La Strada section of Top Ryde CityThe original Top Ryde Shopping Centre in 2006
The original Top Ryde Shopping Centre was opened on the current 3.5 hectare site on 14 November 1957 by the Premier of New South WalesJoe Cahill.[1] It was the first post-war major open-air shopping centre built in New South Wales and the second post war and open-air mall-type complex built in Australia after Chermside Drive-In Shopping Centre in Brisbane.
The centre was the dream of Peter Benjamin from the retailing family who opened A.J. Benjamin's in the suburb of Chatswood. Benjamin had travelled to the United States in 1953 where he visited about 20 shopping centres in the new American style and met up with friend Peter Yeoman who was completing postgraduate studies in Detroit on the subject of American shopping centres. Together they devised a design for such a shopping centre in Sydney. Yeoman came up with the idea of the apricot brick and the windowless building with vertical divisions, while Benjamin sketched the layout for retailing.
Top Ryde was anchored by Sydney-based A.J. Benjamin & Co department store, Franklins supermarket, a chain variety store and 45 other shops grouped around a pedestrian mall, with 400 parking spaces. The centre feature modern sculpture centre which was a focal point designed by artist Gordon Andrews, a personal friend of Peter Yeoman. Top Ryde was established with the motto "come as you are...shop in comfort" offering a new experience for the shopper who until this time would have needed to travel to Sydney or Parramatta to gain access to a major department store and such a wide range of variety shopping.[2]
In 1962, Top Ryde was sold to Lendlease who undertook expansion of the centre. Woolworths was opened in 1963 in addition to the expansion of the centre which also included a variety store, several speciality shops and another 200 car parking spaces. The A.J. Benjamin store closed and was taken over by Grace Bros in 1964. As regional shopping centres became the focus of community activities and associated recreational activities a Ten Pin Bowling Alley opened in the 1970s known as BowlAustralia's WondABowl- Top Ryde which was rebranded in 2003 to AMF Bowling.
The centre underwent refurbishment and redevelopment in 1986 and changed its name to Top Ryde Shopping Square. A new multi-storey carpark was constructed, along with new entrances, roofing of the mall area and a general upgrade. Venture then moved into the space vacated by Grace Bros.[3]
Venture closed in 1991 and the centre went a minor development with the opening of a Target store and the re-organisation of the shops into service areas such as banking to the south-west of the mall and the food court which contained McDonald's on the lower concourse.[citation needed]
Towards the end of the centre's life, it was almost a dead mall featuring Woolworths, Franklins, a bowling alley and around 90 stores which were predominantly banks and service stores. The centre was situated over 2 floors. The lower level had direct access to the bottom carpark level and featured Woolworths and a small food court. It was connected to the upper level via a travelator. The upper level contained Franklins and access to Blaxland Road and Devlin Street, as well as access to bus services. A smaller, third level which could be accessed via a staircase from the upper level and the rooftop carpark (originally the upper level of Grace Bros and connected by elevators) featured the bowling alley. [citation needed]
In July 2007, the centre was demolished, and shortly thereafter, construction began on redeveloping the site. The new centre was renamed to Top Ryde City after it was a chosen name from City of Ryde Council.
Stage 1 was opened on 5 November 2009, consisting of around 115 stores including Woolworths, Big W, Dan Murphy's and JB Hi-Fi. This is on the Tucker Street side of the development. Other stages progressively opened throughout 2010, each stage next to the previous moving progressively towards Pope Street.
Stage 2 was completed and opened in March 2010 and included the opening of Aldi, Rebel Sport and 60 speciality stores. This also saw the first section of La Strada (fashion precinct) opened.
Stage 3 was completed which consisted of the Myer department store and additional fashion outlets within the La Strada opened on 4 August 2010.
The final works which included Event Cinemas, a childcare centre, medical centre, Gymnasium, The new Ryde Library and The Ryde Planning and Business Centre all opened in February 2011.[7][8] There were plans for Strike Bowling to open in February 2011, but the plans were cancelled and the bowling alley never opened.
The southern pedestrian overpass opened in December 2009 and the northern pedestrian overpass was opened in August 2010.
The development of the project encountered a number of problems, including issues of worker safety in the surrounding roads[9] and a near fatal workplace accident.[10] In addition to this, the local Chamber of Commerce raised some concerns with the project managers about the movement of trucks near the site, although these seem to have been dealt with by the project managers with the termination of contracts with trucking companies.[11]
The original owners of Top Ryde City entered administration in 2011 with McGrathNicol appointed administrator.[12] Top Ryde was sold to Blackstone in November 2012.[13][14]
In 2014 property developer Crown Group Holdings completed the final apartments in its 653-apartment development, Top Ryde City Living. The seven-tower residential complex is home to more than 600 residents and positioned above Top Ryde City Shopping Centre with views to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Blue Mountains and North Shore.[15][16]
On 5 May 2015, Myer has closed its Top Ryde store due to poor sales with many customers increasingly shopping at other Myer stores such as Parramatta, Chatswood, Macquarie Centre and Sydney.[18][19] The redevelopment began in June 2015 which saw many stores closed or relocated during the redevelopment including Freedom Furniture and Supa IGA which have both closed. This development consists of
A full line Kmart on the space previously occupied by Supa IGA (and Franklins prior to 2013) which opened on 16 June 2016
A full line Coles supermarket including a liquor store on the first floor of the space vacated by Myer which opened on 9 November 2016[20][21]
A new fresh food precinct and new stores opened on 9 November 2016
Harris Scarfe opened its first full line Sydney store on 22 July 2017 on the ground floor of the former Myer.[22][23] However, in January 2020 this store has permanently closed amongst the 20 other stores after Harris Scarfe has entered voluntary administration in December 2019.[24] This store was replaced by Supreme Furniture which opened on 1 August 2020. This was then replaced by Timezone and Zone Bowling on 21 November 2021.
