Today the brand-new Yamanto Central opens its doors with Coles, Kmart and a host of specialty shops ready to serve the Ipswich community. Retail specialist Mainbrace Constructions has delivered the new town centre retail destination ahead of schedule for developer JMK Retail.
Yamanto Central, the new state-of-the-art jewel in the Ipswich retail crown, is set to play a key role in the local community as a place where people can shop, socialise, relax and be entertained.
Anchor retailers, Coles and Kmart will both commence trading today, welcoming shoppers to their stores to take part in their opening celebrations. Other retailers opening include Prouds Jewellers, The Coffee Club, Clear Skincare, Yamanto Central Patisserie, Smoke Mart & GiftBox and Concierge Car Wash.
“We are absolutely delighted to announce the early opening of Yamanto Central; offering the local community a sneak peek into what’s soon to be fully unveiled mid-year at our grand opening,” said Vicki Leavy, JMK Retail’s General Manager. “The centre will be the region’s biggest community hub offering a broad mix of retail outlets as well as a health and wellness precinct and an outdoor dining area that will accommodate up to 300 people.
Yamanto Central will be the region’s biggest community hub offering a broad mix of retail outlets, a health and wellness precinct and an outdoor dining area
“Oddly, COVID has provided us with a novel set of circumstances. It has enabled our team of builders to fast-track development and construct the centre at a cracking pace well ahead of our original schedule. Conversely, smaller non-essential businesses have been forced into a tail-spin, giving them no option but to redirect all of their human resources and efforts towards dealing with COVID related impacts, which has affected their opening progress. Despite all of this, and to everyone’s credit, we’re still on track for our grand opening in mid-2021. Traders that are sufficiently agile will open either on time [today] or progressively over the following weeks leading up to our grand opening,” said Leavy.
“We’re incredibly excited today will see Coles and Kmart fling open their doors to a highly expectant community. Our team of specialist consultants has worked incredibly hard with our national and local businesses to enable them to start swinging their doors open in preparation for our grand opening event,” she added. “In response to the challenges of COVID, we believe the staggered store openings will work well for shoppers, giving them a unique opportunity to engage in a more personalised manner with the early opening of our anchor tenants Coles and Kmart and a handful of specialty stores.
Yamanto Central is expected to set the standard in retail innovation for the region. Coles and Kmart stores will feature some of the retailers’ latest interactive shopping experiences across displays, layout and grocery offerings.
“Coles and Kmart’s doors opened from 7am today,” said Leavy. “Care has been taken to ensure stores and the broader centre offer the highest levels of hygiene and safety possible.
“We know the initial opening is going to be an incredibly exciting yet busy period for the people of Ipswich wanting to visit the centre and to experience a little glimpse of what’s yet to come.
Kmart, Yamanto Central
“Following our early opening today, retailers will open in a progressive manner culminating in our originally planned mid-year grand opening celebration event to officially launch Yamanto Central and open the highly anticipated outdoor dining precinct.”
According to Leavy, Yamanto Central is more than a shopping centre, it’s the well overdue central hub to Yamanto, Southern Ipswich and its surrounding regions, and will offer all the essential services as well as lots of other wonderful outlets and offerings that the community has been crying out for.
“Combine this with the centre’s undercover outdoor dining precinct, we are expecting that Yamanto Central will become one of the leading shopping hubs for Ipswich and the broader community for many years to come,” Leavy added. “The Yamanto Central outdoor dining precinct is one of the key elements of the new centre and it is going to change the way our residents connect, mingle and dine in Ipswich.”
With the first shops at Yamanto Central now open, more retailers will progressively open their doors
In addition to the dining precinct, the centre offers a health and wellness focus. The basement level of the centre will boast a Rackley Swimming centre with learn to swim classes and a Hiit Republic, which will deliver full-body workout classes as well as fitness facilities that offer a complete range of strength and conditioning equipment. Located on level one, Club Lime will offer 24/7 gym access.
“A medical centre along with a pharmacy, supported by many other grocery, fashion and specialty stores will provide the area with the much needed community hub it truly deserves,” concluded Leavy. “We are excited to be opening our doors finally. Everyone is going to love Yamanto Central. We will meet a need across the community that has been under-served for a long time.”
Mainbrace was the Managing Contractor for the new-build centre and the greenfield project included local infrastructure upgrades including new roadworks to ensure safe and easy access.
Yamanto Central is set to play a key role in the local community as a place where people can shop, socialise, relax and be entertained
“Mainbrace has enjoyed being involved in this project from the early conceptual phases through our Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) service. ECI means we were able to work with all project partners from the early design stages to ensure the buildability of the centre’s stunning design, while maximising time and cost efficiencies.
“This early involvement, and the collaborative process that was established, has paid dividends. Yamanto Central has opened ahead of schedule and represents a high-quality outcome for the community,” he said.
Yamanto Central is expected to set the standard in retail innovation for the region
Jim Kelly of JMK Retail said Mainbrace was appointed for its track record in the delivery of large-scale retail projects and understanding of the nuances and dynamics of a retail asset.
“We certainly found that in Mainbrace, and through a successful ECI process, that we now have an early delivery of our centre with a quality that has met our exacting standards,” Kelly said.
“Yamanto Central’s quality and design decisions were strongly influenced by the fact that we are typically long-term owners and it was great to be able to partner with a contractor such as Mainbrace to continually collaborate and achieve these objectives. We are very proud as a family of what has been achieved at Yamanto Central and now are very excited to share this with the community,” he said.
