We've been supplying branded bean bags to Fed Square since 2020. It started with 46 of them for the square's summer program, and the latest order, 10 custom-made chairs, went in this spring.
It's one of my favourite jobs, partly because of where it is and partly because it shows how we handle filled bean bags a long way from home. We're on the Gold Coast. Fed Square is 1,700 kilometres away.
Melbourne's meeting place
Fed Square opened in October 2002 on top of the railway lines at the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets, right across from Flinders Street Station. It was designed by Lab Architecture Studio with Bates Smart, and the fractured, angular facades split Melbourne down the middle. People either loved it or wanted it knocked down.
It won the argument. The square has had more than 110 million visits since it opened. It's where Melbourne watched the National Apology in 2008 and the Socceroos at the World Cup on the big screen. In 2019 it was added to the Victorian Heritage Register, the youngest building in Australia ever recognised that way. That was after a public fight over plans to knock down part of it for an Apple store.
2020: 46 bean bags for a reopening square
In 2020, Fed Square closed for the first time in its history during Melbourne's lockdowns. When it came back, the plan was to get people outside and spread out. That meant grass zones across the square, deck chairs, movies on the big screen and food from the square's restaurants delivered to wherever you were sitting.
Bean bags were part of that plan from the start. Our order went out in late November 2020:
Every one had the Fed Square logo printed in white. On the Big Boppas and Bermudas it went on the back of the headrest, and on the Haymans it went on the front. The fabric was our 1680D PU-coated polyester with 50+ UV protection and mould treatment, which matters on a square that gets Melbourne's four seasons in one day.
When Fed Oasis opened in January 2021, the square was covered in grass zones, bean bags and deck chairs, with the Australian Open and the AFLW on the big screen.
How filled bean bags get from the Gold Coast to Melbourne
This is the part people ask about. Filled bean bags are bulky. Freighting 46 of them interstate would cost more than the bean bags themselves, so we don't.
For the 2020 order, the covers went from our warehouse to the printers for the Fed Square logo. The printed covers were then couriered flat to our filling partner in Melbourne. There, each one was filled with around 400 litres of beans, wrapped in protective plastic and delivered straight to the square.
We still work the same way. Covers travel flat, and a partner in Melbourne fills them and delivers locally. It's the same reason our retail bean bags ship without beans. Shipping air is expensive.
2024 to 2026: the Copacabana takes over
Since then, Fed Square's orders have moved to our Copacabana chair, a high-back outdoor bean bag in heavy-duty olefin.
- 2024: 10 Copacabana chairs in charcoal, ordered straight off our website.
- 2025: 10 more Copacabanas, filled in Melbourne with 500 litres each and delivered to the Fed Square loading dock at the start of September.
- 2026: 10 custom-made Copacabana chairs in charcoal. These were made to order and air-freighted from our manufacturer straight to our Melbourne filling partner, then delivered filled to the square.
Repeat orders over six years are the best feedback we get. Fed Square is one of Melbourne's busiest public spaces, and the bean bags get used hard.
What's next for Fed Square
Fed Square is now run by the Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation and sits inside the $1.7 billion Melbourne Arts Precinct transformation. The Metro Tunnel opened in November 2025, with Town Hall station linked to Flinders Street Station across the road. That puts even more people within a short walk of the square.
More foot traffic means more people looking for somewhere to sit, and a square full of grass and bean bags is a pretty good answer.
Need bean bags in Melbourne?
We deliver Australia-wide, and our Melbourne bean bags page covers next-day delivery and what Melbourne buys from us. For commercial orders in Melbourne, we can have your bean bags filled locally and delivered ready to use, depending on quantity. Have a look at our custom and branded bean bags, the outdoor bean bag range and my festival seating guide. For more public spaces, see what we've done at QV Live in the CBD, Howard Smith Wharves and The Star Brisbane.
Call me on 1800 888 911 with your numbers, colours and logo.
Debra DeBoer
Bean Bags R Us
