The ARA commissioned local company Propella ai to better understand pedestrian movements versus retail operating hours in the city . The work confirmed that there were more consumers , visitors and workers in the city between 5pm and 7pm than 8am and 10am , which confirmed the original research hypothesis . It also confirmed that the most underserved time periods were Mondays , Tuesday , Wednesdays and Saturdays between 5pm and 7pm , and Fridays between 7pm and 9pm . ( See Figure 2 .)
Further research and engagement during this phase included desktop research , meetings with our recognised business precinct associations , and interviews with shopping centre managers , department stores and small retailers to form findings that can be used to influence future project plans .
FIGURE 1 . DATA FROM THE LATEST ECO SNAP
per week , often until at least 7pm , and smaller retailers between 35 and 56 hours per week , closing at 5pm on weekdays , limited late night shopping on Thursday and Fridays , and typically closed on Sundays .
A key finding from the survey was that less than half of respondents were counted as “ believers ,” believing there is a need to change hours as it would benefit the city , with the remaining 44 per cent either sceptical or undecided .
Knowing now that Thursday was beginning to replace Friday as the busiest workday in the city through our pedestrian data , and that approximately half of the retailers who took part in the research were believers in the concept of Twilight Trading , the focus shifted to activities to help bridge the gap between day and night trade . This is where Live at Errol was born .
LIVE AT ERROL Live at Errol was a series of events held in November and December 2023 on Thursday nights in the North and West Melbourne precinct area , primarily along Errol Street and the surrounding neighbourhood . The primary goal was to
FIGURE 2 . PEDESTRIAN VS BUSINESS ACTIVITY MATRIX
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