The Brisbane City Council’s proposed town planning changes for Fortitude Valley prompt discussion on wider issues. Robert Allen, historian focused on Fortitude Valley, explores some home truths and asks some hard questions about the area’s retail future.
Fortitude Valley is at a retail crossroads. On paper it seems an ideal place for businesses to invest: a short distance from the CBD, a growing residential population, extensive bus and rail links, and close proximity to several proposed 2032 Olympic venues.
The reality is far different. The recent relocation of Oxlades Art Supplies after more than a hundred years on Wickham Street and the closure of the 5 Dogs hotdog store in the Brunswick Street Mall may seem unrelated events, but they are part of a familiar pattern. Declining foot traffic, a lack of short term parking and high retail rents are just some of the reasons cited by business owners when asked why they are leaving the area.
The problem is that the Valley has a two speed economy. At night, it is a hive of activity as thousands pour into the suburb to fill its music, dance and food venues. During the day, however, its mostly empty, except for the noise of traffic passing through on the Valley’s one way streets.
The McWhirter’s retail space, which promised so much when it was announced in 1989, has been an eyesore for years, with numerous vacant shops for sale or lease and an escalator that has been in pieces so long I doubt even air crash investigators could reassemble it.
Coffee shops generally close by 2 pm and many restaurants don’t open before 5 pm, leaving only fast food chains, convenience stores, tobacconists and op shops to fill the daytime retail void.
The Chinatown Mall in Duncan Street is often deserted during the day, despite occasional Council efforts to ‘revitalise’ the space. Home to a host of Chinese businesses when it opened 39 years ago, so many have since relocated to the suburbs that it arguably remains a Chinatown in name only.
Perhaps the best illustration of the Valley’s retail stasis is the site of the former Rex Cinema in Wickham Street, which showed its last movie in 1973, was demolished in 1981 and has remained a hole in the ground ever since.
Yes, there are pockets of retail activity around some commercial hubs. These include 31 Duncan Street, which is the headquarters of Urban Utilities and other energy companies, and the T.C. Beirne Precinct, with its mix of companies and small business start ups. Woolworths Metro and other businesses surrounding the Valley railway station do a good trade during peak commute times, but are often quiet in between.
During six years living in the heart of the Valley, I witnessed large daytime crowds on only a handful of occasions, usually during Lunar New Year celebrations or the annual Big Sound music festival.
So where is the future retail vision for the Valley? Our civic authorities have shown in the past that they can lead and influence change when they want to. Urban renewal policies saw the old Sun Newspaper and McWhirter’s buildings become residential units, while designating the Valley as an entertainment precinct has encouraged more live music venues, the Fortitude Music Hall being the most recent example.
The development of Green Square on the Valley’s north west edge depended on the relocation of Council workers from the CBD and previous State Government incentives for call centres to relocate bore some fruit.
But apart from the periodic mall ‘activations’ funded by Council, most of these planning and policy initiatives happened some time ago. In the absence of an overarching retail vision for the Valley, business owners have been left to pick up the slack. The Apostolos family have developed and manage three laneways in the Valley which provide small and medium sized spaces for an eclectic range of food, drink and retail venues.
Netherworld, which began life as the Shamrock Hotel a century and a half ago, has reinvented itself as a venue offering craft beers, pinball machines and karaoke rooms to a loyal and diverse crowd.
Brooke Bellamy’s Brooki Bakehouse in Marshall Street has developed a strong local following since it opened in 2022 and has since expanded to other locations.
And some venues such as Gung Ho! Dumpling in Ann Street offers weekday meal deals to local workers seeking a cheap and quick lunch time option.
Each of these initiatives are examples where businesses have taken a leap of faith that customers will come during the day, not just at night.
Unfortunately our civic leaders have placed all their eggs in the “nighttime economy” basket.
When The Zoo closed in 2024 after 32 years on Ann Street, it prompted the previous State Government to appoint John ‘JC’ Collins as an official Night Life Commissioner to investigate how our nighttime economy could be improved.
Businesses which rely on the Valley’s daytime trade could be forgiven for asking where their Day Time Economy Commissioner is.
There is no quick fix to the Valley’s daytime retail woes. Those advocating for a return of the trams or large department stores are pining for an era long gone. The Council, the State Government and those who advise them need to research who come to the Valley to live, work or shop and who don’t; how our historic buildings can be preserved and repurposed; how traffic flow and parking can be improved; how we can beautify our footpaths and open spaces; and how our existing public transport networks and fifty cent fares can be better leveraged.
Allowing more vertical development is only part of the solution. Focusing solely on increasing accommodation runs the risk of the Valley becoming just another dormitory high rise housing precinct serviced by the same generic cafes, convenience stores and gyms as we see elsewhere in Brisbane.
The Valley has had to reinvent itself every few decades. After 50 years as a retail shopping hub, it survived the coming of the car and the population and retail drift to the outer suburbs long enough for its heritage to be rediscovered and for it to become a new centre for music, food and culture. But the Valley’s renewal is only half complete.
I love walking around the Valley during the day. I love its history, its quirkiness and its characters. I love the fact that nowhere else in Brisbane is like it. And my biggest fear it that by the time we host the Olympics in six years time it will look just like everywhere else.
Have your say – email [email protected]
