Rundle Street’s vacancy rate has risen above 10 per cent, reflecting pressures facing retailers across Australia, including cost-of-living challenges, changing consumer behaviour and the continued growth of online shopping. Several long-standing businesses have closed or relocated, contributing to the current level of empty shopfronts.
However, Maras Group chief executive Steve Maras, believes the vacancies of one of Adelaide’s most iconic shopping strips, are largely part of the natural turnover that occurs within retail precincts.
According to The Advertiser, he put the vacancies down to the “The transient nature of particular retail.”
He points to a pipeline of investment and redevelopment activity that is expected to strengthen the East End over the coming years. Maras Group, one of the largest property owners on Rundle Street, is actively reinvesting in its assets, including refurbishing former hospitality sites for new operators.
“Some of this is the function of cost of living, but there’s a lot of things that are happening that mean we’re going to see these places full in the not too distant future.”
Source: The Advertiser
