Warwick's city heart: New era for the CBD
WARWICK'S first shopping centre, Rose City Centre heralded a new era for the CBD. From humble beginnings in the early 1980s, it has undergone several major redevelopments, including a fitting name change to Rose City Shoppingworld in the 90s. But the latest - a $40m state-of-the-art expansion, is perhaps the most exciting.
Warwick's first shopping centre heralds a new era of the CBD
BY THE 1980s, Warwick had grown from a tiny collection of timber shacks, to a thriving regional city. Palmerin St had undergone many changes, and was now home to a diverse collection of individual stores and businesses.
As our historical special feature has shown, Warwick's strength has always been in its people, and the faith they have in their city.
This belief in the future of Warwick was part of the impetus behind the city's first shopping centre.
The creation of Rose City Shoppingworld was yet another milestone in the history of Warwick's CBD, and many residents still remember its opening as an exciting event.
For many regional centres, the creation of a shopping centre signals a strong step forward in that centre's economic growth.
The centre started as Rose City Centre in 1984 and was home to a Woolworths supermarket, and during the years, stores like Fosseys and a few other smaller retailers.
Robert McConaghy, managing director of McConaghy Group, the company behind Rose City Shoppingworld, says building the centre was a show of faith in the city.
He said it offered residents a shopping experience they had previously had to travel out of Warwick for.
It seems fitting that this development was placed on the same site that 50 years before, Woolworths had opened to much fanfare and excitement.
HOVER WITH YOUR MOUSE TO INTERACT WITH IMAGE
"When we first developed the site the existing retail offering consisted of a Woolworths food store, an electrical dealer next door, a menswear store called Cantor's Menswear, plus one other shop," Mr McConaghy said.
"We had a close relationship with Woolworths and we worked with them in areas they wanted to establish a presence in.
"Shopping centres like these contributed to the revitalisation of many town CBDs when regional investment in similar facilities wasn't a high priority or was overlooked by a lot of other developers," Mr McConaghy said.
"We felt the development should be take place right in the heart of Warwick, not on its fringes, so it would support the city and not split it."
The opening of the centre heralded a new era in the history of Warwick's business community. In any regional centre, the development of a dedicated shopping centre signals significant growth and is instrumental in keeping local dollars local.
Just 130 years after George Walker opened that very first general store, Warwick's CBD was truly coming of age.
The location in the CBD, rather than on the outskirts of town like so many regional centres was a deliberate and considered one; designed to work with - rather than against - the existing businesses.
When speaking to The Warwick Daily News in 1984, the two directors - Robert McConaghy and his cousin, Jim - said they felt there was a need for a modern shopping facility, built around a supermarket, to complement Warwick's business district.
EVOLUTION OF ROSE CITY SHOPPINGWORLD'S FOOD COURT
"We felt the development should be take place right in the heart of Warwick, not on its fringes, so it would support the city and not split it.
"We also felt it was extremely likely that Warwick was suffering from a dollar drain - money leaving the city - because of the need for a modern shopping centre.
"We believe that the new centre would complement the existing shopping facilities and would help minimise the drain of dollars out of Warwick into nearby cities and towns."
The centre was well-received from the beginning, and by 1998 a major expansion by McConaghy Holdings became a major milestone in Warwick history.
The opening of the centre, which would now be named Rose City Shoppingworld, caused an electric buzz through the city and changed the way people of the Southern Downs shopped.
The new development saw the relocation of the Woolworths supermarket, and Big W, Bi-Lo and a new food court added to the centre.
Shoppers were given more choice than ever before, with specialty stores filling the centre and locals rushing to visit Kleins, Sanity, Just Jeans and long-standing favourites like Carey Bros and Hynes Newsagency.
It was also the start of another big development that would bring a large number of jobs to the region.
"Big W was looking for a distribution centre to supply goods to stores across Queensland and from Canberra to Sydney and Darwin," Mr McConaghy said.
"It's one of three in the country for Big W and has been a large local employer and beneficiary of what is a large transport hub.
"They also wanted to establish a local Big W store.
"Former Woolworths managing director Roger Corbett was instrumental in all of this and very supportive."
This was the first time the Warwick and surrounding community had a higher-order, one-stop shopping facility with basement parking and Mr McConaghy says it was soundly welcomed.
"Rose City was strongly supported by the community," Mr McConaghy said. "We had provided as a high a standard of shopping experience as we could. For a town the size of Warwick it was comparable in quality to many metropolitan centres."
Mr McConaghy says many elements of Rose City became important social structures for the community.
"The food court has been very important and a popular meeting place," Mr McConaghy said.
"Some people would come through almost every day and is a social outing for many. It's one of the main places for the community to meet with different groups coming through at various times of the day including children after school."
The McConaghy Group will undergo a redevelopment in 2017 (for all the details, check out Part 5 of our series on Friday) which will see, among other things, more than 600 spaces in a basement carpark - not something you see very often in a regional shopping centre.
"Over time, communities and the retail landscape changes. Centres need to be modernised and retailers also need to upgrade their stores," McConaghy said. "In this case Coles were looking to establish a new supermarket.
"These days, technology is driving change in shopping experiences and facilities. People's tastes are also different from what they were 10 years ago - shopping centres need to respond to that."
The redevelopment will also see Rose City employ about a thousand people across all the businesses, an important spoke in the local economy."
"Warwick has been a strong stable town over a long period of time and we are very confident in the future and are sure the redevelopment to be completed next year will be well received."
Most people would agree that a modern full-service shopping centre such as Rose City is an essential element for any regional city's economic growth. However, the CBD as a whole must also meet the needs of a growing population.
With technology impacting on every aspect of retail, a modern city needs to respond to changing times.
- Tomorrow we talk to business leaders and locals about the strengths - and weaknesses - of Warwick's CBD.
