Vacant shops a sign of strife for Melbourne’s iconic retail strips

Melbourne’s iconic suburban shopping strips like Chapel St and Bridge Rd have been hit with mounting vacancies as traders fear once-thriving retail and restaurant precincts are ‘completely dead’. Here’s what brought on the crisis and ideas floated to fix it.

Melbourne’s once-thriving retail and restaurant strips are “dead”, some traders fear as dozens of shopfronts sit vacant.

A Herald Sun analysis found more than 60 shops, offices and eateries on Chapel St were closed, vacant or for lease last month, with several covered in graffiti and others boarded up.

Almost 50 were closed on Bridge Rd in Richmond — once the city’s premier discount shopping strip — while nearly 20 were shut along Lygon St’s “Little Italy”.

In St Kilda, Acland St had a dozen restaurants, retail and office spaces for lease.

And 21 were vacant, shut or for lease along Glenferrie Rd, between Barkers and Burwood roads, this week.

Businesses along the once-popular strips told the Herald Sun they had been hit by a perfect storm — rising rents, online retail, expensive on-street parking and a trend towards shopping centre Goliaths.

Closed shops along Chapel St.

Shops for lease on Lygon St. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Acland St traders also lambasted the decision to convert the road into a plaza with a super tram stop in 2016.

Le Bon Cakes owner Leon Siapantoas, who has weathered recession and other troughs in his 47 years working on Acland St, said business had never been harder.

“People don’t want to come to Acland St to buy something that they can go to any large shopping centre for,” he said.

“We previously had butcher shops, fish shops, lots of delis, fruit shops, newsagents … but there is no mix anymore.

“I have seen a lot of things happen in the street but I think this is the worst.”

Mr Siapantoas said his rent had more than doubled in the past five years, while Acland St newcomer Nick Andriotakis said there was “no profit anymore”.

Having bought Europa Cake Shop 20 months ago, he is now working more hours to reduce operating costs.

“You’ve still got to use the best ingredients. The only thing you can cut down on is staff,” Mr Andriotakis said.

A woman from Melbourne’s northern suburbs made the trip to Europa Cake Shop last month for her sick elderly father, who fancied the cheesecake he had enjoyed for years.

She bought a whole cake, instead of just a slice.

Vacant shops along Acland St in St Kilda.

Empty shopfronts on Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn

“That is what makes it worth getting up in the morning,” Mr Andriotakis said.

High street businesses know they cannot trade on nostalgia alone, and have banded together in a bid to reactivate the areas.

Acland St traders have bankrolled a temporary ice-skating rink for winter and host a popular car show each Father’s Day.

Acting Port Phillip Mayor Louise Crawford said council had supported businesses by waiving event permit fees, and providing $195,000 a year for marketing and promotion.

“Acland Street tends to attract more visitors over the summer months and, like several other high streets, is subject to the same competition from other offerings and online shopping,” she said.

Lucente Collective boutique on Glenferrie Rd opened an online store to complement its bricks-and-mortar operation last year, with owner Ariadne Bilardi revealing that shoppers treated the store “like a change room”.

“We’ve had customers come in and treat us like a change room,” she said.

“They will come in and try things on, only to leave and order it online.

“We make an effort to support Victorian brands and designers, and I hope customers can appreciate that we give a different customer experience to online, and different products.”

Lord Mayor Sally Capp said Lygon St remained a “profitable business destination”, and would benefit for more pedestrians, not cheaper and more available parking.

Leon Siapantas, from Le Bon Cakes and Nick Andriotakis, from Europa — two of Acland Street’s famous cake shops — are desperate to save the strip. Picture: Andrew Tauber

“As with retail and small businesses across Melbourne, prosperity can and will fluctuate over time due to a range of factors,” she said.

A tax on vacant shopfronts has been floated as a way of penalising landlords for keeping their properties empty and reducing rents.

The state government has established a working group to stimulate Bridge Rd, as it undergoes a major transformation from retail and fashion to restaurants and bars.

Described by Yarra Council has “still full of life”, the Punt Rd end of Bridge Rd has been particularly hard hit by vacancies.

But traders association president Jackson Wade, from restaurant Niche, said the vacancies did not tell the full story.

He said the strip was reinventing its as a restaurant hub and data showed people were parking along the strip for longer.

“They are not spending more time there because they don’t like it — they are finding something to do,” Mr Wade said.

“Main streets have traditionally been cyclical but I think food is popular at the moment.

“It is picking up. I certainly don’t feel as a trader, and I’ve been there for seven years, that it is doom and gloom.”

Small Business Minister Adem Somyurek said the “iconic shopping strips are part of the city’s charm”.

“People understand the benefits of shopping local where possible,” he said.

“We want to see these strips thrive, and we acknowledge the challenges faced by small businesses.

Michael Choucair and his sons Youssef, Jamil and Abraham run Italian restaurant La Spaghetteria which will close next year as Lygon St struggles. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

LYGON ST VETERAN LAMENTS END OF ERA

La Spaghetteria is an old-fashioned place — there’s no Wi-Fi, the tables are covered by red-and-white checkered cloth and cheese is never served on a diner’s dinner.

“It’s not hospital food, it’s home cooking,” owner Michael Choucair said.

“I don’t put parmesan on my pasta because I don’t want to kill the taste of my food.

“If people want to add chilli, they add chilli. If they want to add salt, they add salt. If they want to add pepper, they add pepper.”

Mr Choucair has owned the Lygon St restaurant for about 20 years, but has worked at eateries along “Little Italy” since 1973.

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He talks of the “olden days”, when cars and customers whizzed by.

But the downturn will force him and his sons — pizzamaker Youssef, restaurant manager Jamil and barman Abuz (above) — out of business when their lease expires next year.

“I have that old mentality — I can’t do it any more so I’ll pass it to my son,” he told the Herald Sun.

“But we can’t do that now. It’s dead, it’s completely dead.

“The council won’t advertise, the economy is no good and the landlords put the rent up.

“How are people going to survive? It is too expensive to run a business here.”

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@moniquehore