Career Stories: Renee Blome

As Chadstone prepares to launch its new, elevated fresh food precinct in March 2025, we caught up with  Assistant Development Manager, Renee Blome.

In a wide-ranging conversation, we hear how Renee developed a global shopping centre fascination and how an opportunity with Vicinity allowed her  to make the move from Marketing to Development. 

How long have you been at Vicinity?

It is my five-year anniversary with Vicinity later this month!

Tell us how your career started?

I started as an Assistant Marketing Manager at Westfield Belconnen, ACT, in 1999. The centre, known locally as ‘Belco Mal,' was stable in a strong market and traded well.  It was my first “real” job and it was a great time… however, I am Melbourne born and bred (it really is the best city in the world!) and I was homesick.

After several great years in Canberra, I relocated to Fountain Gate shopping centre in Melbourne's south-east suburbs, arriving eight months before the launch of the third and final stage of a major redevelopment project. To go from steady, stable and sometimes overlooked Belconnen, to an active project was a massive change of pace for me; Directors regularly walking the centre, reviewing traffic and sales data daily, quarterly research updates, all while managing deadlines for delivery of the final stage.

I learnt so much in my time at Fountain Gate and was mentored by the most amazing Marketing Manager; a very smart woman who was very strategic and, luckily for me, was also a great teacher.

How did you ignite your passion for shopping centre developments?

I spent a year traveling the UK, seeing the most amazing things and meeting fabulous people, but I found myself stopping and looking at every shopping centre I passed with a new lens. I was asking myself how it appeared to be trading, reviewing the offer, and assessing if it was relevant to the local market. Was it well designed? Where did I think it could be improved? I think I visited half the centres in the UK and at some point in that year, I realised I was hooked, I wanted to switch marketing for development.

What has your career looked like since?

Returning to Australia I went straight back to Westfield on a short-term contract until I commenced with Jones Lang LaSalle as Regional Marketing Manager VIC/ TAS/ SA overseeing a portfolio of neighbourhood and sub regional assets.

Working for a managing agent, I found there was more opportunity to go “out of my lane” and be involved in operations and the management of an asset – I took every opportunity to learn and be involved in each project as much as possible with the goal to develop my skills to prepare me to become a Development Manager.

In my first few years I was involved in the construction of a new Officeworks store, the removal and replacement of a large format skylight, and the master-planning of a major project. With a diverse portfolio in terms of location, asset class, demographic profile and performance and smaller budgets than I was used to, I learnt so much, including how to be strategic to drive outcomes.

Over the course, I worked my way up to the National Marketing Manager on the IPST portfolio, but knowing development manager roles in that environment (for managing agents) are few and far between, after 10 years with Jones Lang LaSalle, I returned to Westfield, this time in the US.

What was the biggest challenge working in the US?

The US team were really excited about my fresh food experience which saw me head to San Diego to work on the introduction of a Supermarket to a downtown centre. There are a few big differences between shopping centres in Australia and in the US, one of which is that the US simply didn't have supermarkets in shopping centres whereas in Australia, you see that kind of retailer in almost every centre.

Naively, I thought it would be fairly simple and while I definitely brought great experience, there was so much to learn about the American ways of working, how the centres operate and how their customers engage with them. Again, I found a great mentor in the Development Manager on the project, another very smart woman who was never too busy to answer my many questions or to take the time to sit and explain things to me. She invited me to shadow her in meetings with major retailers and Government – such an invaluable experience.

While in the US I gained my first real experience with mixed-use development, working as part of the project team to deliver a Town Square/ Public Event space in downtown San Diego. By the time I left the US four years later, all the projects in the pipeline were mixed-use incorporating residential, commercial or both.

Aside from finding great mentors, how have you actively developed your career?

My formal education is a Diploma in Business (Sales & Marketing) I also completed a Diploma of Shopping Centre Management and Marketing with the Property Council of Australia and achieved my CPM (Certified Practising Marketer) with the Australian Institute of Marketing. I've completed so many courses, I forget most!

I believe there are learning opportunities every day, and you learn from what goes well as well as what doesn’t! The mistakes teach us so much more than our successes, but the saying is true, Fail Fast and move one. Don’t dwell on your failures, take the learning, and move forward.

Is there a memorable project you've worked on or something you're particularly proud of?

I have been lucky enough to work on some great assets and honestly so many memories all important to me for different reasons, I will always have a soft spot for the historic assets – The GPO and Emporium in Melbourne, and Westfield San Francisco are such beautiful examples of the architecture of the time and have so much history.  Being able to have access to every inch of these buildings was a privilege.

The people I have met along the way and worked with are just as memorable as the projects, I have worked with some brilliant people, from visionaries to traditional property managers and everything in between, and I learnt something from each of them.

What's the best thing about working at Vicinity?

Honestly, for whatever reason trying to convince people that a Marketing Manager had the skill set and experience to transition to Development proved really hard . It was something I had been trying to achieve for a very long time and Vicinity gave me that opportunity. I will always be grateful to Vicinity and the Development team for looking at capabilities rather than role titles.  There is a genuine focus on how you can grow and that doesn't necessarily mean a linear way in your siloed department.

What are you most excited about in 2025?

Of course, the launch of The Market Pavilion, Chadstone’s elevated fresh food precinct, opening in March. This has been a huge project and we’re entering to final race to the end now, which is so exciting as we have some incredible retailers and know how much customers will love this!

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Inspired by Renee's story, why not look for your next opportunity?

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