The sweet smells of freshly baked sweets and treats are again wafting through the Ipswich mall after Dominiques Café this week reopened its doors in a new spot.
Dominiques Bakery was in the mall for over 30 years until it relocated to Bell Street last year as the CBD rejuvenation progressed.
This week, they are back in their beloved mall.
Dominiques Café manager Anne-Marie Jeffries said their goal was always to get back into the mall.
“We always wanted to be on the mall where the foot traffic is,” she said.
“It is the same as it was on the other side of the mall, we still have all the bakery treats and pies we also do the usual café fare such as coffee and hamburger and chips. The only difference is we don’t sell bread. Our sister store, My Bakery Rules on Limestone Street does.”
Dominiques’ regular customers have already found them in their new shopfront that was formally housing Busy Beat Café under Walker Pender Group.
“Some of our regular customers have been back in this morning and are happy to have us back in the mall too. We have lots of customers from nearby apartments, Ipswich City Council, SEQ Water,” she said.
Everything on the menu is under $10 except the $15 Big Breakfast.
“We have an opening special, all coffees are $2 with any food purchase,” Ms Jeffries said.
“We are definitely happy to be back in the mall.”
Other businesses in the mall are hoping the Ipswich community will continue to support them during redevelopment.
Long-time tenants, Bob and Todd Slater from Terry White Chemmart, said they have no intention of going anywhere.
While the father-son pharmacy duo say that retail conditions are tough, they will continue to provide health, well-being and beauty services in their mall-based pharmacy.
“Having been a local business owner for 40 years in the Ipswich CBD, I’ve been through redevelopments and upgrades before, and while it can be frustrating to have to work through the noise and fencing, the results are definitely worth the pain,” Mr Slater said.
“I’m feeling very confident that the CBD redevelopment will have a hugely positive impact on the community with lots of exciting new things to do and see.”
Where the CBD Redevelopment is at
*Behind the barricades, work is being undertaken to demolish the existing Ipswich Mall and pavements.
*Excavation works and the installation and/or relocation of underground services such as stormwater, power, lighting and communications has also commenced.
*The Murphy’s Pub foundation work tender has been awarded to James Trowse (QLD) Pty Ltd and they are investigating the substructure.
Ipswich City Council strategic objectives for the renewal of the Ipswich CBD
- Create an enduring and thriving civic heart for the City of Ipswich; a core open plaza framed by the city’s main library, water features, public art, malls, cafes, restaurants and convenience retail offerings, with strong connectivity to Riverlink, Top of Town, key future civic and cultural sites and the rest of the CBD, attracting both residents and tourists to the city centre.
- Provide a civic, cultural and entertainment precinct that supports and reinforces rather than compete with other more retail-focused centres such as Riverlink and Springfield.
- Ensure that existing major service providers and employers in the Ipswich CBD are secured and provided with growth opportunities for the future.
- Relocate council’s administration centre to the new civic heart; achieving two key objectives: bringing a significant worker population into the civic heart (supporting retail businesses); and enabling Queensland Health to expand its services beyond the current constrained hospital site and progressively redevelop the current council site (bringing health facilities, staff and clients closer to the CBD).
- Empower private sector investors and occupiers to renew and enliven the retail and entertainment sites around the civic heart (through the above projects, the mall reconstruction and external refurbishment of council owned properties).
- Set a resilient framework for other significant projects in the CBD including the performing arts centre and redevelopment of the state’s properties of Health Plaza and former transit centre.
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