Westfield has successful Easter in UK

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Apr 4, 2018

Westfield’s two London shopping malls seem to have had a successful Easter, reflecting several studies that showed most shoppers decided to visit under-cover shopping centres at the weekend rather than braving the cold and wet weather outdoors.

The company said on Wednesday that over 940,000 shoppers visited its London and Stratford City properties on Friday, Saturday and Monday (the centres were closed on Sunday).

That's an 18% increase compared to Easter 2017, which would be pretty impressive even in a buoyant retail market. In the current weak environment, it's nothing short of astounding.

However, the recently opened £600 million extension at the Westfield London mall would have been a factor in the increase with a number of new stores generating shopper interest and some of them - like the experiential new John Lewis - being major attractions for visitors.

Those new stores helped the London mall, which is now the largest shopping centre in Europe, see a 27.6% increase in visitors compared to 2017.

Not that the Stratford property did too badly either. Visitor traffic there was up a healthy 12.7% over the three days. And the company said that Saturday was the busiest day at both centres.

Its UK and Europe marketing head, Myf Ryan, said the figures "not only reflect the continued demand for bricks and mortar retail, but also the prevailing strength of retail in London.”