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Originally Posted by South
London's Biggest Shopping Centre - Plans Unveiled (for 2008)
* +250 stores
* £1.6billion / US$3billion
* Same size as Bluewater Shopping Centre (just outside London)
Plans for greater London's biggest shopping centre, which could rival the traditional retail districts such as Oxford Street, have been unveiled.
The Westfield Centre in White City, forms part of a massive £1.6bn regeneration project in west London.
The shopping mall will house an atrium for live events, 15 restaurants, shops, 4,500 parking spaces, 265 shops, a cinema and other leisure facilities.
A new Tube station, two bus terminals and a railway will serve the site.
Work has already begun on the centre, which is due to be completed in 2008.
It is at the heart of a major drive to regenerate the area, which also includes a £170m upgrade to the transport network and more than 200 flats in an affordable housing scheme.
Developers estimate that 60% of visitors to the new shopping centre will come by public transport.
Those behind the plans for the Westfield Centre say they aim to "break the mould" of dining and entertainment in shopping centres.
Marks and Spencer, Next, Debenhams and Waitrose are among High Street names which have already been signed up.
Jeremy Baker, marketing lecturer at London Metropolitan University, said footfall figures showed out of town shopping was growing while Oxford Street was stable.
"The danger for Oxford Street is White City will just cream off all the rich people of west London and the medium-income people, and they just won't struggle into Oxford Street," he told BBC London.
Mayor Ken Livingstone has suggested he would like to see Oxford Street pedestrianised, with a tram running from end to end.
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The new shopping centre has 400,000 people in just ten minutes travel time. There are also EIGHT times the national average of people in highest income quintile. While Next/Marks and Debenhams is not going to concern Selfridges or John Lewis. The rumour that one of the Malls will be much more exclusive with not just Armani but Barneys of NewYork, which will act as a honeypot for other exclusive stores, and will have bigger effect on Central London.
It is also rumoured that House of Fraser is sniffing around, as they have announced they are closing their High Street Ken store, following on from their closure of their Regent Street store they are now under represented in Central London. The biggest loser will probably be High street Kensington. While Whole Foods of the US is moving into House of Frasers old store, it is not quite the same draw as a department store, rents for the street have already peaked with Zone A rents falling from £300 to £275 in the last year. Hammersmith and Fulham could take a knock on rents as well.
But on the other hand this should push everyone into sorting out Oxford street. because by 2012 at the other end of the Central line a bigger Mall will be opening at Stratford. With both its Eastern and Western hinterlands facing competition it would leave Oxford street relient on North London as its prime hinterland. With little tube penetration south of the river, the town centres in the Southern suburbs are stronger. Compare the size of the shopping centres of Croydon, Kingston and Bromley to the anemic centres of North London.