Marrickville Transformed

Over 40 new stores, new dining and fresh food plus a new Coles opening at the newly expanded Marrickville Metro on June 10.

Inner West’s iconic Marrickville Metro has received a fresh new face lift and from June 10 the doors will open. As part of a multi-million dollar redevelopment, the centre will open to an abundance of delightful dining offers, fabulous new retail stores and a dedicated fresh food precinct with Coles.

Marrickville Metro is getting ready to welcome locals and Sydneysiders to the newly expanded centre across the road at Smidmore Street with a five-day extravaganza including mouth-watering food, drinks, culture, art and music. Slated to be the newest lifestyle destination to hit Sydney, Marrickville Metro will run five days of launch activity to ignite all the senses. Opening on Thursday 10 June and running until Monday 14 June, Marrickville Metro will run a variety of free events and activations for all ages to enjoy.

FOOD & DINING

The new food offering at Marrickville Metro will add to the rich foodie culture of the Inner West. As of June 10, over 10 restaurateurs and cafes will bring a mix of family-run businesses and nationally recognised concepts to the close-knit Inner West community.

Some of the new, and most exciting, locals to join the community are;

• Jacqueline Tran & Cecilia Wang from Rice Pantry: Expanding its menu beyond Vietnamese for its newest venture, Rice Pantry is set to become the grounds for a modern Asian diner and bar. With Head Chef, Bryan Zhu (a favourite former MasterChef Australia contestant) on board, the team will showcase bold, delicious and distinctive flavours of Asian cuisine in a fun, creative and unexpected way.
• Fernando Riggio from The Grumpy Italian: Fernando has been filling his customers hearts and stomachs with crazy stories, delicious food and plenty of Italian attitude in his venues in Chiswick and North Strathfield. He is excited to get to know the Inner West community as he serves up all the carb-filled deliciousness we love with traditional pasta, pizza and house-made desserts.
• Jorge from Raman: A new concept developed especially for the new Marrickville Metro, Raman will take traditional middle eastern cuisine and inject a modern flair to their all-day dining menus.
• Jay from Firestone: Known for their premium wagyu steaks served on heated hot stone, Firestone will be treating Marrickville locals with all day dining in a colourful and casual atmosphere.

NEW STORES

Within the halls of the new Marrickville Metro visitors to the centre will find stores offering a range of lifestyle, fitness, beauty and convenience products and services. Some of these will include businesses such as the unique art and design store Hypmotive, who will establish their second store in Marrickville. Alongside Hypmotive, you will also find 24-hour gymnasium BODYFIT Marrickville Platinum, pet care and grooming company, Palms & Paws, and Barber Industries, who blend the concept of a traditional barbershop with modern day techniques and craftsmanship. Finally, the independently owned Liquor Emporium will have over 500 craft beers, organic and natural wines and non-alcoholic wines available in their new store at Marrickville Metro.

It won’t just be permanent spaces available though. Pop-up spaces for casual leasing will also be available for smaller start-ups in order to encourage greater diversity and opportunity for the local community to contribute to the development of the Marrickville Metro community spirit.

ART

Marrickville Metro has partnered with Inner West Council to engage an amazing array of artists. The new site will be accentuated with some of the most incredible local artworks to add that final eclectic look and feel to the experience. The Marrickville Metro team has worked with amazing local artists to ensure that the new space reflects the artistic, creativeand diverse community that is its home.

Large-scale artworks by Georgia Hill, Liz Shreeve and Fintan Magee were installed earlier this year. Bespoke artworks will bring new life to the amenities and features with travelator art, furniture art, parents’ room art and quirky amenity signage. The local art programme not only adds beauty and interest to the development but also provides support to the talented local creative industry in what has been a difficult year.

DESIGN

The key vision for the new Marrickville Metro was to create an Inner West hub for all things retail, food and drinks, arts and culture. The population around Marrickville continues to grow. By the end of 2021 the area’s population is predicted to reach around 437,000. As the Inner West booms, Marrickville Metro offers a new space to help meet the growing demands of the local community.

As Marrickville Metro Centre Manager Dean Young said, “Our vision for this development has been to create an inclusive space that adds convenience and lifestyle opportunities for those who live within our local community. We’re not only upgrading the size of the centre to meet demand; we’re also working to integrate features that really complement and enhance the unique Inner West culture and the Marrickville way of living. Our new retailers have completely embraced this culture and as a result we have some exciting new-to-market concepts delivered by some of Sydney’s much-loved operators.”

In keeping with the aesthetic of the local community the new development has incorporated a previously unutilised industrial warehouse within the design. By retaining the existing external facade of the warehouse the new Marrickville Metro maintains the integrity of the area’s local heritage, drawing on the rich culture of the urban village community and providing an architectural vision for the future.

Previously the centre occupied 22,000 square metres but this development will add a further 11,000 square metres. Included in this development is the addition of a full-service Coles to complete the current Woolworths and Aldi stores. Hames Sharly Architects have also ensured that there will be ample pedestrian access, with the inclusion of a pedestrian bridge connecting the existing and new development. For those wishing to drive to Marrickville Metro don’t worry because the new development also includes 455 new parking spaces.

Perhaps best of all the new Marrickville Metro will create 600 new jobs for the Inner West community.

So get out, discover, play and refuel on delicious bites, shop again and dine into the late evening, all at the new Marrickville Metro from 10 June.

Marrickville Metro, 20 Smidmore St, Marrickville. www.marrickvillemetro.com.au