Westfield London becomes Europe's biggest mall

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Mar 21, 2018

Westfield London has opened its highly anticipated £600 million extension, which adds 740,000 sq ft to the shopping centre, transforming it into the biggest in Europe.

The retail and leisure extension was completed six months ahead of schedule, with shops expected to open throughout the spring and summer ahead of the shopping centre’s 10th anniversary in October. It means it now overtakes the giant Aviapark in Moscow and Westgate shopping city in Zagreb, Croatia in size.

More than 90 retailers will join the extension, including Primark, H&M, Ugg, The White Company, Mango, Molton Brown, Guess, Bravissimo and Charles Tyrwhitt, with a focus on larger flagships. Announcements and openings are expected to take place over the next few months.

And with a focus on experiences, Westfield Square, which is a new public space for events, surrounded by stores, dining and leisure outlets, will open this summer.

The expansion will bring Westfield London’s total line-up of retailers to around 450 stores across 2.6m sq ft, supporting the regeneration of White City with the creation of up to 8,000 new jobs, bringing the total to 20,000. The scheme will also deliver 1,500 new homes.

Peter Miller, COO of Westfield Europe, said the opening "is testimony to the strength of Westfield London, which experiences high retail demand for space from luxury and high street brands looking to house their flagship stores, along with first-to-market dining and leisure concepts."

A 230,000 sq ft John Lewis store anchors the scheme, providing a “place to shop, do and learn”. In addition to daily fashion style talks, cookery masterclasses in a demonstration kitchen, and beauty treatments, the John Lewis department store offers a 'concierge style' service for customers, with travel advice and the option to book appointments for the 23 services offered in-store.

John Lewis MD Paula Nickolds said ahead of the store’s opening on Tuesday: “We're bringing to West London a new level of personalised, curated shopping which until now has been the preserve of boutique shops.”

“This shop offers customers something different. You can get style advice for yourself or your home, learn a new skill, play with the latest smart home technology and so much more.  It's also a place where we can build a far more personal relationship with our customers - bringing together the very best of our service offer and our outstanding partners.”