The Golden Age Of Suburban Shopping: Deakin Shops

Posted on 3 August, 2020

Canberra’s planners had strong ideas about the importance of small suburban shops anchoring each suburb and providing a community hub as well as a place to purchase essentials.

Over the decades the fortunes of these commercial strips have often waxed and waned.

But these days, Canberra has a strong contingent of suburban shops—not only servicing their own streets, but attracting crowds from all over the city for their quirky mix of convenience stores, eateries and odd shops. We bring you five of the finest.

Deakin Shops

Servicing Canberra’s most exclusive streets, Deakin Shops has always had an elegant feel about it.

There is a constant stream of mums catching up for coffee and delicious café meals at the always-thriving Double Shot after the Grammar school drop or their Fitness First session. Café d’lish is also a fave.

Brow Queen Ali Price plucks and pampers from a sunny corner upstairs. Meanwhile, the arrival of Locale a few years ago means you will see families and couples rolling up in the car-park once the day is done—eager to partake of some of the city’s best Italian.

There’s an IGA, which cleverly services its community with lots of boutique groceries, while the chemist and newsagent also have a rusted-on clientele.

Of course, we cannot write about Deakin Shops without mentioning that it also houses one of our most favourite shoe shops—Sissa Sorella. Like we ever needed an excuse to find a carpark and pop in…

WANT MORE LOCAL GOODNESS? THERE’S MORE TO THIS SERIES 

• Ainslie Shops
• Cook Shops

PHOTOGRAPHY Tim Bean