Update 23 November 2008: Mirrors seems to be struggling as it has resorted to building a beer garden at the rear of the property without council permission or a permit and seemingly without a license to serve alcohol there. In contrast, the space is now St Jude’s Cellar and seems to be doing very well.
I’m curious about the identity of spaces and how people use them. For example, why do some spaces on a street do well while others feature one failed business after another? Why does one space do better or worse than another seemingly similar space? Here are some local examples. Before it was Zombar is was something I’ve forgotten; no one ever went in there, and now it is becoming the Mirrors bar.
Almost directly across the street was Bungalow 8, which has been closed for some time. Before that it was another place whose name I also can’t remember, where the colourful retro decor distracted you from the mediocrity of the food. In descending order: the previous place, the former Bungalow 8 as it is now, and the interior of the new venue taking shape.
What does it take for a business operator to choose a good site? If so many other businesses in these locations have failed, does this mean the next ones will too? To all the urban planners out there, please explain!
4 February 2008 at 12:59 pm
The place that Bungalow 8 used to be before it was Bungalow 8 did make awesome blue milkshakes though.
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7 February 2008 at 8:13 am
It was Hideout before it was Bungalo 8, word on the street is that the owners of Vegebar invested in it while they were closed down for renovations, so i think it is becoming some sort of winebar/lounge thing… which will probably give Polly a bit of trouble. Zombar was originally The Planet Cafe, which like Zombar went completley unnoticed. I assume thats why the new Mirrors Bar has sort of had to slap you in the face with it’s signage. Its an ugly sign, but as much as i really wish they had considered making it a little less tacky, i sort of respect that it is doing it’s own thing- it’s not trying hard to look “brunswicky streety”…
In answer to your question “why do some spaces not work”, i’m going to blame the pedestrian crossings. It seems that nobody wants to walk into a bar after crossing the road. Think of all the bars/pubs at pedestrian crossings on Brunswick street. We have the Royal Derby, Cape Live/Lounge whatever, Mirrors, “Bungalo 8″… they get plenty of exposure but people just dont go in. Also when you have a business that is infront of a pedestrian crossing, you are not permitted to have any street frontage, so when your crossing the road, there are no open arms splilling out at you, just a wide gaping mouth. Those sort of businesses always tend to look rather stark and souless from the outside.
Another way to look at is that walking across the street straight into a bar in Melbourne is just too easy. In my experience (living here my entire life) Melbournians nowadays refuse to have anything that is put directly infront of them, as they get a far greater joy out of “discovering things”. Nobody here goes into the the places right infront of them because they assume that’s where everybody would go. Or where the tourists would go. But thanks to the City Of Melbourne promoting our city in the “you have to find the heart of Melbourne in the hidden away alleys and sidestreets” fashion, all of the tourists are going to the trendy bars because they are the ones that get advertised in the travel guides. Places like Bungalo 8 or the Derby would not get so much as a drop of ink.
The entire city is identifying itself with the “bohemian” attitude more than ever before. This in turn would have made us come to expect a certain level of “shabby chic”, or “quirk element” when new bars and cafes open up. If its corporate and it’s sterile we don’t want it, because we secretly fear that if we are seen in these sort of venues, the perception of our personalities will be tainted by our surroundings.
What we seem to forget is that most of the cool bars and cafes are indeed corporate and sterile behind the facade of faux bohemia. The owners are buisness men, hidden behind bubbly managers, and effortlessly cool staff. They are businesses!
Having said all of that, i still blame the pedestrian crossings :) I also think its is a hard street to develop on because everybody is already so angry about what has/is happened/ing to it, you have the choice of either looking backwards in time to try and re-establish what it once was (by being new but by being old), or you can open something that is your own thing and not try compete with the rest of the street. You can take the street for what it is now, appreciate the good things that are left and not dwell on what is was. It will be ok as long as its only fixing up the places that are not working (like Zombar, like Bungalo 8…) and as long as it’s honest with itself.
-A
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10 February 2008 at 5:07 pm
Planet Cafe->Esco->Zombar->Mirrors
The Planet used to do a roaring trade, but the others were pretty much dead in the water as soon as they opened. None since The Planet seems to have made much use of the upstairs space, which is a shame. Back in the day I went to some great low-key gigs and amateur productions up there.
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6 March 2008 at 4:32 am
I think that both buildings are greatly affected by two things: One is that they are both at the ‘end of the road’ so to speak; in that they are at the very end of bruswick street strip. Although it would seem that they are both well located if you take a walk down Brnswick street one cant help feeling like you have gone too far beyond Vege Bar. Sure there is First Floor and Polly but these are well established… That end of the street is just not drop in friendly.
The second big factor is to do with that pedestrian crossing but indirectly. Both buildings are prevented from having awnings on the street because of it. The consequence being that there is terrible glare from the big windows, during the day you cant see inside without having nasty bright lights inside which spoils the atmopsphere. This may seem trivial but I reckon it is the key to the whole mystery.
The third factor is the general pretentious sheep-mentality of the street in general and some sort of bizzare tribal snobiness to anything that does not conform to the Brunswick street ethos. You wouldnt thinks so, but this street has to be the most conformist and pretentious in the area but in a weird kooky kind of way. Dont get me wrong I love the street and I love Fitzroy but it is a tough street to start a business in. Once enough cool people secide to grace the couches of any of the many venues the sheep will follow… Just dont expect them to spend enough money to even cover the exorbitent rent paid for the building.
As a freind told me once when I moved over from Windsor to ‘North of the Yarra’: “There are many wankers on the south side but they embrace their wanker-ness and revel in their consumerist world of pink polo shirts and spiky hair-dos. The wankers on the North side are in denial.”
Even if you dont agree with this there is no doubt that punters on the south side have money to burn and are more willing to try out the new venues that come and go on their local street.
For a business to be sucessfull on this street the owners need to have their finger firmly on the pulse. Being a local with local friends seems to be essential as well.
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23 November 2008 at 3:49 pm
Referring to the example above in the photo ‘Mirrors’ – I personally wouldn’t go to a place like this (unless someone had told me previously that it was very good) because of the tacky signage! it reaks of low budget bad taste! It’s also a horrible name. Now, this can work sometimes, but when you are new and as you have mentioned, people have come and gone before you and have had no success – this is a recipe for disaster.
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24 December 2008 at 5:02 am
http://indolentdandy.net/fitzroyalty/2008/10/30/illegal-construction-behind-mirrors-lounge-bar/
This is why the space does not work!
People who live on and around a street with restaurants and bars the whole way through expect to have no noise?!! Please…
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24 December 2008 at 8:13 am
You have missed the point. The residents near Mirrors don’t expect no noise. They expect the business to obey the law and obtain building permits and abide by its licence requirements. Badly managed businesses run by people who cannot meet their legal and social obligations deserve to fail.
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6 January 2009 at 8:18 pm
I blame the rents…as someone else has pointed out at another time, if the rent is high, a business has to be very successful to make it work. Rents in Brunswick street in general are very high, and some exceptionally high.
Personally, I didn’t mind the Hideout: it was bright and kitschy, and one of the few places open very late. It’s a very large venue, I’m sure the rent would be large. I also liked Planet – they had a great weekly poetry gig, and a great vibe even if the downstairs wasn’t the best of decors. It was there for quite a while, not sure why it closed down but I haven’t paid much attention to any of the venues there since. Nowadays I’m a creature of habit and tend to go to the places I know are good or have good word of mouth.
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