In the heart of Adelaide is Rundle Mall, a place like no other. It’s the only shopping precinct in the city’s CBD, the largest outdoor Mall in the Southern Hemisphere and the number one destination for visitors to the city.

The 520-metre-long pedestrian Mall is managed by the Adelaide Economic Development Agency (AEDA), a subsidiary of the City of Adelaide, creating a unique operating model in the Australian retail sector.

AEDA is the custodian of Rundle Mall, working with property owners to optimise the tenancy mix, deliver initiatives that drive economic outcomes for the mall’s diverse stakeholders and market the precinct within the state and nationwide.

Rundle Mall is the true epicentre of retail in the country’s best-performing economy. With more than 54 million visitors each year, more than double that of Chadstone Shopping Centre and more than South Australia’s three Westfield shopping centres combined, it attracts some $1.42 billion in spending annually, which is 57 per cent of all transactions in the city.

Key to driving the economic outcomes for the Mall’s 700 retailers, 300 services and diverse stakeholders is a jam-packed calendar of more than 400 unmissable cultural experiences and incredible, unexpected activations throughout the year.

“We are putting a real focus on staging and hosting events, festivals and experiential activations that can only be found in Rundle Mall to surprise and delight shoppers and visitors,” says Andrew White, executive manager of Rundle Mall with the Adelaide Economic Development Agency.

“People come to Rundle Mall to shop, and they know us for that, but that’s just the beginning. Every visit is an opportunity to explore something new, soak up the atmosphere and create memories.

“When brands visit us from interstate, they’re astounded by the sheer size and scale of the mall and its unique place in the heart of the city. It’s vibrant and it’s alive, and it has an identity and atmosphere unlike anything else you’ll experience in any Australian city or suburb.” 

Following a record-breaking year for Rundle Mall, AEDA has recapped the highlights of the shopping strip’s events calendar and the benefits they offer retailers, stakeholders and customers.

MallFest

For five weeks every February through March, Adelaide Fringe rolls into town, the world’s second-largest arts festival. MallFest, now in its third year, is Rundle Mall’s response – a curated entertainment program bringing the fun and frivolity of the fringe into the shopping strip, with live street performers, DJs, bars and food.

“The additional foot traffic the fringe brings to Rundle Mall creates a significant economic opportunity for retailers to capitalise on”, White says, which led to AEDA seeking a trading hours exemption from the State Government. With an extra hour of shopping until 6pm granted each Saturday through festival season, visitation to Rundle Mall was up 22 per cent last year, compared to the 12-month average for Saturdays, while spending grew 18 per cent.

AFL Gather Round

In collaboration with AFL, Rundle Mall hosted the Mini Live Site for last year’s Gather Round. This created a hub of activity and entertainment in the shopping strip, just 1km from Adelaide Oval where four of the nine matches were played. With football-themed activations, pop-up stores, live entertainment, extended trading hours and immersive fan experiences, it brought football’s gameday atmosphere into the city, engaged visitors, and positioned Rundle Mall as a major destination for AFL fans – 40,000 of which travelled from interstate.

Urban Kitchen

Rundle Mall’s Urban Kitchen gave shoppers and visitors a taste of the state’s finest produce during last year’s Tasting Australia. “There is growing demand for more food and wine experiences and we recognised that we need to reposition the mall as not just a retail precinct but a lifestyle destination,” says White.

Held under the Mall’s Gawler Place Canopy over 10 days during the South Australian Tourism Commission’s annual food and drinks festival, Urban Kitchen saw AEDA stage nearly 40 live cooking demonstrations and masterclasses in collaboration with 20 brands and partners, including Myer, David Jones, Riedel, Penfolds Wines and Koko Black.

The 10-day long activation was both a commercial and experiential success, driving foot traffic (opening day was the Mall’s busiest for the entire month), boosting sales (spending increased 7 per cent compared to the same period in the year prior), and building strong connections between consumers and the participating brands.

ADL Fashion Week

An annual celebration of fashion in Adelaide, ADL Fashion Week (AFW) “reinforces Rundle Mall’s position as South Australia’s home of fashion and provides tangible benefits for retailers”, White says. AFW, held over three days each October, offers a packed program of unique experiences, innovative activations and brand collaborations, along with shopping offers, prizes and in-store events.

Jardin de Mall, a never-before-seen Parisian Garden created on Rundle Mall, played host to AFW’s shop and win promotion and helped drive an average spend of $343 per customer. Across the three days, AFW brought in $5.9 million in sales for Rundle Mall’s retailers in 2024, an increase of 43 per cent on the year before.

Black Friday & Christmas

Growing exponentially, Black Friday has surpassed Boxing Day as Rundle Mall’s biggest sales event of the year. “Black Friday in Rundle Mall is an unrivalled shopping experience that delivers significant economic benefits to retailers,” White says.

While stores trade until midnight on Friday, the sales event extends across the weekend and is supported by the Rundle Mall Concierge, an AEDA activation offering a complimentary bag drop service, a licensed bar, DJs, and chauffeured golf buggy rides around the precinct.

With no other major shopping precinct in the CBD, Rundle Mall’s Black Friday helped inject $23.5 million into the city’s economy – a record for a single day, which was later broken on Friday December 20, when Rundle Mall’s second day of midnight trading before Christmas propelled city spending to nearly $25 million. AEDA’s data shows 250,000 people visited Rundle Mall on Black Friday – 41 per cent more than the 12-month average for Fridays, and 4.9 million people throughout December. 

• For more information about Rundle Mall and the opportunities available to brands and businesses, visit the mall’s website.