South West Sydney: Emerald Hills Shopping Village upgrades
Traditional main streets are being replaced by standalone shopping hubs in new housing estates popping up across the country.
Developer plans increasingly include extensive retail precincts which aim to give new residents everything they need in one spot.
From supermarkets to chemists, butchers to hair salons, restaurants to gyms, people taking up residence in these new estates never have to leave.
The Emerald Hills development in the south-west Sydney suburb of Leppington is the latest example of these housing estates that have it all.
Already featuring a shopping precint that includes two supermarkets, butcher, baker, three restaurants, a chemist, gym, doctor and more, this estate is about to get stage two of its commercial site.
An artist’s impression of the Emerald Hills Shopping Centre upgrades.
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The new tenants in Emerald Hills introduced by Macarthur Retail will include a Petbarn, Leaf Cafe, Cuto Kids Indoor Playcentre and Cafe, Bluefit Swim School, United Agents Property Group as well as beauty services including nails, laser and brow services at Blue Beauty and hairdresser One Signature Salon.
They will join established services like Aldi, Chemist Warehouse, Woolworths, Gold Fingers Barber, Blue Lagoon Nails, Taco Bell, Safron Grocer, Gentle Dental Care, Plus Fitness and more.
Bricks and mortar stores have surprised experts by making a resurgence and not falling to online stores, particularly in growth corridors like Leppington.
Head of research at Ray White Group Vanessa Rader revealed that the “quiet asset class” of retail centres was outperforming a lot of other commercial assets.
The centre already includes anchor tenants Aldi, Woolworths and Chemist Warehouse.
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“It’s been a quiet asset class in the last five to ten years with the disruption of Covid and online shopping a threat to the asset class,” Ms Rader said. “But there has been an uplift in transaction and I feel confident about this end of the market,” she said.
“People still do like to go into store. Supermarkets in particular, people like to buy food in person, any centre that is local and ticks the box of speciality foods like fruit and veg, butcher and cake shop are performing,” she said.
Smaller community retail centres were attractive to locals compared to monster shopping centres, she added.
“They (locals) like to drive up, park out the front on street level and then pick up a few things or do a quick shop … its not a whole day exercise like going to a large Westfield where you have to fight for parking, contend with lifts, escalators, trolleys and it takes forever to walk from one side to the other.”
Artist impression of new retail at Emerald Hills.
Services and specialty foods were dominating retail centres, according to Ms Rader.
“We are seeing our spending has been for services, like hairdressers and beauty as well as speciality food and super markets … gone are the days of the Susans and Rockmans in these centres, its more of a food offering” she said.
“You can’t cut your hair online and people especially want local, as it can take a few hours to get your hair cut, so you want to be able to get coffee there, do your grocery shopping and pick up something for dinner”
Other popular retail services within local shopping centre were medical centres and childcare facilities, which was evident in the new Emerald Hills upgrades with the swimming school and playcentre.
Retail Property Manager Michelle Dreves said community feedback and having everything in one spot informed the choices in the additional tenants at Emerald Hills.
“We listened to our community and knew we had room to grow in terms of what we could provide to our families,” she said.
Renders of the new upgrades.
“We are already so proud of the community we have created with our current tenants we don’t see it as upgrades rather complimentary tenancies to the strong ties we already have,” she said.
Some tenants are expected to open as early as February and March 2025, others in May or June.
The new development is situated at the corner of Camden Valley Way and Raby Rd in Leppington.
“Particularly in a neighbourhood centre often standalone clothing boutiques don’t thrive and its more about what can we provide to our community,” Ms Dreves added.
“For example, with the cafe and playcentre Dad can take the kids into there where mum can go to the centre and get her hair cut or nails done.”
Population growth, particularly in large growth areas like the South West corridor were competing with a lack of new retails spaces.
“We haven’t built new retail space so our retail per capita is getting sorted so that’s why we’ve got more customisations,” Ms Rader said.
“A trend will be to upgrade these assets. Retail trade continues to increase so they’re an attractive investment, yield is pretty competitive.”
