History
‘An island of retailing in a lake of parking’ at Chermside
CHRIS CURRIE finds a bagful of information and photos in State Library of Queensland collections relating to our first ‘drive-in shopping centre’.
Did you know Brisbane was home to the Southern Hemisphere’s first ‘drive-in shopping centre’?
Its opening in 1957 was ahead of its time in more ways than one.
On May 30, 1957, thousands of shoppers attended the opening of Allan and Stark Chermside Drive-in Shopping Centre in Brisbane’s north.
Set across 11.3ha (28 acres), it promised a retail experience that would be “both fun and a thrill”.
The shopping complex – built at a cost of £600,000 (nearly $2.4 million today) – was heralded as the first of its kind in Australia.
The titular Allan and Stark Menswear was the site’s flagship store: a major departure for the storied Brisbane business which had operated in its Queen Street location since 1893.
The gamble was a big one: the investment on the huge site included 700 car parks, catering for the Brisbane public’s modern appetite for driving (and having somewhere to drive to).
Newspaper ads promoting the centre included the phrase “an island of retailing in a lake of parking”.
They needn’t have worried. Fifteen minutes after opening, the carpark was full and motorists began filling up surrounding streets.
The Telegraph Brisbane newspaper reported that more than 15,000 people visited the centre on the opening day, along with 20 police for crowd control.
The Courier-Mail said the opening had “all the trappings of a Hollywood premiere – prominent personalities, brass bands, popping flashbulbs … and crowds”.
At 9am, then Queensland premier Vince Gair officially opened the centre (“Every suburb should have its own shopping centre,” he reportedly enthused) which offered 26 shops, including a florist, milk and doughnut bar, fruit and vegetable shop, newsagent, butcher’s shop, beauty salon, optometrist, chemist and more.
The centre also had its own children’s nursery, so busy parents could drop off their kids while they shopped in peace.
The other flagship in the centre was self-service grocery retailer Brisbane Cash and Carry, whose new ‘super store’ boasted seven checkouts and wheeled baskets, and included a car boot pick-up section. It was so popular that crowds were let inside in staggered waves.
More than 1500 sample bags were given away with goods to the value of 5 shillings (nearly $10 today). The sample bags included items such as balloons, comics, custard powder, pickles, jellies, Pine-O-Clean and macaroni.
The site has been redeveloped numerous times since its opening, with Myer taking over the business in 1959 and Westfield in 1996.
Westfield Chermside remains one of Brisbane’s most popular shopping centres, especially with drivers. There are more than 10 times the car parks there were in 1957.
