Shoppers and visitors are returning to the Adelaide CBD, with spending up, dwell time increasing, and major brands investing in Rundle Mall, Australia’s retail precinct of the year.
The outdoor pedestrian mall, located in the heart of the CBD and on the doorstep of major cultural attractions, has found its post-pandemic prime as South Australians and interstate tourists find a new normal.
For brands considering entering the South Australian market, Rundle Mall offers a significant opportunity to capitalise on the Adelaide CBD’s momentum, says Andrew White, executive manager, Rundle Mall at the Adelaide Economic Development Agency (AEDA), which manages the shopping and lifestyle precinct.
“Dwell times are up 14 per cent compared to the same time last year, and SA’s retail spending is growing faster than anywhere else, reaching $2.1 billion in May,” says White.
Some of Australia and the world’s biggest brands are benefiting from Rundle Mall’s uplift after investing millions in new stores this year:
- Rebel opened its first CBD flagship – a new Customer Experience concept store.
- Dymocks refurbished the iconic Regent Theatre into a new 1000sqm flagship.
- QBD Books opened its first Rundle Mall store and largest nationally.
- Fashion, street and sportswear retailer Glue Store chose Rundle Mall as the location for its first South Australian store.
- Japanese fashion brand Uniqlo will open its first South Australian store in Rundle Mall by year’s end.
- Britain’s JD Sports will soon open a CBD flagship store.
They’ll join more than 700 retailers and 300 services that already stretch the 520m-long Rundle Mall precinct. These include well-known brands H&M, Sephora, Mecca, Tiffany & Co, Apple, Nike, Adidas, along with Myer, David Jones and Kmart.
White says interest levels in Rundle Mall tenancies is running high, with vacancy rates dropping to the lowest levels since 2019.
To further drive visitation, he says the AEDA team is planning a range of pop-up experiences, activations and events including a spring fashion festival, citywide wellbeing festival WellFest, and Black Friday and Christmas shopping events.
Rundle Mall’s resurgence reflects wider city economic growth and investment attraction led by AEDA, a subsidiary of the City of Adelaide.
AEDA MD Ian Hill says the agency is working to bring more city workers, residents and visitors to retailers’ doors.
“Developments valued at more than $540 million have just been completed or are already underway across the precinct, including a Charter Hall office tower to accommodate 3500 city workers, a major shopping centre refurbishment, and the Switch apartment complex for international university students,” he said.
“The city economy is also rebounding strongly from the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, with record tourist numbers pushing Adelaide’s hotel occupancy near pre-pandemic levels. Adelaide’s 79 per cent hotel occupancy rate outperforms the nation, while visitor spending in the city reached $326.5 million in April, up 43 per cent from 2019.
“With more than 100 cruises scheduled for Adelaide stopovers during the 2022/23 season, we expect tens of thousands of tourists to visit the CBD and further boost spending in Rundle Mall.”
Find out more by contacting Andrew White: a.white@aedasa.com.au, tel: (08) 8203 7140, or visit www.rundlemall.com/for-business.
