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Shoppers descend on Westfield London
With much anticipation the Westfield London shopping centre opened its doors this morning to a throng of shoppers, intent on forgetting the credit crunch and spending.
There was also much defiance among those involved in the development that it will not be White City's white elephant. Arguably, but also unavoidably, opened at just the wrong time in the economic cycle as a recession looms the shopping mall certainly attracted many tho
Appearing on the stage in the vast atrium of the building both Frank Lowey, chairman of Australia-based developer Westfield Group, and Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, brushed aside claims that the development would prove to be anything other than a long-term success.
Johnson said: “I was asked on my way in this morning by a reporter whether this was the right time in these dark days of austerity to be opening a shopping centre as big as 30 football pitches.”
He suggested it was one of the silliest questions he had ever been asked when considering that Westfield had made a £1.7 billion investment in the centre, which would create 7,000 jobs. And £170 million of this money had been used to improve the under-pressure transport infrastructure in the area.
Despite the pressure on people's budgets Johnson believed Westfield London's white marble floors, 265 retail units and 50-plus food and drink outlets would be sufficient to persuade them to spend.
Alluding to the BBC head quarters located just over the road from the mall, Johnson suggested its presenters should “disgorge those many millions sitting in their bank accounts” in the shops in Westfield.
He added: “It's a fantastic vote of confidence in London as the greatest centre for the buying and selling of goods. It
Many of the mall's retail units were open for business today although a number were still to complete their store fit-outs and a batch have yet to be taken-up by their new tenants. This was most evident in 'The Village' (where the high profile brands such as Prada and Gucci are housed), which was relatively quiet as only around 50 per cent of the units were up and running today.
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