Project Overview

Sutherland Shire’s brand new shopping centre, South Village, was given a big tick by its first shoppers when the retail precinct officially opened for business in November 2018.

Many people were already in the centre when anchor tenant Coles opened its doors for customers at 7.30 in the morning and they continued to pour into the centre all through the day, with all outlets doing a brisk trade.

The mid-morning official opening was marked by a traditional Welcome to Country and a colourful ribbon-cutting ceremony with representatives from PAYCE, Mirvac, DeiCorp and Sutherland Shire Council, along to musical accompaniment provided by the Kirrawee High School Jazz Orchestra.

There were plenty of activities through the day to keep visitors of all ages entertained and the celebrations will continue over the opening week, including live music, face painting, yoga sessions, and a pop-up cinema.

Organisation

PAYCE

 

Team

PAYCE - Developer
Mirvac Retail – Owner and Manager
Deicorp - Builder
National Grid Group - Brand Launch Manager
Ionic Management - Project Manager

Project Brief

South Village Shopping Centre at Kirrawee in Sydney had been a long time in coming. The original site was home to the famous Brick Pit and the planning process was arduous. When the site was purchased promises were made to the local residents to deliver a first class retail precinct and when the centre officially opened, what was promised was delivered.

The brief for this event was to delight, inspire and encourage local residents to visit the shopping centre and food outlets at South Village and keep coming back week after week.

The National Grid worked with Mirvac and PAYCE on Brand Identity, Tone of Voice, Campaign Design and Direction, Photography, Launch Video, Prelaunch Social and Signage.

Modern living today means quality local amenities are having to step up. South Village Shopping Centre is a new age of commercial amenities packed with vibrancy, choice and quality produce. The launch campaign looked at telling this story in a way no one would miss!

The opening was required to attract both the young and old and everyone in between. The brief was to showcase the food offering, supermarkets, fitness benefits, and convenience shopping.

Project Need

The opening event needed to showcase the retail tenant mix at South Village. The centre is a mix of dining experience and service-based convenience with a barber, nail studio, massage offer, mobile phone retailer, patisserie, Priceline, Brow bar and take away chicken. It also has a 24-hour fitness centre and a state-of-the-art Pilates and Yoga studio BodyMindLife. There are also two supermarkets, a full line Coles and Aldi.

All the retailers were engaged to showcase their products specifically for the opening event.

The marketing included neighbourhood letterbox drops, digital billboards, bus advertising, digital posters, Instagram and a video.

The residents in the Shire are unique and South Village Shopping Centre needed to showcase to the residents all the reasons that this was going to become their local centre for all their needs.

User Experience

The official opening of the centre took place at 11:00 am with a Welcome to Country and a Smoking Ceremony. Prior to the official opening, a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Coles store took place at 7.30am.

First day attractions for children include PJ Masks, face painting, live music, a caricaturist, workshops, and “kids play”. Overall the response from locals was that it was a good opening experience, with lots of promotions and live music.

Early visitors were very impressed.

Cassandra Saba - “It looks really nice and I love the open plan and the restaurants. Coles looks really big compared with the Sutherland store."

Kelly Williams - "Great place to shop. Has Aldi and Coles plus a variety of different shops, a barber for the hubby, food court with different cultured foods and an open kids play area. I love how the car park is simple to get to and the signs make it clear which area is best to park depending if you're going to Coles or Aldi. The car park and the shops are not too crowded either which is great. If there was a greengrocer there that would top it off for me!"

Scott Inglis - "Lots of parking and brand new shops will be making this my local shopping centre."

Rachel Letton - "Awesome place. Can't wait for more shops to open up. My new shopping hub."

Sustainability

The first task in developing the site involved pumping 2.5 million litres of water out of the pit.

Everything at South Village has been carefully curated to create an engaging environment offering new and modern choices in food and services, dining and well-being lifestyle pursuits, including the creation of a new community park that will be completed by mid-next year.

PAYCE and Mirvac’s focus is to not just build quality developments but to create new communities from the ground up as PAYCE did successfully at East Village in Zetland.

The shopping centre is very impressive and Mirvac has done a fantastic job in terms of their retail partnerships.