Pitt Street Mall

Pitt Street Mall in 2014

Pitt Street Mall is the pedestrianised section of Pitt Street in the Sydney central business district, Australia. Located between Market Street and King Street, it is one block long and is one of Australia's busiest and most cosmopolitan shopping precincts.^[1] Floorspace rents are accordingly the highest in Australia, in part due to other cities' shopping precincts being longer.^[1] In 2012, its rents were the fifth highest in the world in terms of city streets.^[2]^[3]

Despite its small size, Pitt Street Mall hosts many flagship chain stores and more than 500 specialty stores.^[4]

History

2010–2011: redevelopment

Along with these extensive upgrades to shopping centres, the mall itself recently saw a A$10 million refurbishment carried out. This included the provision of new seating as well as new pavers and a catenary lighting system (which will be installed in the coming months).^[5]

Buildings, shops and tenants

Footbridge that runs across the mall

The facade of Westfield Sydney located on Pitt Street Mall

A number of shopping centres and arcades front the Mall, including Westfield Sydney, Strand Arcade, Mid City Centre, Glasshouse and Sydney Arcade.

In 2005, Westfield took over management of the majority of retail space in the mall through their acquisition of Sydney Central Plaza, Imperial Arcade, and management rights on Skygarden. Westfield promptly amalgamated the four properties into Westfield Sydney.^[6]

Westfield Sydney has 361 flagship fashion, food and lifestyle stores across six floors.^[7] These include Sydney's largest Myer department store as well as international chain (Gap, Nespresso, Nike, Sephora, Zara) and luxury (Ermenegildo Zegna, Gucci, Miu Miu, Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo) stores, Australian chain (Cotton On, Cue, Sportscraft, Sportsgirl, Supré) and luxury (Aesop, Oroton, Sass & bide) stores.^[8]

In April 2015 Microsoft announced it will open its first store outside North America at Westfield Sydney.^[9] The new store will have a frontage to Pitt Street Mall and will measure 581 square metres across two floors. The new store is planned to open by Christmas 2015.

The Strand Arcade is a Victorian era shopping gallery which opened in 1891.^[10] Today the Strand is home to more than 70 boutiques over four floors. Retailers include some of Australia's most famous fashion designers (Alannah Hill, Alex Perry, Leona Edmiston) as well as Aesop, Crumpler and Haigh's Chocolates.^[11]

MidCity Centre has 26 specialty stores across four floors including international (G-Star Raw, Uniqlo, Virgin Active) and Australian (General Pants Co., Rebel Sport, Witchery) retailers.^[12]

Forever 21 will open its second Sydney store at the Sydney Arcade in mid-2015, joining Billabong, Montblanc and Ugg Australia in the centre. The new Forever 21 store is expected to be one of the company's biggest worldwide.^[13]

Standalone stores in Pitt Street Mall include Bally and Country Road.

The old Glasshouse Centre is being redeveloped for new stores by H&M and Zara Home.^[14] These stores are expected to open in late 2015.