We knew it wasn’t permanent, while Canberrans have come to love the Lonsdale Street Traders, we’ve known all to well it was just temporary and it seems the end is nigh.
Lonsdale Street Traders helped give Braddon a new edge, it showcased locally made, vintage and specialty imports. It was the place to find a unique gift, meet for a coffee over a vegan muffin, discover local designers and rediscover vintage threads.
The rawness of the space helped it become something special and different, the turn over of new popups guaranteed with all most every visit there would be a new shop to explore.
What’s even better is it’s given some retailers an opportunity to get on their feet before seeking out more long term digs to help share their beautiful products with us, a rare thing that not a lot of small business owners get to do.
The Traders was also the birth of pop-up in Canberra, sure some of the big shopping centers would allow the occasional pop-up, but this was where the heart was. It was home to a turn over of pop-up shops and pop-up events making it feel like the cool underbelly of creativity that Canberra was craving.
While the popularity of places like the Traders has created a bit of a parking nightmare (read Alexandra Craigs article on Parking in Braddon), the pros definitely out weigh the cons when small businesses can trial shop fronts without locking into 12-month leases.
So what’s to become of some of our new favourite retailers?
My personal favourites in the Traders is Moxom + Whitney, Trove, Box and Elseware.
We want to hit up the RiotAct readers and find out which is your favourite shop.
If you have any insider information as to where the retailers are moving to once the Traders becomes an apartment complex let us know in the comments!
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