Westfield Chatswood

Westfield Chatswood is a large indoor shopping centre in the suburb of Chatswood in the Lower North Shore of Sydney.[1]

Westfield Chatswood

Westfield Chatswood from Victoria Avenue
Location	Chatswood, New South Wales
Coordinates	33°47′49″S 151°11′03″E
Opening date	30 January 1986
Management	Scentre Group
Owner	Scentre Group
No. of stores and services	257
No. of anchor tenants	8
Total retail floor area	81,077 m^2 (872,706 sq ft)
No. of floors	7
Parking	2,831
Public transit access	Chatswood railway station
Website	westfield.com.au/chatswood

Entrance to Westfield Chatswood from Chatswood Mall

View of Myer at Westfield Chatswood

Transport

Frequent train services by both Sydney Trains and Sydney Metro Northwest operate to Chatswood station located within close proximity of Westfield Chatswood.

Westfield Chatswood has bus connections to Kingsford, Bondi Junction, Crows Nest, Balmoral, Northern Beaches including Frenchs Forest, Dee Why, Manly and surrounding suburbs. It is served by Sydney Buses and Metrobus with bus stops on Victoria Avenue.

Westfield Chatswood also has a multi level car park with 2,831 spaces.

History

Westfield Chatswood opened on 30 January 1986 and is the second major shopping centre to be built in Chatswood with the first being Chatswood Chase in 1983 and Wallace Way and Lemon Grove in the 1980s.[2] The centre was located next to the free standing Grace Bros store that opened in 1961 and featured Target (which was originally located at Wallace Way until 1986), Coles New World and Franklins (closed 2001 and renamed Food For Less). In 1999 it was redeveloped to incorporate a previously free standing Grace Bros store (later renamed Myer in 2004) and Toys "R" Us was added.[3]

In 2008 Aldi opened its store on the space vacated by Food For Less. Spanish clothing retailer Zara opened its store on 13 February 2014.[4]

In July 2014, as part of a restructure of the Westfield Group, it came under the control of the Scentre Group.[5]

Recent development

In 2015 a $110 million upgrade to Westfield Chatswood commenced, with the centre increased from 77,000sqm to 80,000sqm of gross lettable area. The redevelopment was completed in November 2015 with H&M (opened on the space vacated by Toys "R" Us), Uniqlo, Mecca Maxima and a new relocated Rebel Sport all opened on 18 February 2016.[6][7][8]

This development consists of:

• Forty new stores
• Four new international fashion stores, as well as some local fashion stores (including Sydney's third H&M, Uniqlo, Topshop and Topman)
• Two-level entrance on Victoria Avenue reconfigured into a five-level mall which included a two-level flagship Topshop and Topman (as of September 2017 the store is now closed)
• Hawker Lane Asian dining restaurants precinct
• a reduced regular food court (KFC, Pizza Hut and Subway only operate)

Tenants

Westfield Chatswood has 81,077m² of floor space. The major retailers include Myer, H&M, Zara, Uniqlo, Target, Coles, Aldi, Rebel Sport, JB Hi-Fi, Timezone (formerly PLAYTIME) and Hoyts Cinema.

Incidents and accidents

• 24 September 2005, a 32-year-old woman fell from the sixth floor and straight onto a 42-year-old woman on the ground floor in an attempted suicide. Both women were taken to Royal North Shore Hospital and police are investigating.[9]
• 12 January 2016, A man fell from the fifth level and died. About 3:45 pm police were called to the centre following reports a man was standing on the wrong side of a railing. Police believe it was suicide.[10]

References

1. "Westfield Chatswood". Scentre Group. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
2. Inc., Willoughby District Historical Society. "Suburbs - Chatswood CBD- History and Heritage - Willoughby District Historical Society Inc". www.willoughbydhs.org.au. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
3. "Westfield's $110m redevelopment". Retrieved 7 September 2017.
4. "Zara store opens in Chatswood". Retrieved 7 September 2017.
5. Westfield restructure a success: Lowy The Australian 20 June 2014
6. Mitchell, Sue (18 February 2016). "UNIQLO takes on global chains at Westfield Chatswood". Retrieved 21 September 2016.
7. "Chatswood shopping will get a boost from forty new stores and a new asian dining precinct".
8. "H&M opening third Sydney store". Inside Retail. 24 November 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
9. "Two women injured in six-storey plunge - News, Social Issues & Politics". Retrieved 21 September 2016.
10. "Elderly man dies after Westfield Chatswood fall". Retrieved 21 September 2016.

External links