Queen & Collins Retail Vision & Strategy

Client
GPT Group
Location
Melbourne
Year
2019–2020
Scope
Research, Retail Strategy

Articulating the retail vision of a divine CBD location.

On our first walkthrough of what would become Queen & Collins, we marvelled at the complexity of the site, then only recently acquired by GPT Group. Spanning a whole city block, the site was a tapestry of buildings and architectural styles, including three 19th century neo-Gothic landmarks and the postmodern ANZ Tower.

It featured an elevation profile that dropped significantly as you moved from Little Collins to Collins Street, three street frontages, an underground vault and a “cathedral room” that had to be seen to be believed. Challenging, clearly – but brimming with potential to become a true icon of Melbourne’s CBD. A thoughtful response from Kirsten Thompson Architects and BVN stitched the project together through a series of campiellos – internal courtyards that would connect people with spaces, and create a thoroughfare and a destination at the same time.

Right Angle were engaged to produce a retail vision and strategy that would support the significant worker population above, whilst creating a new retail precinct that attracted visitors from across the CBD at street level. Our strategy was underpinned by three key findings.

One:

Queen & Collins should be repositioned as a workplace exemplar for Black Collar Creatives, bringing creative and knowledge workers from medium-sized enterprises back into the CBD grid from St Kilda Road, Docklands and Richmond.

Two:

The audiences you want to attract will do their convenience shopping closer to public transport stations, so the retail for Queen & Collins needs to build brand and provide a great working lifestyle instead of competing for convenience.

Three:

There are classic Melbourne retailers and groups who already distinguish the city; peppering them through the site in the right combination of F&B, lifestyle and wellbeing will ensure Queen & Collins becomes a new Melbourne retail destination with old Melbourne elegance.

Over the course of 2023, Queen & Collins has come to life – first at tower level, but now at street and campiello level too, through flagship ventures from Nomad Group (the stunning Reine & La Rue), Rustica, A25 Pizzeria and the Purple Pit basement bar.

Photography by Ben Moynihan

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