Evolving nature of shopping centres

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As shopping centres evolve, they are increasingly becoming public spaces for their communities.

More recently, UK department store Debenhams made its debut in Australia with the opening of a new store in Melbourne’s CBD in October. The small format department store is located within the St Collins Lane development and its format differs from traditional department stores Myer and David Jones, with a smaller store area of 3,000sqm and significantly smaller area than the average UK store size of approximately 7,000sqm.

Retailers and owners are responding to the changing retailing climate by reducing traditional department store footprints and introducing in store experiences like style suites, beauty rooms and cafes. Upon completion, the redevelopment of Vicinity’s The Glen in Melbourne’s south east will see David Jones reduce their tenancy area, whilst the redevelopment of QIC’s Eastland in Melbourne’s east introduced a small format David Jones with an area of 11,000sqm, predominantly focusing on fashion and beauty products.

Owners are allocating more space to community and event uses, replacing traditional kiosk and dead mall space with themed spaces creating an immersive and extended customer experience, curating truly ‘free’ community spaces to interact with friends and family. Owners are also evolving new revenue streams and remodelling traditional revenue streams to complement existing retail, increase dwell times and drive incremental sales.

As shopping centres evolve, they are increasingly becoming public spaces for their communities. The curation of truly ‘free’ spaces within shopping centres is replicating public spaces where people can stop, relax, meet and do activities…

See the full article on Estelle’s LinkedIn.