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Market revival long time coming

As an escape from the bustle of the city, there could hardly be a better place than Victoria Park Market. As I sat for 10 minutes at one of the concrete tables one morning last week, only a sparrow disturbed the tranquillity. It was a weekday, admittedly, but as I wandered around, my footsteps echoed off glass frontages of empty shops, where aluminium joinery has made a jarringly unhappy marriage with Victorian brickwork. Glum faces peered from empty shops. In one, selling tacky souvenirs, a sign offered "50% off everything". It was a far cry from the market's feted opening in the early 1980s, when a "celebrity walk" of handprints in concrete seemed terribly sophisticated. Like the extinct Cook St and Browns Mill markets, VPM had tie-dyed T-shirts, sarongs and incense by the yard. But there was also clothing labelled "designer" and the novelty of espresso coffee. A line of stalls sold cheap ready-cooked Asian food, which was new to me. Gradually, through the 90s, VPM became a $2-shop precinct. Customers stayed away, retailers left, rats moved in. These days the rats have gone, but the customers are still staying away and some retailers are leaving or on the point of leaving.

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^^ That's a real shame. I remember VPM being very busy when I was a child. It was never as bohemian and cool as the late, great Cook St. markets though. Perhaps VPM could attempt to be a bit more edgy like Cook St.? The idea of VPM selling high end brands seems incongruous. People don't go to markets for high end brands.
 
Discussion starter · #83 ·
God these people running VPM are stupid, just come to Melbourne and they will get all the inspiration and ideas that they require to get VPM up and running. The last thing that Auckland needs is another bar and therein lies the problem, VPM is full of them and the market is non-existent.

We go to the market every sunday and purchase 70% of our weekly groceries there, add meat, fruit, vegetables and a deli - voila (but then again that might not work either because everybody in Auckland wants to drive and have a free carpark outside the shop which they will not get at VPM) :lol:
 
Gotta feel for the poor retailers who have stuck it out through 2 winters now - always being promised the good days are a month or two away at worst.

It has real potential but it needs an anchor tenant to bring some foot traffic and there isn't one on the horizon.

Shame.
 
Well the model they ran with is "small shops = high $/sqm return" which actually did work for the VPM before the refurb.

I still go there, but there's nothing to attract me except the restaurants. It's not a tourist place, or a shopping destination so has a bit of hospitality but not much else - the restaurants dont even integrate with the rest of the area.

I used to go there more when it was fully of cheap tacky shops -because sometimes I did want 'knock off' fragrances or a cheap t-shirt -it was always a reliably cheap shopping trip with a bit of street life entertainment thrown in.

It wanted to attract high end fashion retailers, but those have gone to britomart, ponsonby and newmarket, and queen street. I think it could still attract fashion, but at a lower end of the spectrum...startups. Trendy, cool, useful...co-operatives, even - places with some work rooms as well. And a saturday fashion market. Heck , even good 2nd hand clothes would be fine.

Without some agglomeration, it lacks a destination status and that brick wall has no street appeal. But, oddly, its a mall..inwardly facing and large carpark next to it...so in a classic retail sense, it should be working great.

Oh and it doesn't connect with the park, at all, which is a lost opportunity.
 
Well the model they ran with is "small shops = high $/sqm return" which actually did work for the VPM before the refurb.

I still go there, but there's nothing to attract me except the restaurants. It's not a tourist place, or a shopping destination so has a bit of hospitality but not much else - the restaurants dont even integrate with the rest of the area.

I used to go there more when it was fully of cheap tacky shops -because sometimes I did want 'knock off' fragrances or a cheap t-shirt -it was always a reliably cheap shopping trip with a bit of street life entertainment thrown in.

It wanted to attract high end fashion retailers, but those have gone to britomart, ponsonby and newmarket, and queen street. I think it could still attract fashion, but at a lower end of the spectrum...startups. Trendy, cool, useful...co-operatives, even - places with some work rooms as well. And a saturday fashion market. Heck , even good 2nd hand clothes would be fine.

Without some agglomeration, it lacks a destination status and that brick wall has no street appeal. But, oddly, its a mall..inwardly facing and large carpark next to it...so in a classic retail sense, it should be working great.

