Oxford Street gets another lease on life

The campaign to revitalise Sydney's Oxford Street has once again gathered pace with a spate of new businesses opening their doors on the mile-long shopping strip.
A number of measures, which aim to improve the appearance of the street and create more parking spaces, are also being implemented.
The latest fashion retailers to join the strip are Monkey Business, Milu, Willis Lingerie, Morrisson and Sass & Bide, along with three other stores whose names were not available at the time of press. Two are believed to be shoe stores.
Additional shops opened within the last three to fourth months include Deco Home and Max Brenner plus a new food store and hairdresser. Beauty business Aesop will join the strip in the coming weeks.
"There has been strong activity on Oxford Street over the last few months," said Bernard McGrath, director of Bernard McGrath Property.
"Going back, we did have quite a lot of vacancies, but they are filling up again, so things are changing quite significantly. There are a number of reasons for this. There is a growing recognition that Oxford Street is always going to be one of the premier shooping strips in Sydney. People are starting to recognise that again and as such are starting to come back with new enthusiasm and passion for the street."
Approximately four vacancies are all that's remaining on the strip, which now boasts an impressive line-up of 250 retailers.
Since the opening of the revamped Westfield Bondi Junction last year, which has lured customers away from Oxford Street, the Paddington Chamber of Commerce has worked to implement strategies designed to improve the area and win back shoppers.
As a result the street paving is currently being upgraded and is due for completion in February 2006.