​Ocean Village Shopping Centre

It seemed unusual to have such a dead shopping centre in a place like City Beach but before I could enter, a young lady of around 80 wandered up from her home a few streets back, eagerly anticipating a fish & chips meal. She was quite sad at the state of the shops, particularly when reflecting on nostalgic memories as one does, of when her children were younger and the days of shopping here quite regularly. These shops did appear to have been more community-centred than most metro shopping centres.

The lady still had a few hours more to wait before she could order her fish & chips from City Beach Fish Bar, although she said she wasn’t in a rush. I figured she was craving salty chips, just like my Maman often does. The lady was aware of the site’s impending development plans but that had been the case for the past 10 years or so.

I photographed most of the shopping centre, despite there not being much to photograph, when a local brother and sister rode in. They told me this was their playground, (as was the abandoned construction site located behind) and they came here every day. Perhaps it was one of the few shopping centres in Perth where there was no one to tell them off, especially for riding their bicycles around inside. At least the centre was being appreciated by someone!

Bottlemart was the only shop open, although the worker, who often disappeared into an office until a customer entered, was quite emotionless and certainly a man of few words. Perhaps his attitude was due to me buying the kids some chocolate.

A young man at Hugo’s Pizza later appeared in the window, preparing the dough bases. The young boy I was with had a play with my camera, photographing the man working until he came out to briefly say hello.