Fitzroys Market Report - Melbourne CBD

Collins Street EAST Swanston St - Spring St

2.5%

The city’s famed “Paris end” – at the heart of the “East end” – is home to luxury heavy hitters such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Cartier and others. Most recently it has attracted high-end skincare brand Aesop within the George’s Building and jewellers Swarovski. The east end of Collins Street recorded the lowest vacancy rate of any of the CBD precincts at just 2.47%, with specialty retail accounting for 68% of shops and high-end retail managing very well throughout the pandemic. The Town Hall station, at the corner of Swanston Street, will bring further pedestrian traffic in the years to come.

COLLINS STREET (EAST)

Collins Street WEST Spencer St - Swanston St

Includes: Bank Pl

17.8%

The office core of the CBD has shifted westwards with developments such as Collins Arch and Olderfleet reaching completion in the past few years. The steady return of workers to the office will further underpin the even mix of service, specialty and food and beverage retail in this part of the thoroughfare. New entrants include Italian food hall Mercato Centrale in the McPherson’s Building for its debut outside of Italy, fine dining restaurant Freyja, and the new Cosentino showroom that will attract architects and design professionals. The Swanston Street end of this stretch offers Tiffany & Co and Burberry, while the InterContinental Hotel is a dominant feature further west.

COLLINS STREET (WEST)

Elizabeth Street

Flinders St – La Trobe St 22.1%

Elizabeth Street, forming the busy trail to Flinders Street Station, recorded the highest vacancy rate of the precincts survey, with more than one in five shops vacant. EB Games has just moved its flagship store to 48 Elizabeth Street, while ACNE Studios has moved into The Strand and Rozzi’s will add to the food and beverage offering. The ongoing return of international students into 2023 – boosted by the opening of China’s borders – will help support the northern end, which has developed a varied hospitality offering that caters to the international students that attend and live around University of Melbourne and RMIT in particular. Rents have come back along Elizabeth Street and spaces whose owners are willing to meet the market are being leased out.