Charlestown Square is a large indoor/outdoor shopping centre in the suburb of Charlestown in the

City of Lake Macquarie The City of Lake Macquarie is a local government area in Greater Newcastle and part of the Hunter Region in New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed a city from 7 September 1984. The area is situated adjacent to the city of Newcastle and ...

Transport

Charlestown Square has bus connections to City of Lake Macquarie suburbs and Newcastle suburbs, as well as local surrounding suburbs. It is served by

Newcastle Buses Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, Sugar Valley Coachlines and

Port Stephens Coaches Port Stephens Coaches is an Australian bus company operating services in Port Stephens and the Hunter Region. History In the 1940s, the Newcastle to Nelson Bay service was purchased by the Fogg family. In 1957, the route was purchased by Sid ...

. Charlestown Square has multi level car parks with 2,254 spaces.

History

Charlestown Square opened on 27 March 1979 as a two level centre and featured

Kmart Kmart Corporation ( , doing business as Kmart and stylized as kmart) is an American retail company that owns a chain of big box department stores. The company is headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States. The company was inc ...

Coles New World Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd, trading as Coles, is an Australian supermarket, retail and consumer services chain, headquartered in Melbourne as part of the Coles Group. Founded in 1914 in Collingwood by George Coles, Coles operates ...

and 50 speciality stores. The centre underwent significant investment in extensions and modifications. The upgrades occurred in 1983 and in 1989 which added a

Grace Bros Grace Bros was an Australian department store chain, founded in 1885. It was bought by Myer (later Coles Myer) in 1983. There were 25 stores across New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory plus a few in Victoria, until they were r ...

department store and the first modern food court known as ‘Charlie’s Magic Eatery’. It also went through upgrades in 1996 and 2000.

closed its store in August 2004 and relocated to the expansion of

Stockland Glendale Stockland Glendale (previously known as Stockland Super Centre Glendale) is a large shopping centre located in the suburb of Glendale in the City of Lake Macquarie. It is located on Lake Road on a parcel of land, and primarily serves the Lake ...

. The Kmart store has since been replaced by

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, f ...

. Charlestown Square commenced the $470 million expansion after obtaining support from Lake Macquarie City Council in January 2008.GPT Developments
The GPT Group, Retrieved 20 Dec 2011 A number of people have been opposed to the expansion, including local member of parliament Matthew Morris. The redevelopment was completed in October 2010 and featured 110 new specialty shops including

Rebel Sport Rebel (formerly Rebel Sport) is an Australian sport equipment and related apparel chain. History Rebel Sport was established in 1985 with its first store in Bankstown. After being listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 1993, it was p ...

and

JB Hi-Fi JB Hi-Fi Limited is an Australian consumer electronics and home appliances retail company. It is publicly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Its headquarters are located in Southbank, Melbourne, Victoria. The company has 316 store ...

. An entertainment precinct also opened featuring eight screen

Reading Cinemas Reading Cinemas ( ) is a group of cinema chains operating in the United States, New Zealand, and Australia. They are owned by the American company Reading International. History In the late 1980s, through his holding company the Craig Cor ...

complex (which holds two Gold Lounge cinemas),

Strike Bowling Bar Strike Bowling Bar is an Australian-based company that owns and operates over 20 venues across Australia. Strike Bowling is currently Australia's largest privately owned bowling chain. Strike Bowling bar along with the Australian division oS ...

and restaurants. Reading Cinemas officially opened on 21 October 2010. A further expansion in 2015 saw Charlestown Square undergo a major redevelopment in a section of the centre known best for the former residency of

Best and 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 of ...

. This development meant the closure of 34 retailers during construction but brought major international retailers such as H&M and Mecca to the centre. German supermarket

Aldi Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when ...

also opened within the centre in 29 June 2016. H&M opened at Charlestown Square on 14 July 2016 along with a flagship

Cotton On Cotton On Group is Australia's largest global retailer, known for its fashion clothing and stationery brands. As of 2020, it has over 1,500 stores in 18 countries employing 22,000 people across seven brands: Cotton On, Cotton On Kids, Cotton O ...

store. Charlestown Square planned its $4.6 million redevelopment featuring new bars and cafes in the expansion. On 5 December 2019 Charlestown Square opened its new dining precinct known as 'The Corner', which featured six new contemporary restaurants. Around that time a renovated Timezone opened.

Tenants

Charlestown Square has 93,400m² of floor space. The major retailers include

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 ...

Big W Big W (stylized as BIG W) is an Australian chain of discount department stores, which was founded in regional New South Wales in 1964. The company is a division of Woolworths Group and as at 2019 operated 176 stores, with around 22,000 employee ...

, Coles, Woolworths,

, H&M,

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

, Timezone,

Holey Moley ''Holey Moley'' is an American sports reality competition television series created for ABC by Chris Culvenor. The series is produced by Eureka Productions and Unanimous Media, with Culvenor, Paul Franklin, Wesley Dening, Stephen Curry, Jero ...

and

Incidents

* On 14 February 2015, a 42 year old father and his 13 year old daughter were assaulted by gangs of youths outside the cinema complex. The pair attempted to leave the centre through an external set of stairs, only to be confronted by a gang of screaming, swearing youths. The man was dragged on to the ground and beaten, suffering suspected broken ribs and cuts to his face, hands and feet. The youths also stole his phone, wallet and car keys. A 15 year old boy was arrested over the incident and was dealt with under the Young Offenders Act. * On 28 February 2018, a 22 year old man was arrested by police over a domestic violence incident. However during the arrest the man stabbed himself several times as officers went to arrest him. He was then tasered by police in an effort to stop him from stabbing himself but he lost consciousness. He was then resuscitated before paramedics arrived and rushed him to hospital in a critical condition. This incident occurred around 1pm outside a liquor store. * On 24 March 2020, a 52 year old woman verbally abused and threatened a 46 year old male employee of the supermarket before punching him in the chest and spitting in his face. A 33 year old male security guard intercepted the woman and she verbally abused and slapped him. Police arrived a short time later and arrested her. Officers were told the woman was previously banned from the store after a verbal altercation with staff over previous the weekend. This incident occurred around 5pm.

References

External links

Charlestown Square Official Website
{{Shopping centres in New South Wales Shopping centres in New South Wales Shopping malls established in 1979 1979 establishments in Australia City of Lake Macquarie