Miami Marketta to expand plans for live music on Gold Coast

THE founders of Miami Marketta are ready for bigger and better things with plans to expand the night markets into a live music venue. Here’s why.

The iconic Miami Marketta.

A NIGHT market boom on the Gold Coast has forced the owners of the original venue to expand their offering into a fully soundproofed live music hub.

Miami Marketta was the first street food venue to open on the Gold Coast in 2011, and in the past six years the trend has grown.

Creative director Emma Milikins said night markets were becoming so popular Miami Marketta had to think “outside the box” to continue to grow.

“It’s a trend that we’ve seen replicated throughout the Coast, but personally it’s ... a bit boring now — it’s not new,” Ms Milikins said.

Miami Marketta, and other night markets, sell homewares.

“The oversaturation (of night markets) is kind of killing the business.”

She said her creative team had begun working on a new project more than a year ago, when they lodge a development application with council for a large expansion.

The revamped venue, expected to open mid next-year, will increase the live music space to 3100 sqm, will be 100 per cent sound proof, will have a capacity of 800 people and will include 17 new market stalls.

“We will be open to every genre, even thrash and metal ... They have a dedicated fan base that will travel up to Brisbane because they can’t perform on the Gold Coast.

“So (we could host) anything from Angus and Julia Stone to Suicidal Tendencies.”

Ms Milikins said they would also be able to host theatre performances, weddings and other events.

Miami Marketta has been around since 2011.

One special event per month will also be permitted in the venue on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

NightQuarter at Helensvale is another success story of the night markets, an application was recently approved for a Burleigh venue, while smaller pop-up markets are held in Robina and Mermaid Beach.

Marketing expert, Professor Stephen Holden, said it was a growing trend.

“We’re seeing them pop up everywhere, so it looks like a trend has begun ... it’s certainly popular,” he said.

“People like to go to somewhere with multiple food choices, this has always been sought out by customers.

“People are looking for community beyond malls, which are a bit soulless frankly.”

NightQuarter has been a hit since it opened its doors.

Prof Holden said customers were also increasingly looking for more local businesses to use as opposed to franchises.

He said food operators especially could take advantage of the night market set-up because the events attracted a greater number of people than a lone business away from other food retailers.

“When people stop to eat, it makes sense to gather with other food outlets because it attracts a bunch of customers to dinner and they’re in a for a bigger share of (business),” he said.

NightQuarter founder Michelle Cristoe said the Helensvale attraction was based on the Asian and European markets, where they “literally create a festival every night.”

“It is a global trend where people can enjoy being outdoors at night,” she said.

“When we look at the lifestyle in Australia, that’s why it resonates well with that.

“Part of the reason we created (the NightQuarter) was because we didn’t see many safe communal spaces.”