Insights · Melbourne
Opening a store? Even the side of the street matters
Choosing a store location usually starts with the big picture: the city, the neighbourhood, then the street. But what about the last few metres? Does it matter which side of the street your door is on?
We looked at pedestrian counts from Melbourne to see how big that difference can be.
One day on Collins Street
Melbourne has pedestrian counters on footpaths across the city. Two of them are at the corner of Collins Street and Spencer Street, one on each side of Collins Street.
We compared their hourly counts to see how the number of people changes through a typical weekday.
Collins Street at Spencer Street
People per day, average of 13 Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in October 2026.
Both sides follow a similar daily pattern. There is a sharp morning peak around 8, a smaller rise at lunchtime, and the busiest time comes around 5 in the afternoon.
Nothing surprising for a street near a big railway station and office buildings.
What is surprising is the gap between the two sides. The north side is busier at every hour, not just in the morning and evening rush.
Why?
The counts alone can't answer that, but Southern Cross Station is probably part of it. It sits on the north-west corner of the crossing. People leaving the station and heading into the city can simply keep walking along the north side of Collins Street without crossing the road.
Finding the right street is only part of the job
Population, how easy a place is to reach, how much people spend and who the competitors are all matter when choosing a store location. They help you narrow down which areas and streets are worth a look.
But even on a good street, you can still end up in the wrong spot.
Think about how people actually walk. They leave a station, cross at a particular corner, stop for coffee on the way to work, or take the shortest route from the tram stop to the office.
Those everyday routes rarely split evenly between the two sides of a street.
The same happens inside shopping malls. A shop near a busy entrance or on the main route from the car park can see far more people than another shop one corridor away.
For a store, those differences are worth knowing before you sign a lease.
A few things worth checking before choosing a site
- Check both sides of the street. Don't rely only on the total foot traffic for an area. If there is no data, spend some time counting people on each side at different hours.
- Look at where people are coming from. Station exits, crossings, office entrances, car parks and big stores all shape the routes people take. A busy place nearby doesn't mean people will pass your door.
- Think about who is walking past. Lots of people is good, but not everyone walking by is a potential customer. Someone rushing to catch a train behaves differently from someone shopping at lunch.
- Compare foot traffic with rent. A busier spot may cost more. The question is whether the extra people walking by are worth the higher rent.
How we measured it
We used data from the City of Melbourne Pedestrian Counting System, which records how many people walk past fixed points every hour.
For this comparison we used two counters, Spencer St-Collins St (North) and Spencer St-Collins St (South), about 24 metres apart. We averaged their hourly counts over the 13 Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in October 2026, leaving out Mondays, Fridays and weekends to focus on a normal working day.
The video uses these hourly averages. The walking figures are illustrations, not individual people.
Each counter measures one point on the footpath, so counts elsewhere on the same street can be different. Two spots just 24 metres apart can see very different numbers of people.
How does your street score?
Locoft has a free location check for cafés and 14 other business types, based on what is around the address.
If you need a closer look at a particular street, shopping mall or store network, we can help with that too.