TK Maxx has also opened its store on the same date as Harris Scarfe.[25]
Top Ryde has bus connections to the Sydney CBD, North Shore and Northern Suburbs, as well as local surrounding suburbs operated by Busways. The majority of bus services depart from Devlin Road in front of the shopping centre's main entrance and Blaxland Road. There is no railway station at Ryde, the nearest stations are located at Meadowbank and West Ryde.
Related Research Articles
Myer is an Australian mid-range to upscale department store. It trades in all Australian states and one of Australia's two self-governing territories. Myer retails a broad range of products across women's, men's, and children's clothing, as well as footwear and accessories, cosmetics and fragrance, homewares, electrical, connected home, furniture, toys, books and stationery, food and confectionery, and travel goods.
Macquarie Centre is a shopping centre in the suburb of Macquarie Park in the Northern Sydney region of Sydney and is located opposite the main campus of Macquarie University.
Chadstone Shopping Centre is a shopping centre located in the south-eastern Melbourne suburb of Malvern East. Chadstone Shopping Centre is the biggest shopping centre in Australia by both area and number of stores and one of the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere. The centre opened on 3 October 1960 and was the first self-contained regional shopping centre in Melbourne.
Eastland Shopping Centre is a super-regional shopping centre complex located in the eastern Melbourne suburb of Ringwood, Victoria, Australia. The fourth-largest shopping centre in Australia, it first opened on 31 October 1967 and has since grown to host over 340 retail stores and services.
Erina Fair is a large shopping centre in the suburb of Erina on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Erina Fair is the largest single level shopping centre in the Southern Hemisphere and the largest shopping centre on the Central Coast and in Regional Australia.
Strathpine Centre is an urban shopping centre located in Strathpine, a suburb in the City of Moreton Bay, north of Brisbane, in Queensland, Australia.
Westfield Carousel is an Australian shopping centre in the Perth suburb of Cannington. It is located approximately 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from Perth's central business district on the Albany Highway and approximately 600 metres (2,000 ft) from Cannington railway station. Following a redevelopment in 2018, Westfield Carousel became the largest shopping centre in Western Australia.
Westfield Hornsby is a large indoor/outdoor shopping centre in the suburb of Hornsby on the Upper North Shore of Sydney.
Bankstown Central is a shopping centre in the suburb of Bankstown in South Western Sydney.
Westfield Tuggerah is a large shopping centre in the suburb of Tuggerah on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. It is the second largest shopping centre on the Central Coast after Erina Fair.
Forest Hill Chase is a major regional shopping centre located in the eastern suburb of Forest Hill in Melbourne, Australia. Owned and managed by Haben, the centre is among the oldest in Victoria, opening on 30 June 1964 as an outdoor strip shopping centre, before being developed over the years into its current three level indoor form. Currently, Forest Hill Chase contains 200 stores and over 3500 free car parking spaces. The centre has three supermarkets, two discount department stores and some smaller anchor stores. The architecture is distinguished by a roof of polycarbonate construction with a barrel vault design.
Westfield Chermside, colloquially known as 'Chermside' or 'Chermy', is a regional shopping centre located in the Brisbane northern suburb of Chermside. It is the second largest regional shopping centre in Australia by both number of stores and gross leasable area, behind Chadstone Shopping Centre, and is operated by Scentre Group. The centre contains the Chermside bus station, a major hub for buses north of Brisbane.
Wollongong Central is a large shopping centre in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
Brookside Shopping Centre is the largest shopping centre in Brisbane's north-west, situated in Mitchelton, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Westpoint Blacktown is a large shopping centre situated in Blacktown, Western Sydney, New South Wales, owned by Queensland Investment Corporation. It was first opened in 1973, and then renovated and expanded in 2006, making it one of the biggest shopping centres in Western Sydney. The centre serves as a major retail hub for the region.
Stockland Shellharbour is a large indoor/outdoor shopping centre in the Shellharbour City Centre of the Illawarra region.
Bayside Shopping Centre is a super regional shopping centre in the suburb of Frankston on the Mornington Peninsula of Melbourne.
Stockland Green Hills, formerly Green Hills Shopping Centre, is a large indoor/outdoor shopping centre located in East Maitland, New South Wales, Australia.
Westfield Hurstville is a shopping centre in the suburb of Hurstville in the St George area of Sydney, Australia.
Southpoint Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in the suburb of Hillsdale in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, Australia, south-east of the CBD.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
