Today I decided to count the empty shops along some bits Darlinghurst Road and down Oxford Street. Here’s the first section of Darlinghurst. Some 11 vacant shops in this 275m section alone. 
This section of Oxford Street, 15 vacant shops in just 220m of the south side of the street. This bit has been run down for a while, it must be said, but it’s very bleak right now.
This section, 10 vacant shops counting both sides of this 215m section.
Both sides of this 125m section, 8 vacant shops.
And finally for me today, this 175m section has another 8 vacant shops. This whole strip has been in decline for some time, and I’m not up there all that often, but it feels to me like it’s accelerated in the last year and especially the last few months.
I think Oxford Street in particular has been resting on its laurels for quite some time. That said, as we hit 1 July businesses would’ve looked at the leases and the accounts and chosen to pull the plug.
Same. Any areas that rely on the disposable income of people who aren’t in the top wealth bracket but just “doing OK” and now finding themselves less OK.
One cannot survive on gay books and meat alone. Wait, what?
