Growing Precincts Together - Racecourse Road

In 2022-23, Council started providing hands-on support to assist the Racecourse Road retail precinct as part of the Growing Precincts Together program. This project was completed in October 2023, however Council is providing ongoing support to local businesses to raise the profile of this iconic precinct.

Design Markets

As part of ongoing support to the Racecourse Road precinct, Council has sponsored The What We Make Design Markets to deliver a series of four pop-up markets at the St Augustine’s Parish Hall in the heart of the precinct:

  • Sunday, 25 August 2024 – Slow Fashion Market
  • Sunday, 10 November 2024 – Slowly Made Christmas
  • Sunday, 23 March 2025 – Slow Fashion Market
  • Sunday, 8 June 2025 – Slowly Made Art & Lifestyle Market 

These events will promote the talented maker community of Brisbane and introduce the beautiful Racecourse Road precinct to market visitors. 

Art showcase - Vibrantly Vacant

Council installed a temporary art showcase on three vacant shopfronts at 77 Racecourse Road (the corner of Racecourse Road and Kent Street) as part of the work to promote, activate, refresh and support the Racecourse Road precinct. The temporary art showcase was in place from June 2023 to May 2024 when the premises was redeveloped.

The temporary art showcase featured the work of Debra Hood who is known for her depiction of Brisbane streetscapes. She is inspired by Brisbane’s abundance of colourful flora that continually changes through the year. This foliage is mirrored in her paintings as a confetti-like, multicoloured display surrounding iconic Queensland houses. Her incredible artwork is also available on a range of books, games, homewares, accessories and apparel.

Vibrantly Vacant artwork by Debra Hood
Vibrantly Vacant artwork by Debra Hood
Vibrantly Vacant artwork by Debra Hood
Vibrantly Vacant artwork by Debra Hood
Vibrantly Vacant artwork by Debra Hood
Vibrantly Vacant artwork by Debra Hood
Vibrantly Vacant artwork by Debra Hood

Objectives

Promote

Promote is one of four key objectives in the delivery phase of Growing Precincts Together. Council engaged Style Magazine to deliver a suite of online promotions in May and June 2023 to promote Racecourse Road as a destination. This included online articles, Instagram carousels, reels and a 'tag and share' competition. 

View the published articles:

Council also engaged Excite Media to develop a contemporary and up-to-date precinct website for Racecourse Road, providing a directory of all businesses.

Support

Council offered businesses in the Racecourse Road precinct the opportunity to apply for free one-on-one support programs delivered by expert providers. They included:

  • digital marketing consultations
  • business coaching
  • support for food businesses.

Refresh

For the refresh deliverable, Council offered 2 programs where expert providers assisted businesses to refresh the look of their business. The programs were:

  • visual merchandising consultations
  • shopfront makeovers.

Activate

From mid-September to mid-October 2023, the local community and Brisbane residents had the opportunity to discover Racecourse Road businesses through a month-long activation which incorporated multiple in-premises events in the precinct.

The 'Discover Racecourse Road' activation introduced an ‘experience’ element to the precinct and provided opportunities to get to know Racecourse Road businesses and their offerings on a personalised, engaging level. Council collaborated with Liquidity Marketing to support interested businesses to trial an 'experience' 'event, with a focus on wellness, beauty and fashion, dining and kids.

Understand

The 'understand' phase is the foundation of the Growing Precincts Together program. Council documented the businesses and vacancies in the Racecourse Road precinct in 2022. This was followed by a desktop audit to gather directory information for all businesses in the precinct and identify community groups in the area. Key to this phase was a precinct survey which was delivered as an online survey for customers, businesses and workers in November/December 2022. 

Engage

In the 'engage' phase, Council hosted an information session in February 2023 to present Council’s insights from the understand phase and to launch the one-on-one support and refresh programs that businesses in the precincts could apply for.

In 2022-23 Council also hosted monthly coffee connects for businesses in the precinct to catch up with each other and Council officers to share ideas for the precinct, network and provide feedback. The coffee connects were held at cafes in the precincts, and businesses in the precincts were given the opportunity to express their interest in hosting a coffee connect.

The team also sent regular email updates to all businesses in the precinct to update them on opportunities through the project and seek feedback.

More information

If you have ideas or feedback about Growing Racecourse Road precinct, email Council or phone Council’s business hotline on 133 BNE (133 263).

Last updated:

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