Full-time workers know the pain of clocking off work only to find essential services and shops are closed.
A 24-hour shopping and services precinct could change that. But in 2075, what will the experience of ‘shopping’ look like? Will physical in-person stores vanish to be replaced by websites and drone delivery services?
It remains to be seen.
A thriving night-time economy has been on Logan’s to-do list for some time, Mayor Jon Raven said. Community members have raised ideas and requests for round-the-clock businesses with the council before.
Secretary of Beenleigh Yatala Chamber of Commerce Kerrie Saverin said establishing a 24-hour retail and hospitality, shops and services, precinct would be a bad deal for small businesses.
“There are fewer and fewer people going into the shopping centers and going into the supermarkets now, if they can buy it online and have it delivered tomorrow, that’s what they prefer to do,” she said.
“I just can’t see how, in just 50 years, we’re going to have that much of an increase in population, that it would actually work.”
If the precinct could create an exclusive market, where it housed the only shops that were open at one time, then it may be able to draw enough business, Ms Saverin said.
Years ago, in addition to regular 9am to 5pm trading hours, businesses were only open late on Thursday evenings and on Saturday mornings, Ms Saverin said.
“The experience from that working model was that businesses didn’t increase their trade when they decided to increase their hours; all they did was spread out the trade,” she said.
“People only have a certain amount of money to spend, so regardless of whether the shops are open for longer hours or not, they still only have that certain amount of dollars to spend.
“So I find it difficult to believe that in just 50 years, there will be a way to figure out how small businesses can continue to make money while being open for 24 hours.”
Even with Logans’ projected 2075 population, estimated to be around the 700,000 mark, Ms Saverin is sceptical the precinct would be viable.
Academic and futures studies researcher Sohail Inayatullah said an effective way to approach discussions about what Logan could be like in 2075 was to ask ourselves what we actually want.
“Is it a 24-hour shopping center we want? Or is a real-time, personalised and convenient experience, which enhances their life, what people really want?”
The answer should dictate the physicality of the ‘shopping precinct’ and its delivery.
A futurist like Mr Inayatullah is the first to say, ‘anything could happen in the future; no one knows for certain what 2075 will bring’.
He proposed three scenarios that could occur. The first: shopping centres disappear, and simultaneously, all shopping centres are delivered at home through personalised 3D printing or drone deliveries.
The second: that shopping centres become a reimagined community centre, with libraries, community centres, retailers, hospitality venues, and a place that can provide a full experience for everyone to enjoy.
The third scenario could be modelled on a current-day food court, where businesses buy up space in a centralised area.
Builders of Logan’s future should be asking questions like: what is our identity, and who are we connecting with? Instead of simply asking what kind of shopping centre we would like in our city.
Mayor Jon Raven said a shopping precinct would be best placed in central locations with higher levels of foot traffic, like Springwood or Beenleigh, which seem like a logical choice.
Underwood, which Cr Raven said had already become a nighttime precinct with several businesses opening late on weeknights and weekends, may also fit the brief.
“From what I’ve seen, it’s easier for businesses to set up where there are already customers,” he said. “When you try to artificially manufacture a precinct and tell people this is where you go at night to spend money, it doesn’t always work, and it takes a long time to build momentum.”
“When you’ve already got something like Underwood, where it’s happening organically on its own, building up its own customer base, it makes a lot of sense and lowers the risk for businesses, because they want to go where the customers are.”
Shopping experiences will continue to change with time. Cr Raven said Logan was already leading the charge toward drone delivery services.
“Right now in Logan, more than anywhere else in the world, you can get products delivered by drone from your local shopping center to your backyard,” Cr Raven said
“In 50 years, you imagine that that expands even further, right to the point where the last mile delivery can happen by drone, or something similar, for almost everything you order.
“If you’re going to go out and do retail, you’re probably doing it for an experience like a dining experience, to catch up with friends, or because you want to try clothes on before you buy them.”
