Melbourne, local shopping strips are hanging tinsel, as councils and traders fight their annual skirmish against big shopping centres and online retail.
Sadly, it’s a fight they’ve been losing. And one that points to a far deeper problem of the declining culture of Melbourne’s local shops.
There was a time, and not that long ago, when our strips were full of bookshops, music shops, and plenty of reasons to walk from one end to the other.
But they now seem full of tobacco, massage and $2 reject shops, and far fewer reasons to stroll.
Take Bridge Rd, Richmond.
It was once a lively and groovy spot, but now has a depressingly high vacancy rate despite having everything it needs to thrive: a supermarket, plenty of surrounding homes, and a frequently stopping tram right up the middle.
Yet despite a few great restaurants and cafes, it’s no longer in the groovy category.
On the Bridge Road website, it claims to be “Melbourne’s most iconic dining, retail and lifestyle destination”.
Well, marketing experts will tell you that a flower’s just a weed with an advertising budget.
Sadly, these slogans aren’t keeping the petals on.
“The culture of a strip comes at an organic level,” says town planning expert and former chair of the Building Advisory Council Bill Kusznirczuk.
“It’s like a child – you have to nurture it to help it grow.”
Bridge Rd isn’t alone. Spots like Chapel St, Sydney Rd, Acland St, and Burke Rd are also struggling.
Undoubtedly, Melbourne strips have had a shocker of a time – with high rents, Covid, customers worried about their energy bills, and the scary new outlaw trend of firebombing.
Yet some strips are doing well – like Centre Rd, Bentleigh, where the vacancy rate is just 1 per cent and spirits are high. And not just at Christmas.
But they’re exception, not the norm.
It’s a real shame, because shopping strips set the culture for a suburb, and if it’s all broken windows, graffiti and vacancies, then that’s what the suburb will become.
And it’ll take a miracle to bring it back.
You wonder what these strips will be like in another 20 years.
While Melbourne brags about its big projects, maybe the small ones need a little more love.
So what are the councils’ plans, other than their once-a-year weaponry of trees, tinsel and carols squawking from speakers?
When will they give us back a reason to stroll?
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Originally published as Justin Smith: Why Melbourne’s once-thriving shopping strips are fighting a losing battle for survival
