Rundle Mall is the heart of Adelaide's retail centre — a pedestrianised strip that replaced a traffic thoroughfare in 1976. The big department stores (Myer, David Jones) and chains are here, along with the covered Rundle Mall Plaza and the Gays Arcade, one of the surviving 19th-century shopping arcades.
At the eastern end, Rundle Mall becomes Rundle Street — the character shifts dramatically, from shopping mall to the main dining and nightlife strip of the East End, with outdoor tables, small bars, bookshops, and the East End Market. The transition point is where the mall meets the arcade and the scene opens up.