Why we don't like Manuka Plaza

I agree with everything needlenose just said.

However, and maybe it’s just me here, I think the ‘dodgy’ feel of the place prevails over everything else! I don’t feel in danger walking around most of the other parts of Manuka at night, even around ATMs etc, but the quiet, barren corridor of Manuka Plaza seems like a good place for anti-social behaviour to occur! Although I’m pretty sure none of that happens – maybe because everyone is a little put off, or maybe because the gangs of youths looking for a fight hang out in more prominent places.

But during the day is when you’d expect more business, so I guess the above isn’t the reason it hasn’t succeeded, I’m just a night owl I guess.

Just bad design I suppose – it’s practically invisible, it’s not well signposted or advertised, and besides, there’s nothing there anyway (because of the high rent and other reasons Dave_K mentioned)…

It doesn’t look interesting, and isn’t on the way to anything – why would anyone go there?

Hmmmph i didn’t know Manuka had such a plaza

The carpark exit for pedestrians spits you out at Coles and a pedestrian crossing. Who’s going to walk all the way up outside just for a look-see?

It’s ugly, and it’s set out in a way that makes it seem vaguely unsafe to walk around in on your own – lots of walls and very few people.

But my theory is that (as Maelinar said) the developers tried to piggy back off the good will and cachet of other businesses in Manuka. However, they went about it badly, without recognising that what makes Manuka an attractive place to shop is that it has very few retail chains – it’s mainly one-off boutique-type establishments which are owner-operated and directly targeted to local wants and needs.

So Dymocks was never going to thrive when you can get a more interesting range of books – and more street cred – from buying at Paperchain. Sanity was never going to succeed when people can cross the road for exactly the same pop/rock records, plus a huge range of classical & jazz and staff who really know what they’re talking about at Abel’s. That Mecca Bah has survived and done well despite all of that just goes to prove the point – it’s still quirky and individual enough to pull in the punters.

Anyone who goes to Manuka for a coffee doesn’t want to drink it from a chain store – you can get a better one from a locally owned business two steps away, and probably at a better price.

It’s also why the businesses in the redeveloped Woolworth’s site are doing much better than the ones in the “Terrace” – again they are not tacky, boring, predictable chain stores selling tacky, boring, predictable crap.

in my opinion the original multi-colour scheme was horrible and that is now being painted over with a plain stone shade, and the dreadful metal lightening conductors are being removed from the roof. Coles has a very limited range, high prices and the shelves are often empty, especially of the current specials.

Maybe the area is cursed by miss-pronunciation of Manuka – ma-NUKE-a rules.

They could do a Dickensian london feel without any great financial outlay, then it’d look cool at least…

The Coles there is actually the best Coles I’ve found! You should see the Qbn one, whopping long lines, and permanently empty shelves.
That development needs more destination/drawcard places in it. If Starbucks can’t make a go of it, that’s pretty indicative. It’s very bare/barren and concretey/tiley, none of the shops are tempting to enter, meccabah seems popular but it’s not flowing over to the rest of the development.
I usually park on Captain Cook in front of those flats, and bypass this Terrace thing to shop at Manuka-proper. Unless I’m going to Coles.

I park there all the time because its close to Manuka and under cover. Something about the place though has largely precluded me from shopping or eating there if another option exists. It feels less inviting than the Lanyon Market Place (which has an almost weekly brawl and constant vandalism).

Let me offer a few observations as a residential tenant in the building. It is badly managed and maintained. Car park exit boom gates frequently out of order. Elevators servicing both public and residential areas frequently out of order or operating erratically. Elevators frequently dirty from the remnants of a certain fast food chain’s rubbish. Getting in and out of the building to the apartment levels can be a magical mystery tour at times. Building management generally non responsive to issues raised by tenants, both business and residential. They are either lazy, careless or running low on cash to maintain the facilities properly (or, all of the above). Starbucks is going because their customer traffic did not warrant the rent being demanded. Whatever you think of Starbucks, from a centre management point of view you would have thought they would have done what they could to keep them. For a centre to prosper it needs big names to anchor the retail business. I really wonder how NAB and St George can justify their full-service branches – their foot traffic seems very low from what I’ve seen. The Coles supermarket is perhaps one of the worst I’ve come across in Australia in both lay-out and stock management. Shelves are frequently empty during peak shopping periods. (Not that you can blame that on the centre management, but it just adds to the general sense of abandonment about the place.) I was recently offered an opportunity to buy my apartment. The body corporate fees were at least double those of any other apartment building I looked at, with far less amenity and facilities. That said, apartments seem to rent pretty quickly and no doubt the proximity to the Manuka ‘high life’ is a major factor. (Although some of the real estate pitches promising ‘sophisticated, cafe society living’ are a bit rich. It’s Manuka, after all, and it does get a bit mangy after dusk.)

i have heard the rent charged is appalling, so a high turnover of shops or large percentage of empty stores makes it unappealing to visit, and it is fricking ugly as.

i do go to the coles manuka for my fortnightly grocery shopping because the carpark beneath makes it convenient in all types of weather and it is a nice store – and this is despite the fact i live inner north (dickson woollies is the worst supermarket on the planet).

Losing “necessity” businesses like the newsagent won’t help their cause.

I have been to the supermarket there a few times in the past, but noticed their prices were substantially higher than other supermarkets in Canberra. So I didn’t go back. If their supermarket had the same prices as others, I would have returned which would have meant shopping at other businesses in the plaza too.

I think it’s simple, very little through-traffic, so unless you make the effort to go there you wouldn’t even know what’s up there. Poor design.

If their pricing scale weren’t so extreme, they might develop a customer base.

As it stands, they started at the extreme scale, attempting to harness the good foundations laid by the remainder of Manuka, and failed.

Pop in a few more cafe’s, cornerstone the cafe market in Canberra (I’d say its a neat split between Garema Place and Manuka, with Dickson and Kingston bringing up equal shades of close, but not quite), and watch the dollars roll.

Despite being an almost daily visitor to Manuka, I rarely wander into the realm of the terrace. Occasionally to Coles or the Post Office and the dreaded yearly trip to the dentist, that really is the full extent of it.

I see no real issues apart from its total lack of character and soul.

It’s not a very inviting place to shop.

There must be something wrong when a newsagent and chemist can not make a dollar at that site. The Post Office’s relocation there was a disgrace.

Should have just built some more luxury apartments on the block with some street level shops.

I here that a Woolies may be built on the car park in Kingston.

The fact that it’s like a rabbit warren doesn’t help.

When I think about what makes Manuka work as a social and shopping mecca, Manuka plaza just sticks out like a boil in contrast.

Yah it’s strange how that place has never taken off. A combination of things I think, mostly narcissistic. You’re kind of hidden away up there – difficult to show off your new designer sunglasses, nobody can see you drive round the block ten times in your shiny racing car. But maybe the other cafes make better coffee?! (I don’t drink coffee)

Because why would you shop among a bunch of uppity wankers when you could shop with bogan?