‘Ready to hang up their boots’: Historical Canberra shopfront hits the market

A piece of one of Canberra’s most locally recognisable central locations is hitting the market for the very first time. 

Frawley’s Shoes has been owned and operated by the Frawley family for just under a century, with its first shop opening in Queanbeyan in 1927 and expanding to 24 Garema Place in the city in 1958. 

With its Canberra-legend status, there is sadness with the store’s closing, but there are huge opportunities coming as a result of it, said selling agent Mark Nicholls of Raine & Horne Commercial Canberra. 

“It’s common to see properties advertised as being ‘in the heart of Canberra’, but you truly can’t get more central than this, at least from a retail perspective” he said.

The property consists of two levels: the bottom, which spans about 200 square metres and will become vacant when Frawley’s itself closes; and the top, which is currently being leased to Rice Thai Tapas restaurant on a month-to-month basis.

“The restaurant tenant upstairs is flexible … they have offered to sign a new lease, but we are keeping it as agile as possible so the potential buyers may do what they want with the space,” Nicholls said. 

“We’ve had lots of interest from owner-occupiers who are already leasing in the area, and also lots of inquiries from investors with tenants lined up for upstairs and downstairs.

“We are finding quite a few tenants that are moving out of the Canberra Centre at the moment, into more affordable privately owned buildings.”

Three generations of Frawleys have manned the store, and with the current general manager – the granddaughter of the founder – approaching retirement age, the family has decided it is time to part ways with it. 

“The Frawleys have been trading from the Civic store for 65 years, and that was also when the building was originally constructed,” Nicholls said. 

“They have essentially been in this building from day dot – it’s the first time it’s ever been offered to the market.

“The reason for them closing their doors is simply that it is time for the family; they are all ready to hang up their boots, so to speak.”