High Street is one of Melbourne's premier retail, lifestyle, wellness, and fashion destinations.
Place Activation Plan for Armadale
Economic Snapshot
October 2025 - March 2026 Economic Snapshot(PDF, 502KB)
What's happening in this precinct?
Spend is down on High Street, mostly being felt by cafes and restaurants. Department stores and clothing, which account for approximately 54% of local spend, have grown slightly by 1.6% ($411K) in the last six months. As expected from a precinct with a strong representation of discretionary retail, High Street performed best in the leadup to Christmas, with sales dropping off in the early part of 2026. Vacancy is the lowest in any of the major precincts at 4%, which is extraordinarily low compared to greater Melbourne averages. Street activity is highest at work commute times, noting that activity data is sourced from a pedestrian counter near Armadale station.
The economy
- Daytime spend – $41.8M
- Night-time spend – $3.0M
- Total local spend – $45M (down 5.9% from last year)
- Total customers – 39K (down 1.1% from last year)
- Highest spend day – 23 December 2025
- Highest weekly spend day – Saturdays
- Spend origin – 30% residents, 70% visitors
| October - March monthly spend |
|
2024-25 |
2025-26 |
| October |
$8,649,177 |
$8,407,000 |
| November |
$8,858,696 |
$8,150,000 |
| December |
$9,960,385 |
$9,303,000 |
| January |
$6,715,313 |
$6,534,000 |
| February |
$6,493,033 |
$6,058,000 |
| January |
$7,318,430 |
$6,711,000 |
|
October 2025 - March 2026 top spend categories
|
|
Category
|
Subcategory
|
Total spend
|
|
Discretionary retail
|
Department stores, clothing and accessories
|
$26,374,000
|
|
Other discretionary retail
|
$4,512,000
|
| Tourism and entertainment |
Takeaway and fast-food outlets
|
$541,000
|
| Restaurants |
$1,970,000 |
|
Cafes
|
$2,249,000
|
Vacancy and occupancy
- Vacancies now filled – 15 since July 2026
- Changed tenancies - 10 since July 2026
- Newly vacant premises - 5 since July 2026
|
|
January 2026 vacancy rate
|
Change
|
|
High Street
|
4.00%
|
Down 3.20%
|
Street activity
- Busiest days - Fridays
- Busiest times – 8 am
Visitor demographics
- Top customer age band – 25-34, 23.0% of visitors
- Top customer life stage – Young families, 25.6% of visitors
|
Top 5 non-Stonnington spend origin locations
|
|
Caulfield – North
|
$1.3M
|
| Brighton |
$872.0K
|
| Glen Iris – East |
$703.0K
|
|
Caulfield – South
|
$671.0K
|
| Elsternwick |
$511.0K
|
Data sourcing: Pedestrian activity data current as of 8 April 2026. Source: City of Stonnington Pedestrian counters. Spend data current as of 24 April 2026 and is subject to revisions. Sourced from banking transaction data. Vacancy data current as of January 2026. Source: Vacancy Review, prepared by E3 valuations and commissioned by City of Stonnington.
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