Sudesh Singh is surrounded by sequinned saris that hang on the walls of her clothing store.
For more than 30 years, Singh has sold clothing in Dandenong’s Little India precinct in Melbourne’s south-east.
The precinct spills out from train station in Dandenong – one of Melbourne’s most culturally diverse suburbs. Colourful clothing shops sit alongside sweet stores selling confectionery from Kolkata.
But as the construction date for a private redevelopment of the area looms, Singh and other traders fear they won’t survive. They say a planned revitalisation of the area – which will transform it into one made up of apartments, shops and offices – risks the preservation of the Indian shopping hub that began in the mid-1990s.
Traders say business is slow and empty windows suggest some shop owners have already left the precinct. Others say they will close their doors before the end of the year, instead of temporarily relocating, before the first stage of construction starts in 2026.
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The plan for the renewal includes a new Little India precinct. But Singh says traders remain uncertain whether rent increases will make them unable to compete with newer businesses in the area.
Rendered images of the development show “Little India” shops lining an open-air laneway. But Singh says the traders have not been given assurances they will be able to lease shops in the new Little India.
“Parliament didn’t make this street. The council didn’t make this street. The traders did,” Singh says. “But what have they given to Little India? Or what are they promising to give to Little India? Have they given anything in writing to Little India traders? No.”
Victoria’s minister for development Victoria and precincts, Harriet Shing, told state parliament’s budget estimates inquiry last month that the new Little India would be a “fantastic addition to the heart of Dandenong” and would “reflect and respect the culture of the area”.
“It will also offer modern and new facilities and improved retail spaces for tenants, creating more opportunities for businesses to thrive,” she said in a written response to parliament’s public accounts and estimates committee.
Singh said the private developer, Capital Alliance, was contacting traders to commence discussions about the new tenancies planned.
She said all current traders would be given an opportunity to be part of the area’s redevelopment but noted this would be on “commercial terms that reflect market values”, due to the landlord being a private developer.
Singh is blunt in her assessment of what this means for current Little India shop owners: “The bottom line is, we can only survive if the rental is reasonable.
“It’s no longer a precinct, it’s no longer Little India.”
“They’re selling it as a Little India. But if we look at that, they’ve got hotels, motels and accommodation. They want to make it like Bourke Street.”
Development Victoria informed Singh, who previously ran two shops on Foster Street, she was required to vacate one of her stores by the end of November due to the first phase of the redevelopment.
A short walk along Foster Street, Purabi Das runs two clothing shops. She says business has been particularly sluggish since the start of the year. She points to the usual pressures on brick-and-mortar retail and a rise in home-run businesses for Indian clothing.
“From Covid times, some people have been doing businesses from home. Every garage, people are selling stuff from home,” she says.
In 2020, Development Victoria selected Capital Alliance to continue a wider revitalisation project for the suburb – first promised by the Bracks Labor government in 2006 – that will transform a two-hectare area of land opposite the Dandenong train station, which includes Little India.
An estimated completion date for the new precinct is expected to be confirmed within the next year.
Last October, the state’s planning minister greenlighted the development’s masterplan.
The Allan government said the development would deliver 470 new homes, alongside commercial and retails spaces.
The wider Revitalising Central Dandenong project includes $290m of state government funding and $1bn fron private investment.
Singh wants all Little India traders to be given the opportunity to move into the new precinct. “They need to be given a fair opportunity. Not an opportunity where they can’t survive. That’s the only way,” she says.
Ronan Mellan, acting group head of precincts at Development Victoria, said it was developing a “brand new Little India precinct in Central Dandenong – offering modern facilities and creating more opportunities for businesses to thrive”.
“We do not comment on confidential tenant-landlord arrangements” he said.
Capital Alliance was contacted for comment.
