One-stop shopping: Why Melbourne's iconic Sydney Road strip still appeals
It’s the longest continuous retail strip in the Southern Hemisphere, running through the core of Melbourne’s inner north – but that’s just one part of Sydney Road’s appeal.
Celebrating 175 years of “commerce, community and creativity” in 2025, the iconic thoroughfare has long been a destination for locals and tourists alike, drawn to explore the vibrant suburbs of Brunswick and Coburg.
Starting as a rural road for farmers and residents, Sydney Road was established in 1850 and began to transform into a busy streetscape. By 1887, its first cable tram arrived, and crowds flocked to the local shops and businesses.
Today’s visitors can find an array of independent boutiques, vintage shops, cafes and restaurants, bakeries, specialty grocers, pubs, bars, beer gardens, live music venues, and all manner of makers’ spaces.
Then there’s the bridal precinct, which features over 120 stores catering to weddings and formal occasions, attracting customers from all over the city.
It’s a truly multicultural hub showcasing a range of cuisines – including Lebanese, Dutch, Italian, Turkish, Thai, Japanese, and Pakistani – with a particularly strong connection to Mediterranean and Middle Eastern communities.
The Sydney Road Brunswick Association (SRBA) – a volunteer committee comprising local business operators – stated that entrepreneurs were initially drawn to the road’s centrality and high traffic volume, and it soon became “the commercial spine of Brunswick”.
“Sydney Road is more than just a thoroughfare or commercial road, but also the cultural, political and social heartland of a community.”
The SRBA works to support the strip’s continuing growth and development, with membership available to businesses between Brunswick and Moreland roads.
How Sydney Road has survived – and thrived
While there is no denying the effects of recent pressures on the retail sector, from pandemic lockdowns to tightened consumer spending, the local community has demonstrated resourcefulness and resilience in adapting to the changes and challenges.
SRBA manager Troy Stuchbree said the diversity of Sydney Road’s offerings is what continues to draw people in, and the united front as a precinct is what keeps it sustainable through both ups and downs.
“In terms of popularity, there’s an amazing mix of not just shops and retail for local residents, but also quite a lot of what we would call destination shops, which people come to Sydney Road for specifically,” Stuchbree said.
“It’s definitely still being felt as a difficult period; whenever we’re communicating with our businesses, there is a sense that there hasn’t really been a normal economic year since COVID just yet. They’re still feeling the highs and the lows of economic uncertainty.
“But as a business association, we’re able to react quite quickly to what’s happening in the space. We work throughout the year with businesses to provide them with training around social media or online practices so they can be ever equipped to deal with the changing environment,” he shared.
“We provide a lot of on-the-ground support to enable the businesses to pivot or adjust or amend what they’re doing to remain current.”
Brunswick real estate agent Jane Skinner from Walshe & Whitelock, which has operated on Sydney Road for 136 years, said the rallying of the community is what powers the precinct.
“Our office has been there since 1889, surviving two world wars, the GFC, COVID … it’s all because Brunswick has always had such a great community feel, and that just continues to bring people back,” she said.
“It looks the same as any other kind of shopping street, but it’s not. It’s different because of the people.”
Skinner currently has a two-storey shop-restaurant and dwelling listed for sale at 718 Sydney Road, an investment opportunity near the corner of Albion Street.
Here are some more local ‘shop-portunities’ currently on the market.
Three shopfronts for sale on Sydney Road
Set in the heart of the bridal precinct, 529-531 Sydney Road is available as an investment opportunity to secure a double-frontage retail premises with a long-term tenant in place.
Listed for sale by expressions of interest.
Offering two connected two-level shopfronts and dwellings, the listing at 548 and 550 Sydney Road has the potential to be leased – either just the retail spaces or combined with the dwellings.
There is also potential to redevelop, subject to council approval.
The fully leased investment opportunity at 143 Sydney Road includes two separate tenancies on its two levels.
The ground floor comprises a retail shop plus a two-bedroom residence and backyard with off-street parking, while the upstairs tenancy is a second two-bedroom residence.
