Mini-gun shopping centres, or those with a Gross Lettable Area (GLA) between 6,000 to 20,000 square metres, such as Maroubra’s Pacific Square, are thriving under the pandemic lockdowns better than the big guns or big retail hubs.
A report from the Shopping Centre News revealed that 133 mini-guns in Australia collectively raked $13 billion in sales between 1 August 2019 to 31 July 2020, with Pacific Square performing above the numbers of bigger malls following the addition of new food retailers.
Pacific Square had an 18 percent improvement in sales ($18,805 in turnover per square metre) by remixing its retail and food choices months before the pandemic struck. The Maroubra shopping centre also had $173 million in annual earnings, improving its previous year’s numbers by 1.5 percent.
According to Michael Lloyd of the Shopping Centre News, mini-guns have had high levels of trading because they are “local and convenient” and have shop owners or managers who know the pulse of the community.
In recent years, smaller shopping centres have also been managed by a sophisticated team of workers who got their training under the big guns. The right mix of local influence and refined corporate guidance has equipped the mini-guns to deliver peak performance during an unprecedented and unexpected public health crisis.
| Rank | Centre | Moving Annual Turnover per sq m |
| 1 | Pacific Square, NSW | $18,805 |
| 2 | Lane Cove Market Square, NSW | $17,727 |
| 3 | Norwood Place, SA | $16,648 |
| 4 | Bentons Square, Vic | $16,271 |
| 5 | Shoreline Plaza, Tas | $16,007 |
| 6 | Bridgepoint S/C, NSW | $15,630 |
| 8 | St Ives Shopping Village NSW | $15,456 |
| 9 | Kenmore Plaza, Qld | $15,430 |
| 10 | Gasworks, Qld | $14,801 |