20 Years Strong at Noosa Civic
As Noosa’s premium shopping centre turns 20, Jodie Cameron looks back at the memories, the milestones, and what’s still to come…
It was October 2006 and I was avoiding uni assignments when my mother showed me a newspaper spread about the opening of Noosa Civic Shopping Centre. I didn’t need convincing to leave my computer and check it out. Big W and a whole host of new stores on this side of the river felt like a small revolution – and I’m sure most of Noosa agreed.
Fast forward twenty years and it’s become more than a shopping centre. It’s a piece of local history that has grown with the community. The kids who were six when it opened are now visiting with children of their own, pushing prams down the same walkways they once raced along. Teenagers who landed their first part‑time job there are now bringing their parents in for a coffee after a doctor’s appointment. Noosa Civic hasn’t just kept pace with its community – it has grown alongside it, one birthday, first job and new baby at a time.
Businesses inside the centre have changed and evolved over the decades, but the core values of Convenience, Community and Family remain firmly in place. From bringing new retail and services to Noosa that meet the community’s needs, to free family activities and initiatives like The Little Community Pantry supporting OzHarvest, Noosa Civic continues to support the community that supports it.
When the centre opened its doors on 12 October 2006, Managing Director of Stockwell, Mark Stockwell, was the reason Noosa Civic existed – and it remains a project close to his heart. What most shoppers don’t know is that Stockwell sold the centre in 2012, only for Mark to buy it back seven years later. It wasn’t a decision about numbers; it was a decision about what matters.
For the Stockwell family, Noosa Civic was never just an asset on a balance sheet. It was, and still is, an ongoing story being written with many exciting chapters ahead. The centre instantly became part of Noosa’s own history, giving locals something they’d never really had: a relaxed, one‑stop hub for everyday errands without the drive out of town. What’s changed since isn’t the heart – it’s everything built around it.
The original vision has held its shape, with surrounding parcels of the Civic evolving to meet the region’s needs. The Medihub now brings allied health services and world‑class cancer care closer to home. The Hof Apartments rose nearby, offering convenient living within walking distance of the centre. Plans for a Village Mixed Use precinct with cinemas continue to progress with council. It’s slow, steady progress, the kind that’s easy to miss year to year, but impossible to ignore when you look back over two decades.
Noosa Civic is still doing exactly what it set out to do. Stockwell is far from finished, with plans already on the table for the site’s next chapter, reflecting the same ambition that built it. Ask any long‑time tenant and they’ll tell you it’s the people, not the postcode, that make Noosa Civic what it is: an accessible, welcoming space for everyone, at every stage of life. Retailers who’ve watched customers’ kids grow up, centre staff who know regulars by name, school holiday events that save parent’s sanity – because Noosa Civic is the place to be.
So if Noosa Civic has been part of your last twenty years – your first job, your weekly shop, your kids’ school holidays – this birthday is, in many ways, as much yours as it is theirs. And if you love what it’s become and where it’s headed, there’s one simple way to help shape its future: if you love it, support it.
SPRING FUN & BIG WINS AT THE CIVIC
This season brings extra excitement at Noosa Civic, with free kids’ holiday activities and daily chances to win!
September School Holidays
21-25 September and 28 September – 2 October, 10am-1pm.
The Cheeky Monkey Club brings free entertainment including FREE eco jellyfish lanterns to take home.
20 Days, 20 Prizes – pop into Noosa Civic Shopping Centre from 6-26 October to enter the draw to WIN daily prizes!
www.noosacivicshopping.com.au
