High foot traffic that does not stop is worse than moderate traffic that queues. Inner north founders routinely pay Fitzroy premiums for “busy” pavements while commuters glide past like ghosts. This guide separates impulse capture from vanity counts — with corridor attitudes toward rent, throughput math examples, and blunt comparisons between Brunswick’s length, Carlton’s institution-adjacent lunch, and Collingwood spill economics.
Throughput beats pedestrian vanity metrics
Divide rent by productive selling hours × realistic turns — not by Instagram stories of crowded Saturdays.
Corridor attitudes — May 2026 planning lens
Numeric discipline — quick cheat sheet
If monthly rent is $9k and target rent-to-revenue is 10%, monthly revenue must clear $90k — translate to daily transactions using conservative ticket estimates before accepting busy-street romance.
Score two addresses — identical assumptions — pick the throughput winner.
Compare Melbourne sites →Tools first — then a full report for your address
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