SYDNEY SHOPPING CENTRES: Opening of Macquarie Centre (1981)

 

Source: Macquarie Centre. 1981. "Macquarie Centre Now Open" (Advertisement). The Sydney Morning Herald, November 17: 15. 

On Wednesday (17 November), Macquarie Centre will celebrate forty years of trading. After a decade of planning and two years of construction, the centre was opened by NSW Premier Neville Wran on 17 November 1981.

Last week, I focused on Grace Bros' plans for the centre and its attempt to seek approval to build their centre. This week, as promised, I would share promotional content from various newspapers.

Key Facts at opening

• Approximately 145 retailers
• 3750 car parking spaces
• Grace Bros, Woolworths and BigW were the major tenants
• The first ice-rink to operate in a shopping centre in Australia and can be covered to accommodate other uses such as tennis and ballet. 

The Sun featured a centre directory including maps to aid shoppers navigating the complex.

 

The Sydney Morning Herald (November 17, 1981) published this sectional view to show how it stepped up.

           

Source. Anon. 1981. “Macquarie Centre Sectional View: Looking West. Image. The Sydney Morning Herald, November 17: 13.

Below is a Grace Bros advertisement to promote their new store.

 

Source: Grace Bros. 1981. “Grace Bros at Macquarie: Opens Today - Styled For The Year “2001”” (Advertisement). The Sydney Morning Herald, November 17: 16-17. 

Below are some selected features from the newspaper supplements.

The Daily Mirror (16 November 1981)

The Sun (16 November 1981)

The Sydney Morning Herald (17 November 1981)

 

 

The centre forty years later

COVID-19 restrictions in recent months have made it difficult for any Sydneysider to travel around our great city and hopefully in 2022, can do a follow up post on the centre today by visiting the centre in person. I have not visited the centre since 2017 when I went there for lunch.  Photography of the centre will pose a challenge, especially internal shots. 

  

SYDNEY SHOPPING CENTRES: The Conception of Macquarie Centre (1968)

Sourced from: Anon. 1969. "100 Super Shops: Grace Bros $12 mill complex".  The Daily Mirror, November 6: 2. 

Next week, I will do a special entry to focus on the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Macquarie Centre at North Ryde which will feature content from newspaper supplements that were published in 1981 to promote the opening of the shopping centre.

Ahead of next week, I share two newspaper articles from May 1968 when Grace Bros announced they had acquired 16 hectares of land in the area with the intention of building a regional shopping centre, and was seeking approval from Ryde Council to build the centre.

The Daily Telegraph (May 15, 1968) reported that the centre would be entirely "under-cover" unlike Roselands which they had built three years earlier with 600 000 square feet of retail space, containing 100 stores anchored by Grace Bros. If approved, the centre would open to shoppers by 1971 (Had this happened, I would be writing an entry celebrating 50 years of trade instead this year).

 

Source: Anon. 1968. "$12m. Shopping Centre Plan". The Daily Telegraph, May 15: 13.  

The Sun (May 15, 1968) in addition to the above reported that the centre would act as a "cultural centre" integrating itself with Macquarie University, which was located directly opposite the proposed centre but also for the northern suburbs.  

Source: Anon. 1968. "$12m Shopping Plan: 16 acre project near new uni". The Sun: May 16: 29.

Grace Bros were given approval to build in 1969 by the State Planning Authority after their proposal had been rejected by Ryde Council and decided to appeal the decision. At the same meeting, a proposal by David Jones to construct a rival shopping centre on Epping Road was rejected as their site was zoned for industrial use (Refer to my 2014 entry on their proposal for further details).

The Local Government Minister Pat Morton was convinced that the shopping centre would be successful drawing on Grace Bros success in planning, building and operating Roselands and felt it would be more successful (He would be right down the track). 

   

Source: Anon. 1969. "Approval for $12m. centre". The Daily Telegraph, November 6: 7.

 

Source: Anon. 1969. "100 Super Shops: Grace Bros' $12 mill complex". The Daily Mirror, November 6: 2.

Ryde Council gave their approval for the centre in 1972. 

 

Source: Anon. 1972. "$12m shopping centre approved". The Sydney Morning Herald, June 27: 1. 

Intended opening date was 1975 as reported by The Sydney Morning Herald on June 27, 1972 (see above). 

Construction did not commence until 1979. 

NEVER BUILT SYDNEY: David Jones & Garden City, North Ryde (1969)

David Jones opens at an expanded Macquarie Centre this week. Its opening has been a long time coming, in fact about forty-five years going by this proposal to build their own shopping centre known as Garden City at Epping Road, Macquarie Park (formally part of North Ryde). This is roughly where Optus is based today within the suburb.

The proposal came up in response to Grace Bros plans to build what is now Macquarie Centre (see map below). They had difficulty seeking approval themselves, with the plans rejected by Ryde Council and they were forced to lodge their plans with the State Planning Authority.

Source: Anonymous. 1969. "$18 1/2m. move to suburbs: Two stores plan for North Ryde." The Daily Telegraph, February 25, 3 & 7. 

However, the big challenge for David Jones was getting approval on what was industrial land to build their shopping complex. It had to go to the State Planning Authority for approval to seek rezoning to build the centre.

The centre was designed by Donald Crone, one of the city's leading architects who had recently designed Sydney Tower.

Source: Anonymous. 1969. "$18.6m David Jones Plan for North Ryde." The Sydney Morning Herald, February 25: 1 & 4. 

For David Jones, Garden City was going to have several advantages. Not only would have a presence on Sydney's booming north and north-western suburbs, but it could also allow for its distribution centre to be placed alongside it, centralising operations. This would result in the distribution centre at Alexandria closing down.

And in those days as we might know, Department Store chains were very wise in developing the shopping centres themselves. Adding speciality stores to their shopping centres would allow for some extra income through rents on tenants. Roselands (developed by Grace Bros) was an example. This would be David Jones answer. Eighty speciality shops were planned just like Roselands. However, it went a few steps further. An office tower was planned and as mentioned the distribution centre.

Garden City would have provided up to 3500 jobs.

As the year progressed, Myer Corporation were also interested in operating a store in the centre through Farmers.

In November 1969, the State Government decided only to approve the Grace Bros proposal while rejecting David Jones proposal on zoning grounds. The Macquarie Centre as the centre eventually came to be known would not open until 1981. Grace Bros won the war to establish itself at North Ryde.

Had Garden City gone ahead, the retail scene at North Ryde would be dramatically different in my view. It is so hard to predict where it could have gone but I'm thinking that David Jones' centre would have ultimately prevailed because of its location - Epping Road. It had greater exposure to traffic passing through the area and better transport links.  It would have also been the second shopping centre in Sydney to have two major department stores. Warringah Mall was the only centre to have two department stores; David Jones and Grace Bros.

Myer would have eventually have a presence at North Ryde as the Myer Corporation took over Grace Bros in 1983 and the store itself was rebranded as Myer in 2004.

Related Entry

Added October 2022

SYDNEY RETAILING: The Conception of Macquarie Centre (1968)