Rundle Mall – Australia’s retail precinct of the year – offers a significant opportunity for national and international brands looking to enter or expand in the South Australian market.
Visitation is increasing and spending is strong as shoppers and visitors return to the Adelaide CBD in large numbers and the state’s premier retail precinct finds its post-pandemic prime.
An influx of major retailers are capitalising on the city centre’s momentum, says Andrew White, Executive Manager, Rundle Mall at the Adelaide Economic Development Agency (AEDA) which manages the shopping and lifestyle precinct.
“Some of Australia and the world’s biggest brands are investing heavily in Rundle Mall with new stores and exciting concepts,” White says.
“These store openings are contributing to ongoing growth in visitation and strong spending. Total foot traffic in July was up 10% compared to the same time last year and 8% on the month prior, while the month’s total passer-by traffic was up 44% on the same time last year.
“Meanwhile, overall spending in the city is strong, reaching $342 million in June, up 7% on the same month in 2021.”
Some of the world’s biggest brands are investing heavily in Rundle Mall
Brands investing millions of dollars in new Rundle Mall stores include:
- Japanese fashion brand Uniqlo is on track to open its first South Australian store in Rundle Mall by year’s end
- JD Sports opened its new CBD flagship store last month, with more than 500 shoppers queueing overnight and from early morning to be the first to shop its exclusive range of sneakers
- Fashion, street and sportswear retailer Glue Store chose Rundle Mall as the location for its first South Australian store which recently opened to much fanfare
- Rebel opened its first CBD-based new Customer Experience (rCX) concept store in the Precinct
- Dymocks refurbished the iconic Regent Theatre into a new 1000m2 flagship that quickly became one of its best-performing stores in the nation
- QBD Books opened its first Rundle Mall store, it’s largest nationally
They join more than 700 retailers and 300 services that span the 520-metre-long Rundle Mall precinct, including well-known brands H&M, Sephora, MECCA, Tiffany & Co, Apple, Nike, and adidas, along with major department stores Myer, David Jones and Kmart.
White says interest in Rundle Mall tenancies was running high, with vacancy rates dropping to record low levels.
Rundle Mall has ‘extremely tight’ vacancy at just 4.1%, which is the lowest in the country, according to CBRE’s latest H1 2022 data.
“These vacancy rates sees Rundle Mall performing well ahead of other shopping strips, including those in Sydney and Melbourne that are averaging 6.3% and 16.3% respectively,” White says.
“Retailers such as Foot Locker and Bailey Nelson are staying in Rundle Mall but moving to new shopfronts to expand their footprint and offer exciting new customer experiences, helping keep vacancies tight.”
To further drive visitation, the Adelaide Economic Development Agency is planning a range of pop-up experiences, activations and events including the city’s newest fashion event, citywide wellbeing festival WellFest Adelaide, and Black Friday, Christmas shopping and Boxing Day sales events.
Rundle Mall is the premier shopping, tourist precinct and meeting place in South Australia
Rundle Mall’s resurgence reflects wider city economic growth and investment attraction led by AEDA, a subsidiary of the City of Adelaide.
AEDA Managing Director, Ian Hill, says the agency is working to bring more city workers, residents, and interstate and international visitors to retailers’ doors.
“More than $540 million worth of developments have just been completed or are underway across Rundle Mall and Adelaide’s CBD,” he says.
“This includes a Charter Hall office tower to accommodate 3,500 city workers, a major refurbishment of the City Cross shopping centre, and the Switch apartment complex for international students.
“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.
“With more than 100 cruise ships scheduled for Adelaide stopovers during the 2022/23 season, and Adelaide Airport’s domestic travel reaching more than 90% of pre-pandemic levels by the end of last financial year, we expect tens of thousands of tourists to visit the CBD and further boost spending in Rundle Mall,” said Hill.
Rundle Mall is an outdoor pedestrian mall located in the heart of Adelaide’s CBD and on the doorstep of major cultural attractions including the SA Museum, Art Gallery of SA and university campuses.
Find out more about Rundle Mall by contacting Andrew White, AEDA’s Executive Manager, Rundle Mall, on a.white@aedasa.com.au or (08) 8203 7140, or visit rundlemall.com/for-business
