Alert: Flood updates and recovery Read more.
Skip navigation
Use space to open navigation items
City of Wollongong
Resident Visitor Business

Business in Wollongong CBD

Wollongong’s Central Business District (CBD) is a hive of business activity – from Crown Street Mall and major shops to professional services, restaurants and cafes.

Visit the Wollongong CBD website to find out about events happening in the heart of our city.

Crown Street Mall is at the heart of our City Centre.

Visit our Crown Street Mall page for information you need to know if you run a business in the Mall.

We have a dedicated team who work to manage and promote our CBD. They can help you with information and advice about permits, managing issues, promotions, events and more.

You can contact the City Centre team by email or on (02) 4227 7111.

Wollongong City Council actively promotes the CBD through marketing and activation initiatives.

Council has launched a Wollongong CBD brand and marketing program. This includes digital and place-based marketing to build awareness of our city's wide range of retail, hospitality and service businesses. The program also encourages people to visit and engage with spaces and events in the CBD.

To learn more, get in touch with our City Centre team by email or call (02) 4227 7111.

List your business on the Wollongong CBD website

If you run a business in the City Centre, you can list it for free on our Wollongong CBD website.

Council's Wollongong CBD Night Time Economy policy PDF, 165.95 KB allows eligible businesses in the Wollongong CBD to trade for longer hours.

This policy aims to make a wider range of night time activities available while supporting our local economy.

Wollongong has an energetic music industry, and Council is working to support and celebrate our local talent.

Some of our recent initiatives to support music in Wollongong include:

  • Check-ins with creators, performers, producers and event organisers to understand their needs.
  • Funding a live music performance grants program to encourage local artists to work with and perform at businesses in the CBD.
  • Providing performance opportunities, like our Live@Lunch series on Crown Street Mall, and collaborations with groups such as the Conservatorium of Music and the Illawarra Folk Club.
  • Music marketing and promotion activities.
  • Providing professional development opportunities for musicians of all ages through activities like our Creative Dialogues series, and youth mentoring / gigs / training through Wollongong Youth Services.
  • Support for events featuring live music, from small scale gigs to large festivals. We do this by working with event organisers, and making approval processes easier with initiatives like our pre-approved event DAs for selected sites.

Property owners in the city centre pay a levy on their Council rates to help fund safety and crime prevention activities, including our CCTV network and graffiti removal.

A special levy also applies to properties in Crown Street Mall. This goes towards promoting, managing, cleaning and maintaining the Mall.

We work to support people with disability and make it easier for everyone to access our public spaces. This includes the City Centre.

It’s against the law to make public spaces like footpaths, walkways and pedestrian malls inaccessible for people with disability. Business owners should help to keep these areas clear.

Make sure that obstacles like A-frame signs, racks or tables with merchandise, displays, and outdoor dining tables and chairs are kept out of the accessible path of travel.

Read our Disability Inclusion Action Plan PDF, 14750.35 KB or call us on (02) 4227 7111 for advice about making your business more accessible.

Vision Illawarra Navability map for wheelchair users

Vision Illawarra's website has a Navability map that shows footpaths, shared pathways and trails accessible by wheelchair in the Wollongong City Centre. It also includes an effort ratings guide.

Go to the Navability map.

The Southern Region Business Enterprise Centre (SRBEC) runs several free programs to support small business:

  • Business Connect gives you tailored professional advice to help you start, run, adapt or grow your small business. Advisors are accredited professionals with first-hand experience running their own small business. Their advice is independent and completely confidential. You can also take part in workshops and webinars, and access free online resources fact sheets and training videos.

    B-Hub is a mobile advisory service that can provide you with free advice for your business.

For more information, visit the SRBEC website.

See Also