For decades, homemaker centres across Australia followed a familiar formula: large-format retail anchored by furniture, homewares, electrical goods and bulky merchandise.

While this model has been highly successful, changing lifestyles, evolving consumer expectations and the growth of online shopping are reshaping how people engage with physical retail destinations.

Consumers increasingly value convenience, experiences and choice. They want places that bring together shopping, dining, recreation, health and everyday services, and give them more reasons to visit throughout the day and week.

Fairfield & Co represents GEON’s response to this evolution.

FROM HOMEMAKER CENTRE TO MIXED-USE DESTINATION

Rather than simply expanding the existing Fairfield Homemaker Centre, GEON made a deliberate decision to reposition the asset as a genuine mixed-use destination.

The transition to Fairfield & Co represented much more than a change of name. It created the flexibility to introduce a broader mix of complementary uses while continuing to support the established retailers that had made the centre successful.

The result is a long-term masterplan built around four interconnected precincts:

• Stage 3 – Build-to-Rent residential
• Stage 4 – Lifestyle and recreation
• Stage 5 – Food and dining
• Stage 6 – Large-format retail with complementary uses

Each stage has been designed to strengthen the others, generating increased visitation, longer dwell times and activity beyond traditional retail trading hours.

CREATING NEW REASONS TO VISIT

Stage 4 demonstrates how large-format spaces can be adapted for experience-led uses.

Operators such as Urban Climb, X-Golf, Fish N Flips Swim School and Explore the Movement Pilates have introduced new customer groups and established visitation patterns extending from early morning into the evening.

These changing behaviours helped shape Stage 5, a dedicated food precinct designed to operate from breakfast through to late evening. Existing operators include KFC Drive Thru and Banjo’s Bakery Drive Thru, with additional food offerings planned across the next stages.

Stage 6 continues to recognise the strength of large-format retail while introducing a broader mix of automotive, discount retail, pharmacy, medical, sport and recreation uses.

RESIDENTIAL AT THE HEART OF THE PRECINCT

A key element of the masterplan is the approved Build-to-Rent community comprising more than 250 apartments.

Integrating residential living within the precinct will introduce a permanent population and an everyday customer base for surrounding businesses. It will also help support dining, lifestyle, recreation and convenience uses outside conventional shopping hours.

Rather than retail and residential operating independently, each will contribute to a more active and connected destination.

MORE THAN THE SUM OF PARTS

The strength of Fairfield & Co lies in how the different uses work together.

Lifestyle operators create regular and weekend visitation. Residential generates everyday demand. Food extends activity into the evening. Health and recreation encourage repeat weekly visits. Traditional retailers benefit from broader customer groups and increased dwell time.

Together, these elements create a precinct that remains active throughout the day, throughout the week and for many different reasons.

Fairfield & Co demonstrates how an established homemaker centre can evolve in response to changing customer expectations while retaining the accessibility and convenience that underpin successful large-format retail.

It is more than the evolution of a homemaker centre. It is an example of what the next generation of retail destinations can become.

Download the full white paper: Re-imagining the Homemaker Centre.