Grand memories of a golden age
From quirky shops to food courts and a rainforest entrance, The Pier and Shangri-La Hotel have evolved since their inception 30 years ago
THE grand opening of The Pier came like a breath of fresh air to inflate the city’s retail lungs with an entirely new style of shopping experience.
It was November 27, 1989, right in the midst of that boom time when the likes of Christopher Skase and Alan
Bond were overseeing an unprecedented upswing in development across Australia.
The Pier Tavern was advertising $1 pots of beer, the chance to rub shoulders with Brisbane Broncos star Gene Miles, 14-ounce T-bone steaks for less than $10, and a meetand-greet with “Kenny the Can”, whatever that meant.
Advertisements leading up to the high festivities the opening day promised were colourful and exciting, in harmony with the fashion and general mood around town.
This was a $150 million development in 1989 — the equivalent of a $320 million project in today’s inflated terms — and expectations were soaring.
“Looking for fun?” the ads in the Cairns Post teased.
“The mardi gras atmosphere of The Pier Marketplace provides fun for all the family with breezy buskers, magical music and hilarious street performers.
“What a way to shop.
“What a way to relax.”
A crowd of about 7000 people crowded the foreshore to witness the night sky fireworks spectacular marking the grand finale of The Pier’s first day in operation.
The next day, the Cairns Post featured a photo of four-yearold Melissa Beaton holding a net filled with hundreds of helium balloons.
Moments after the photo was taken, they were “scattered over the inlet by a gusty breeze” — a
There it was, a huge waterside monument to tropical retail that to this day remains home to some of the city’s most longstanding and respected retailers.
tradition rife with environmental considerations that would surely raise eyebrows in 2019.
There it was, a huge waterside monument to tropical retail that to this day remains home to some of the city’s most longstanding and respected retailers.
Boutique fashion shops lined the stretch named Governor’s Way, while the food court and Traders Row featured a wealth of dining and shopping options.
The Cairns Post outlined just how important to the economy the development was at the time.
“Together with a 114-berth marina and a relocated departure point for Great Barrier Reef and island cruises, the complex represents a major advance in Cairns’s increasing status as a leading domestic and international tourist destination and business centre,” the paper declared.
“It has also become the city’s leading employer with more than 700 construction and fitout workers currently engaged on the site.”
The project was a joint effort by Lewis Development of Brisbane, and Pacific Rim Leisure of Sydney.
Some of the first tenants included the “high-profile Virgin Group from the United Kingdom with a pop video cafe, record bar and teenage fashion centre”, Country Road’s largest store outside Brisbane, Florsheim Shoes, “highly individual fashionwear house” Ivory Coast, Carla Zampatti and Brian Rochford and the Pier Tavern operated by Power Brewing.
“Additional to the shops are a first-level multi-cuisine food court with 10 outlets, a dining terrace overlooking the marina and Trinity Inlet and a central cluster of 27 market stalls and 12 colourful street barrows,” the Post continued.
“The Pier Marketplace breaks with predominant shopping complex operations by not having an anchor tenant as a major shopper drawcard.
“Instead, its marketing concentrates on its status as a leisure retail centre in which all tenants interact and are linked by a themed decor and continuous program of entertainment and lifestyle activities.”
The retail and leisure component opened about a week before the attached Radisson Plaza started welcoming its first guests, and shoppers were in awe.
The Pier Marketplace section was an experience in itself.
“Step back in time to the village market,” the advertising touted.
“Buy your goods from barrows. Haggle with traders. And keep a sharp eye out for the breezy buskers and street theatre performers.”
Fire-eaters, jugglers, magicians, mimes and jazz bands were among the first performers.
The Radisson Plaza — now the Shangri-La Hotel — was another eye-opener.
“This also has a themed decor, with a rainforest filling its foyer and a strong maritime influence in its public spaces and dining areas,” the Cairns Post wrote.
“Radisson Plaza is making a strong pitch for business and convention customers and has already linked with three other nearby international-class hotels in a joint marketing effort designed to promote Cairns as a centre now capable of hosting major national and international meetings.”
The Pier has been a living ecosystem over its three decades of operation, with retailers coming and going in a continuous state of flux as the centre evolves within its community.
Some of those original tenants are still there today — but others, famous with locals who have been alive long enough, are now just fond memories.
There was the ever-popular Leisure Island arcade, The Lost Forest with its tall talking trees and plush toy “puggles” for sale, and the US burger joint greaser bar Johnny Rockets, where staff performed a little dance on the hour, every hour, festooned in their kitschy ‘50s-style uniforms.
There was even an aquarium at some stage — Undersea
World, which was open for about a decade before it shut down in 2004.
What the future brings is anybody’s guess.
But with the Shangri-La’s recent $13 million refurbishment and a renewed push to drive tourism to the city, The Pier has many more anniversaries to come.