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Drones deliver from roof of Queensland shopping centre in world first
By Stuart Layt
Drones will soon fly out goods from the roof of a south-east Queensland shopping centre, in what drone delivery company Wing says is a major step towards expanding outside the region.
Wing, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, will set up a hub on the roof of Grand Plaza shopping centre in Logan City.
Delivery drones will operate off the roof of the Grand Plaza shopping centre in Logan.Credit: Wing
For two years Wing has expanded in the area, eventually making tens of thousands of deliveries to thousands of residents across dozens of Logan suburbs.
Wing spokesman Jesse Suskin said the deal to operate off the roof of Grand Plaza was a world first for drone delivery.
“This is a major shopping centre with over 100 stores … it opens up our opportunity to work with a range of different businesses for items they might not have been able to deliver before,” Mr Suskin said.
The Terry White chemist in Grand Plaza has just signed on to deliver small items to Logan residents using Wing’s delivery drones.Credit: Wing
The site has been tested over the past fortnight, with 2500 deliveries sent from the Sushi Hub, Boost Juice, and Chatime outlets in the centre.
From Thursday, the centre’s Terry White chemist will begin using the drones to deliver small items to nearby suburbs.
Until now, Wing’s model had been to get participating vendors to supply them with stock which would be kept at a central warehouse where the drones were loaded.
Grand Plaza is owned and operated by Vicinity Centres, which has one of the largest shopping centre portfolios in the country, and Mr Suskin said there was “great enthusiasm” from Wing and Vicinity to expand that partnership.
“[Vicinity] are very future-looking, so we’ve had those conversations with them,” he said.
The Wing drones can carry a cargo of a few kilograms, and up until now had transported items from coffee to snacks and even hardware such as nails or screws.
Being based at a shopping centre would open the service up to a wider variety of shops, and Mr Suskin said they were keen to work with more vendors at the centre.
A series of delivery apps have gained a foothold in the Australian market in recent years, all using more traditional forms of delivery such as cars and bikes.
Mr Suskin said Wing was trying to fill a different niche in delivery services.
“Boost Juice is a great example - you might not want to order that by delivery if it’s going to sit in a car for several kilometres, but the way we operate it’s now possible,” he said.
“And for items like hardware and now chemist items, they aren’t really covered by the current delivery services, but we can offer that service.”
Wing delivered to 19 suburbs in Logan with a combined population of more than 110,000 people, and the new deal with Grand Plaza would allow it to expand further, Mr Suskin said.
Logan is the company’s most successful site worldwide, with the company earlier this year dubbing the city the “done delivery capital of the world” after it passed 50,000 deliveries in 2021.