A retail rejuvenation of Oxford Street is underway, according to the City of Sydney.
Two independent businesses have signed long-term leases on City-owned properties.
Throwback, recently visited by Canadian singer Justin Bieber, will move from its current Oxford Street premises to a bigger home at 70 Oxford Street.
It will stock Australia’s largest range of NBA jerseys and merchandise.
Independent Australian-owned supermarket QE Food Stores will open its eighth store at 64 Oxford Street, selling fresh, organic food, produce and ready-to-eat meals.
Throwback founder Michael Lazaris said the speciality basketball store has outgrown its current Oxford Street premises and needs more space without moving too far.
“This will be our flagship store and when complete, we will have one of the largest ranges of new and retro NBA jerseys in Australia,” Lazaris said.
“We moved from Bondi Beach to Oxford Street two years ago and it proved to be very popular with our customers. Our product range kept expanding to the point where we were bursting at the seams.
“It’s a really central location and while the Oxford Street foot traffic has been great for us, we know that many of our customers travel from across the metropolitan area just to shop at our store.
"We’re a destination retailer and I know we’ll bring a lot more shoppers to Oxford Street.
“Even Justin Bieber visited our Oxford Street store in March with his entourage.
"I invited him to come play some ball at Alexandria Basketball Stadium afterwards and he accepted the offer, bringing his entourage along.
“Bieber posted a team photo on Instagram and within minutes - Throwback was receiving shoutouts from major websites across the globe, including NBA.com, Sports Illustrated, USA Today and many more.
"They all mentioned the gear that Biebs bought from Throwback to play in.
“This is a great move for us. We’re going from an 80sqm site to a 200sqm site and I cannot wait to open the doors.”
Lord Mayor Clover Moore welcomed the investment on Oxford Street, which will increase with additional long-term leases in the coming months.
“Oxford Street has been home to an eclectic mix of unique and independent operators for decades and these two businesses will build on its reputation as one of Sydney’s best retail centres,” the Lord Mayor said.
“We’ve been working hard to rejuvenate Oxford Street. Earlier this year, we resolved to look for a long-term lease partner for a number of Oxford Street properties with a combined lettable area of more than 12,000 square metres.
"This came following two unsolicited proposals in 2016.
“We’ve spent more than $45 million on public domain upgrades and capital works projects since 2011 and allocated more than $500,000 worth of business grants to Oxford Street retailers.
“We’ve made great strides with our Oxford Street creative spaces program, where 22 cultural and creative businesses pay low rent to use our properties. A key objective of this report is to integrate these cultural spaces into a future redevelopment.
“The City’s property team is close to securing new tenants for a number of additional properties along Oxford Street and I look forward to announcing more long-term leases over the coming months.”