Renaissance Arcade

Such a weird arcade.
The only reason I ever knew it was even there was because it was a shortcut between my bus stop and Adelaide Uni.
It actually could be a cool little space: there’s an interior atrium letting the sunshine in, it’s spacious and uncrowded and clean. But unfortunately it never capitalises on the potential. Mainly because there’s no real draw card to get people out of their way to visit the arcade. There are a few places selling clothing and books, a couple of places to get your hair cut or nails did, but in all it’s pretty sparse and uninspiring.
The only reason I ever come down here is to grab some food in a rush (Zen Kitchen have good banh mi) or to get somewhere else. In fact it’s mostly full of students and people who work nearby and thus know about it.

In recent times the Renaissance Arcade has actually had a bit of a renaissance, seriously. It was looking a little bare and stale there for a while with not very much going on, but over the last few months it has had a few smaller street vendor type food hall type businesses brought in to add to the range of eateries and this adds to the already established businesses such as the Hair Renaissance, Top Star Clothing Alterations, and Uni Bookshop to name a few. What this means is the food is more broadly positioned including Ohashi Japanese Takeaway, Noodle Asian Café, Vegetarian/​Vegan food, Malaysian and more.
It has good proximity to Rundle Mall, Adelaide Uni and has become more attractive with the expansion. Great for eating, great for some clothing and sneaky way off the street into air conditioned space away from the crazy crowd sometimes.