Brisbane Retail Will Return To Pedestrian Hubs, Says Expert Connection with the community and the development of "eat streets" are among the secrets to prosperity in Brisbane's retail sector, according to an industry white paper. The document shows a revival of the CBD and Fortitude Valley will time warp Brisbane back to a period before cars dominated suburban mega-malls. The Evolution of Brisbane Retailing, from property company Jones Lang LaSalle, also shows how different Brisbane's retail make-up is from that of other Australian capitals, and why it will remain unique. According to lead author, the director of research and consulting, Leigh Warner, the present retail environment owes its development to the evolving transport habits of shoppers. Suburban retail began in the 1800s with general shops that grew up along transport routes. "In an era before refrigeration and motor vehicles, it was important to ensure stores were located in close walking distance to where people lived," Mr Warner said. These stores sold just about everything residents needed, including farming tools and grocery items. Importantly, the stores not only provided the necessities for daily life but acted as a meeting place for the local community. But this all changed with the construction of the tram system, which operated between 1885 and 1969 and was instrumental in guiding the retail evolution, Mr Warner said. Initially, the tram system ran along the major transport routes and serviced the immediate inner suburban areas. However, the network grew extensively through the 1920s and, by the 1960s, it was a fairly extensive network. For this reason, the CBD and Fortitude Valley remained the city's main shopping destinations until the 1960s, with each precinct home to several big department stores. That was until the general manager of one of the department stores, Thomas Weedman from Allen and Stark, was responsible for the declining prominence of retail in the city's heart, Mr Warner said. "Weedman saw first-hand how car ownership was having a profound impact on the retail industry and, more importantly, how it was changing consumer behaviour and shopping habits," he said. It led to the store's purchase in 1955 of an 11.8 hectare block of land in Chermside and the development of Australia's first drive-in shopping centre. Urban sprawl, Brisbane's warm weather and the growing car culture meant the growth of shopping centres over the next few decades was "extraordinarily strong," Mr Warner said. In recent years, the arrival of the internet and changes in urban densities have influenced the dominance of suburban malls, though last year the Brisbane retail market was still very centre based and car focused. "The market is dominated by seven super or major regional centres across the city," Mr Warner said. The structural change in retailing and the explosion of shopping centre-based retail had profound impacts on CBD retailing and particularly on retailing in Fortitude Valley. Those centres were now due for a renaissance, Mr Warner said. The research shows there's more space for strip shopping in some suburban areas, such as James Street, Fortitude Valley, Grey Street South Bank, Oxford Street Bulimba and Rosalie Village. "While we expect fashion-based strip retailing to largely remain in decline, as incomes rise and gentrification continues to spread from the inner suburbs to the middle-ring suburbs, we think there is significant scope for more successful 'eat streets' to emerge," Mr Warner said. While there is scope for these to be supported by other high-end retailing, we think the foundation of success for these precincts will remain strong, independent restaurant and cafe operators that act as an anchor. But success will also be determined by changes in tenancy mix to reflect new service expectations, and a more culturally diverse, older consumer base, and the rationalisation of shop networks as technology continues to advance. "Connecting with the surrounding physical environment has also been a common theme of recent US retail development of merging 'malls and main streets'," Mr Warner said. By creating a seamless transition between the two, the theory is that you are leveraging the advantages of both the mall and high-street retailing and bringing them together to complement each other and broaden the target market.