Oh and it doesn't connect with the park, at all, which is a lost opportunity.
You're right that they need a mix of small and large retailers. I think they needed to market it as a hub for the residents rather than a destination for outsiders. In the not too distant future the surrounding streets will have thousands of apartments. This is what you need to appeal to. If they did something similar to Ponsonby Central on a larger scale they would have had a different result. Maybe they need to find a tenant like Nosh or Farro and then build up a mix of up and coming fashion and more practical shops.
 
Vic Park revives 'hippie' vibe

One of Auckland's original markets, Victoria Park, is welcoming back stall holders for cottage industry arts and crafts and street food to breathe some life into its lanes and courtyards after trying to reinvent itself as an upmarket retail and food precinct. [..] The market will trade from 10am-4pm Saturday and Sunday and the aim is to include street food, arts and crafts and artisan offerings.

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The question on everyone's mind was 'why are aren't there markets at Victoria Park Market'? And now they've finally seen the light it seems. But "catering for the sophisticated tastes of Ponsonby people"? It doesn't fit in with a 'hippie' vibe (silly title), nor with a farmers' market or a European-style market. Here's hoping it's not going to be a piecemeal effort where we end up with a few stalls keeping up appearances while trying to cater for a niche market.
 
Discussion starter · #89 ·
I have always said that they should have taken the tram past VPM so that the loop connects with the waterfront & market, encompassing a bigger "tourist" attraction. It's always a case of think small in Auckland and then it comes back to bite them in the ass or they land up paying more in the end because they took short cuts.
 
Let's see how this turns out:

Hippies back at Victoria Park

The rebirth of an old market, once teeming with hippy and bohemian traders and curious customers, has lured three Aucklanders back to Victoria Park where they spent happy times as teenagers. "In my youth, it was the favourite place to go," recalls Lee Smith, of Snip Snaps children's clothes, who will be among 70 stallholders when the CBD fringe market reopens this weekend after a three-year break. [...] The market will be held at weekends outside the red brick heritage buildings of Victoria Park where a $20 million revamp included shops, restaurants and offices. Bayleys retail leasing specialist Leah La Hood said Auckland had a "multitude of competing markets" but more than 70 stall holders were interested in Victoria Park at $30, $50 or $75 a day.

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Today

For a mediocre day there was quite a crowd here early, the atmosphere was great, I have a feeling this will take off, we used to love the original markets during the 80's and early 90's and by the looks of it others have missed it too. A great start to something that will hopefully grow, certainly an improvement...



































 
Went to have a look on sunday. It was rather busy, much busier than in Brojoro's pictures (by the way, thanks Brojoro!). With the stalls out on the pavement there wasn't much room to move about. If this does takes off they need more space! Would be interesting to see how this develops in the coming weeks, it was after all opening weekend, it was sunny, and it had received media attention before sunday.
 
I dont think it so much of a change in strategy rather a diversification of the business base.

Now we are adding a third layer to this shopping experience.
However should they add any more layers then the experience has the potential to just be a jumbled mess and loss foot traffic.

Personally the other outlet centres are just terrible a singular destination with no opportunity to continue the day beyond those malls at least people can just hop across to Wynard wharf etc and continue the day.
 
I dont think it so much of a change in strategy rather a diversification of the business base.

Personally the other outlet centres are just terrible a singular destination with no opportunity to continue the day beyond those malls at least people can just hop across to Wynard wharf etc and continue the day.
That's an excellent thought..,

There's an opportunity to attract families and people from all over Auckland to come to the Viaduct-Victoria Quarter area and hang out for the day.
Victoria Park might be a 'cheap and cheerful' place to walk to, grab some food, take it to Vic park for a picnic - this builds that whole-day experience, incorporating britomart/downtown or ponsonby.

Downtown Auckland does a great job of catering to the wealthy, but tends to forget about the majority of families, who don't want to pay $10 for a beer or $20 for fish and chips. This includes a great deal of tourists (backpacker types) and also CBD residents. Suburban malls, of course, do very well by catering to the majority.
I do feel our waterfront and CBD risk becoming enclaves for wealthy professionals and trendy DINKs and would like to see more people from far and wide feel welcome. ..and Victoria Park would be a great place to cater to that market.
 
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