Janet Collins21st Century Shopping
October 4th 2010 14:14
The New Top Ryde Shopping Complex
If the social researchers have been right in telling us how we are all moving to the convenience of shopping online, then why are so many new shopping complexes shooting up around town?
These new shopping centre hubs are by no means modest. In fact, even “grand” would not explain the new extravagant complexes that have been taking over our suburbs. If these are anything to go by, internet shopping is far from taking over.
Take for example the new multi-complex shopping centre in Ryde, in Sydney’s north-west. What was once a very local shopping centre with fruit and veg outlets, supermarkets and an array of small businesses has now become this huge shopping metropolis, boasting outlets and facilities that will make any of the shopping malls within 8km of them bottle green with envy.
Birkenhead Point, a waterside shopping precinct, not too far away from Ryde has been going under the development knife too. The whole attraction of Birkenhead is that the shops are mostly factory outlets and have been for many years. The Centre, however, became rather tired and old fashioned looking and was far overdue for a makeover. It now too looks like some mega-complex.
And that is just two of them. In Sydney’s CBD, the Centrepoint complex has been under complete redevelopment for nearly two years now and is due to open later this month. Its neighbour, the Imperial Arcade has been having a similar revamp at the same time and along the Pitt Street Mall the not-too-old Skygarden arcade and building has been having a total revamp too.
This huge investment into shopping precincts seems to defy the supposed trend of shopping online. Do we all still want to walk into shops, see the products, see the bargains and, in the case of clothes at least, try them on? Shopping centre developers seem to think so.
Shopping centres and malls have definitely evolved throughout the last few decades. They are no longer just places to shop. They have eateries, cinemas and entertainment. They are places to meet up with friends.
Nevertheless, social commentators have constantly predicted an increasing move to shopping online that would normally have put a stop to such large investments in retail developments. Either the shopping centre developers know something that we don’t or they are just turning a deaf ear on such forecasting.
This surge in shopping centre complexes is happening in other cities around Australia too. Commercial developers, Stockland, only recently opened a new complex in Glen Iris and have moved forward plans to build a 7,087 square metre centre in Melbourne’s outer north at an estimated cost of $40 million.
If we are all so keen to shop online, these new development make no sense at all. They are also coming under a lot of criticism for turning small local shopping centres into major shopping towns. Not only do some of these centres bring enormous amounts of traffic into areas that cannot cope with it all but they take away the local feel and culture of these areas and most residents do not like it.
Are we really moving to shopping online or has it just been some sort of trend that has died? Time can only tell.
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Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
We recently (in the last year) got a mega Stocklands in Brookvale - I love it but the Coles is very expensive
Comment by Janet Collins
Acceptable Etiquette
The Social Critic
Janet Collins Blog
I don't really think we are about to turn our backs on shops and do all our shopping on the internet. Most of us still like to see and feel things - even try them on - before we buy.
Even so, these new shopping megaplexes do seem more than a little over the top, even if they don't have online websites as real competitors.
I know the one at Brookvale. I visited there when it first opened. It is nothing in terms of size to the one at Ryde and I still prefer Warringah Mall to the Stockland one.
Let's just see how they all fare.
Thanks for the comment.
Janet