Stratford’s Westfield shopping mall chiefs pin hopes on euro tourists

Fashion-conscious coach parties expected to keep shopping giant running until 2012 Olympics The largest urban shopping mall in Europe will open in east London this week amid hopes that foreign shoppers might bring in the cash that British shoppers seem unwilling to part with. One financial expert said experts could not say that the project would have been cancelled had anyone been able to predict the economic slowdown, but with the capital awash with rising numbers of tourists, it could well be down to London’s cachet with fashion-conscious Europeans to keep our stores afloat. The massive new Westfield Stratford City mall – with its 300 shops, 70 restaurants and bars, a 17-screen cinema and 1.9m sq feet of retail space – opens on Tuesday in Stratford at the site of next year’s Olympic Games, at a time when o ne in seven shops in Britain are boarded up as retailers struggle. Richard Dodd of the British Retail Consortium said: “Any retailer or developer would want to be able to choose a time to open, and we wouldn’t choose the conditions we have now. But that doesn’t mean that if they knew in the past what it would be like now they would have cancelled.” Dodd added: “Consumer confidence is very weak. Our own figures for August showed that spending was only 1.5% higher than in August a year ago, but that is less than inflation and we’ve had a VAT rise. People bought less stuff this year than a year ago. And all the indicators are that people feel their own costs are rising.” But with the Australian-based Westfield company – which has another, slightly smaller mall in west London – bringing in 10,000 jobs to what is one of the most deprived parts of the city, it is not just big businesses that hope the glamour of Tuesday, when pop star and occasional X Factor judge Nicole Scherzinger will open the shopping centre, will stick with it. In total, £1.45bn and 40,000 tonnes of steel have gone into construction – Marks & Spencer and John Lewis have taken huge outlets. They will be joined by names such as Topshop, River Island, Primark, Boots and Goldsmiths, which will be selling some of its jewellery from vending machines. Westfield will undoubtedly benefit from the Olympics, and developers expect around 70% of the 10 million visitors to the Games to pass through. “Westfield is not being built solely for the Olympics, but it’s a major long-term investment by retailers for that part of east London, and it needs to be successful well outside of any Olympic considerations,” said Dodd. There has been a surge in European tourists in London this year, mostly French, German and Spanish, many attracted by the spending power of their euros against a weak pound, and this has kept many retailers in the capital afloat. Westfield will be hoping for a share of the continental visitor spending power, much of which at the moment is spent in the West End triumvirate of Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street. Jace Tyrrell, of the New West End Company, said there is no fear that the West End will lose custom to the new project. “We’re relaxed about Stratford. We’ve seen a huge rise in European shoppers and I don’t think we’ll lose too many to a mall.” But coaches are already offering direct runs from Paris to Stratford. Eurostar, which is also reporting a rise in the popularity of London as a destination for its passengers, will not stop at Stratford International at the very least until after the Games, when the train operator will review its decision. But the transport links from other parts of London are fast and varied and as the 150 cleaners put the final polish on the site, shops and developers at Westfield Stratford City are hoping for a brighter, long-term future. Westfield facts 40,000 tonnes of structural steel was used in the construction – equivalent to the weight of 80 million medals. 10,000 permanent jobs have been provided – 2,000 of which have gone to local unemployed people. 4 million people live less than 45 minutes away and have £3.24bn to spend. 1.25m metres of cable is in the centre. Plus 30,000 metres of piping. 150 cleaners are clearing the site to be ready for Tuesday’s opening. 75% of Stratford City’s electrical power will be met by an onsite power plant. Retail industry Olympic Games 2012 London Tracy McVeigh Simon Goodley guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 10, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.