The Myer Centre is a multi-storied retail building located between the

Queen Street Mall The Queen Street Mall is a pedestrian mall located on Queen Street in the centre of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The mall extends approximately from George Street to Edward Street, and has more than 700 retailers over of retail spa ...

and Elizabeth Street in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

named after

Myer Myer (stylised MYER, sometimes known as Myers) is an Australian mid-range to upscale department store chain. It trades in all Australian states and one of Australia's two self-governing territories. Myer retails a broad range of products ...

, its largest tenant. It is a nine-floor shopping complex which includes Queensland's largest

department store. It was Australia's largest central business district retail development until 1991 when superseded by Adelaide's Myer Centre.

Stores

The Myer Centre is currently home to approximately 180 stores. Upon opening in 1988 it housed 230 stores including Australia's second-largest Myer department store. The Myer Centre stores are open to the public seven days a week.

Layout

Due to the hilly landscape of the Brisbane CBD, The Myer Centre's floors are labelled differently from that of most shopping centres. Whereas many shopping centres label their floors purely by number (level 1, level 2, etc.) or its vertical position (lower level, upper level, etc.), The Myer Centre is laid out in the following fashion (lowest level to highest): *Level S (named after the

Sizzler Sizzler USA Restaurants, Inc., doing business as Sizzler, is a United States-based restaurant chain with headquarters in Mission Viejo, California, with locations mainly in California, plus some in the nearby states of Washington, Arizona, Neva ...

restaurant):

*Level T (Lower Target level (formerly), one lift only): no longer open to the general public *Level A (Albert Street entrance):

Queen Street bus station Queen Street bus station is the primary bus terminus in Brisbane central business district in Queensland, Australia. It is underneath The Myer Centre and Queen Street Mall. It opened on 26 March 1988. At the time it was the largest undergroun ...

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...

, food court *Level E (Elizabeth Street entrance): Coles Central, food court, specialty stores *Level Q (Queen Street entrance):

(Beauty Floor), specialty stores *Level 1 (first floor above any street level):

(Women's Floor),

Lincraft Lincraft is a retail chain in Australia that specialises in the sale of homewares, including crafts, material, and patterns. As of October 2022, it has 48 locations around Australia and New Zealand. Lincraft (formerly Suzanne Silks) was nurtured ...

, specialty stores *Level 2 (second floor above street levels):

(Men's Floor), DVD King,

Daiso is a large franchise of 100-yen shops founded in Japan. The headquarters are in Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture. Daiso has a range of over 100,000 products, of which over 40 percent are imported goods, many of them from China, South Ko ...

Best & Less Best & Less is an Australian retailer of clothing and household linens. As of 2020, Best&Less has 246 stores as well as an online platform. History Best & Less was founded by Berel Ginges in January 1965, by occupying part of the ground floor o ...

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. History Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...

Shop, Skinnys *Level 3 (third floor above street levels):

(Homewares and Children's Floor) (accessed from within store only),

Event Cinemas Greater Union Organisation Pty Ltd, trading as Event Cinemas, Greater Union, GU Film House, Moonlight Cinema and Birch Carroll & Coyle (BCC Cinemas), is the largest movie exhibitor in Australia and New Zealand, with over 140 cinema complexes c ...

*Level 4 (fourth floor above street levels):

(Home Entertainment Floor) (accessed from within store only) *Level R (two lifts only): Centre Management

History

The Myer Centre shopping complex opened for trading on 28 March 1988 (just in time for Brisbane's World Expo '88) and

relocated its Brisbane department store into it. More than 500,000 customers visited within the first four days of operation. Previously, the original Brisbane Myer store extended from Queen Street to Adelaide Street, with entrances at both ends. That old location was on the opposite side of Queen Street to its current location in The Myer Centre. The old store was split in half by Burnett Lane and the arcade through today's ''Queen Adelaide Building'' used to be the main thoroughfare through the old Myer store. Myer purchased that original location from the Allan and Stark department store. The

