Fast food giants fight for real estate in Melbourne's CBD
Fast food restaurant Hungry Jacks will open another city store in Elizabeth Street after two of its Swanston Street stores were earmarked for demolition as part of the $10.9 billion Melbourne Metro Rail tunnel.
Hungry Jacks has moved quickly to shore up its city presence, signing a 12-year lease at 17-19 Elizabeth Street to fit out a two-level, 250-square-metre space.
The burger chain joins a long list of key retailers on the city’s main shopping core, Swanston Street, displaced by the multi-billion rail project.
McDonald’s, KFC and Starbucks and banking giant CBA will also be forced out of their prime, high-trading locations to make way for commuter station exits from the tunnel.
Hungry Jack’s is becoming more adventurous about the type of shop they occupy. Photo: Wayne Taylor
The new Hungry Jacks outlet replaces a Snack Deli and will trade next door to a similarly sized McDonald’s outlet, adding to a weight of fast food outlets crowding the Flinders Street intersection.
CBRE leasing agent Zelman Ainsworth said retailers were, out of necessity, becoming more adventurous about the size and space they occupied in the city centre.
“Major retailers continue to adapt their retail footprint to fit into the prime retail locations, they will find solutions for any space restriction if the location is right,” he said.
Building basements and floors above the ground level shopfront have traditionally been shunned by retailers but high demand in key locations has resulted in greater occupancy and use of those areas.
Australia’s retail trade grew by 3.4 per cent year on year in the final quarter last year, a slight improvement on the previous quarter.
Sales growth was at a moderate level compared with its 15-year average, although fast food categories performed more strongly than others, according to CBRE’s latest MarketView report.
“Compared to 2015, all retail categories grew at a slower pace in 2016 with the exception of cafes, restaurants and takeaway foods,” it said.
Mr Ainsworth, Samantha Hunt and Tan Thach negotiated the Hungry Jacks lease in conjunction with Allard Shelton’s Pat Barnes.
