The Fairfield Gardens shopping centre, in the low-lying residential suburb of Fairfield near central Brisbane, housed 30 of the 3570 businesses affected by the Brisbane floods in January 2011. Coles, the biggest shop in the centre, used the flood as an opportunity to roll out a $10 million new concept design, and created 148 new jobs. Despite significant hardship, many of the smaller businesses in the shopping centre also decided to return. The importance of a sense of community, as well as the value of small grants to assist recovery, were key lessons learned in rebuilding after the flood.