Bayside Shopping Centre

Bayside Shopping Centre is a super regional shopping centre in the suburb of Frankston on the Mornington Peninsula of Melbourne.



Transport
The Frankston railway line offers frequent train services to Frankston station located five minutes away from Bayside Shopping Centre.

Bayside Shopping Centre has bus connections to Mornington East, Portsea, Pearcedale, Carrum and surrounding suburbs. It is served by Kinetic Melbourne with bus stops on the Nepean Highway and Dandenong Valley Highway.

Bayside Shopping Centre also has a multi level car-park with 3,452 spaces.

History
Frankston Town Centre, originally consisted of three shopping centres: Bayside, Balmoral and Quayside.

The original Bayside Shopping Centre, located between Beach Street and Ross Smith Avenue, opened on 3 October 1972 with a Myer department store, a McEwans hardware store, a Ritchies supermarket and 52 speciality stores. It was owned by the National Mutual Life Association of Australasia.

Balmoral Arcade opened in 1973 and was located at the southern end of Station Street, between Shannon Street (now a pedestrian mall) and Key Street which opened with 19 speciality stores.

Quayside Shopping Centre opened in 1991 near both Bayside and Balmoral, on the car-park between Ross Smith Avenue and Station Street, with a Target department store, a Coles supermarket and 72 speciality stores. Bayside and Quayside were also linked by an enclosed bridge over Ross Smith Avenue. Balmoral Arcade and Quayside Shopping Centre were later merged with the Bayside Shopping Centre in which it subsequently renamed to Bayside Shopping Centre.

Bayside and Balmoral were acquired by John Gandel, the owner of Quayside, during the late-1990s, and upgrades were carried out by manager CFS Retail Property Trust (later Novion Property Group). A portion of Ross Smith Avenue was permanently closed to create a new food court underneath the existing bridge link.

In 2004 the centre underwent a $63 million redevelopment which included a new 3 level building on the northern side of Beach Street linked by a multi-level pedestrian bridge on the former multi storey car-park opposite Myer. Kmart, Woolworths and a further 55 stores were added as part of this development. This development was completed in March 2006. An entertainment precinct, on Wells Street (separated from the centre itself but still part of the Bayside complex) was added and features a 12 screen Australian Multiplex Cinema complex (now Hoyts), Strike Bowling Bar and 10 restaurants/food outlets.

An upgrade in 2011 brought the combined total cost of development to AU$200 million since 1999, with reconfigured tenancies including an entire level dedicated to fashion stores, a refurbished second level food court and an Aldi supermarket.

Another upgrade starting in 2023 removed the second level food court and the entire floor has been replaced by Hub Local which has created new, contemporary office suites located directly above the retail precinct. Along with this upgrade, the 3-floor Myer store was closed down and replaced with a UNIQLO store on level 1 and new, improved TK Maxx and Rebel Sport stores on the ground floor. The relocation of the TK Maxx and Rebel Sport stores also provide space for a new 8-storey office tower directly next to the centre that is currently under construction.

Tenants
Bayside Shopping Centre has 88,843m² of floor space, comprising 241 stores over three levels serviced by 3,452 car spaces. The major retailers, which are located at either end of the centre, include Target, Kmart, Woolworths, Coles, Aldi and Hoyts cinema. The mini major tenants also include UNIQLO, JB Hi-Fi, Strike Bowling Bar, TK Maxx, Rebel Sport, Chemist Warehouse, JD Sports, and more. Former tenants include Myer, Lincraft, Best & Less and Toys R Us.

Incidents

 * On 30 March 2016, a blackout caused a group of up to 20 youths to fight. This outage occurred over 30 minutes. Stores were placed into lockdown. Minutes after the blackout started, the aforementioned brawl began. The blackout was caused after a fire at a United Energy substation near Frankston Train Station earlier in the morning.
 * On 21 December 2017, a gas cylinder exploded at the Bob Jane T-Marts' workshop just outside the centre shortly after 7 pm. Witnesses reported hearing multiple 'bangs' and visible flames. The explosion occurred only two hours after a four-wheel drive was driven into pedestrians at Flinders Street in the CBD.