Allan and Stark Building The Allan and Stark Building is a heritage-listed row of contiguous but not identical retail buildings located at 110 Queen Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The architect was Andrea Stombuco. It was also know ...

are heritage listed. Originally, one of the entrances opened onto the busy Queen Street, before it was pedestrianised to become the

in 1982. The construction project by REMM Group Ltd went for 18 months, and required excavation of 375,000 cubic metres of earth, to a depth of 22 metres (eight metres below the

Brisbane River The Brisbane River is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the river, named it after the ...

level), which was the largest urban excavation in Australia at that time. The design emphasised a Victorian theme, utilising ornate railing and fittings in brass and green, with terrazzo floor tiles. Previously located on the site were four historic buildings of the

Hotel Carlton Hotel Carlton is a boutique hotel on Nob Hill in San Francisco which has been operating since 1927. It is operated by Joie de Vivre Hospitality. It is a contributing property to the Lower Nob Hill Apartment Hotel District, which was listed on ...

(1885), New York Hotel (1860),

Newspaper House Manor Apartment Hotel is a heritage-listed former office building and now apartment hotel at 289 Queen Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Hennessey, Hennessey & Co and built from 1930 to 1931 ...

, from which the

Brisbane Telegraph The ''Telegraph'' was an evening newspaper published in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was first published on 1 October 1872 and its final edition appeared on 5 February 1988. In its day it was recognised as one of the best news pictorial n ...

was first published, and the

Barry and Roberts Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 195 ...

department store. Using

facadism Facadism, façadism, or façadomy is the architectural and construction practice where the facade of a building is designed or constructed separately from the rest of a building, or when only the facade of a building is preserved with new buil ...

, the facades of those buildings have been retained and restored. In November 1998 the Myer Centre was purchased by Gandel Retail Trust for $371 million, making it the second largest property transaction in Australia's history at that time. The top floor of the centre was a fun park, Top's, until it was demolished and replaced by a cinema in 2000. The fun park comprised various small shops, an amusement centre, a swing ship, a dragon train, and a

Ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a Giant Wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsule ...

. When the theme park was operating, screams of excitement and terror could be heard from the patrons of both the swing ship and the dragon train. Prior to 2000, the cinemas were originally situated in the area now occupied by Target on one level only, and operated by Hoyts. In the past, the centre's tenants included fairly substantial nightclubs. In the early 1990s, the basement area (subsequently occupied by

) hosted "The Funkyard", a nightspot with an emphasis on the "alternative" guitar rock of the era. The Funkyard hosted live gigs; for example, the U.S. band Dark Carnival played there, with Ron Asheton of the Stooges on guitar. Another former tenant of the centre which played host to live music was the "Metropolis" nightclub, adjacent to the bus tunnel on Level "A", near the place now occupied by glamour photography shop "Starshots". Irish "shoegaze" band My Bloody Valentine played at Metropolis in 1991, supported by Straitjacket Fits (from New Zealand) and the Underground Lovers. In 2005 the centre was purchased by Colonial First State Property group as part of the purchase of Gandels Centres. The centre was valued at A$732 million in 2012 when ISPT purchased a half stake. On 8 March 2013, the front of the Myer Centre was the scene of an hour-long siege. The gunman was subdued by police using rubber bullets.

Transport

Car

The Myer Centre has Brisbane CBD's largest car park with 1,450 undercover car park bays and on-site staff available 24 hours a day. The car park uses Park Assist technology to guide drivers to an available bay and help find their car if the driver can't locate it on their return.

Bus

The Myer Centre is also one of the bus transit hubs for the Brisbane CBD. Many bus routes commence and terminate under the Myer Centre at the

on the Albert Street level of the complex.

Train

The Myer Centre is also within easy walking distance of three railway stations: *

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

* South Brisbane Station * Roma Street Station.

References

External links

The Myer Shopping Centre — official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Myer Centre, The Shopping centres in Brisbane Queen Street, Brisbane Elizabeth Street, Brisbane Albert Street, Brisbane