3.2 Commercial Frankston

Langwarrin Village Shopping Centre

It is said that Langwarrin, responding to the effects of nearby Frankston's development in recent years, "has changed character probably to a greater extent than any other part of the (Cranbourne) Shire". Despite its "rural beginnings", firms like Costain (Australia) and A.V. Jennings (Australia) Ltd., envisaged its suitability for development in the form of a combined residential and shopping complex. This would include about 450 homes, shops, walkways, schools and pre-schools, and extensive shopping areas. Originally known as the Enamby Holdings Shopping Centre Development and now, ironically, as the Langwarrin Village Shopping Centre, the complex was opened on 9 February 1987.

It was hoped that this development would encourage people to shop locally rather than in Frankston.1

The move to big shopping centres within the Cranbourne Shire had commenced even earlier with the opening on 13 November, 1978 of the Cranbourne Park Shopping Centre.