Westfield WestCity is a major regional shopping centre

Shopping mall

A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...

 located in Henderson

Henderson, New Zealand

Henderson is a major suburb of Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located 13 kilometres to the west of Auckland city centre, and two kilometres to the west of the Whau River, a southwestern arm of the Waitemata Harbour.-Description:...

, a suburb of Waitakere

Waitakere

Waitakere City was the name of a city which existed from 1989 until 2010 in the Auckland region. It was New Zealand's fifth largest city, with an annual growth of about 2%...

, Auckland, New Zealand, 15.9 kilometres (9.9 mi) west of the Auckland CBD

Auckland CBD

The Auckland CBD is the geographical and economic heart of the Auckland metropolitan area. Bounded by several major motorways and by the harbour coastline in the north, it is surrounded further out by mostly suburban areas...

. It is immediately adjacent to Waitakere Mega Centre

Waitakere Mega Centre

Waitakere Mega Centre is an integrated bulk retail shopping centre, located in Henderson, a major suburb of Auckland, New Zealand, on Vitasovich Avenue approximately west of the Auckland CBD immediately adjacent to Westfield WestCity...

, an integrated bulk retail centre, and is in direct competition with Lynnmall in New Lynn

New Lynn, New Zealand

New Lynn is a residential suburb, located in the former Waitakere City, one of the four main urbanised regions that have since become the city of Auckland, in northern New Zealand.The population was 15,510 in the 2006 Census, an increase of 1,446 from 2001....

 and another Westfield Group centre Westfield St Lukes

Westfield St Lukes

Westfield St Lukes is one of the big three shopping centres in the western suburbs of Auckland, New Zealand, and is located on St Lukes Road. It receives about 6 million shopper visits annually. With 43,000 m² gross floor area , it features a Farmers, K mart, Foodtown, a Village SKYCITY 8 screen...

 in Morningside

Morningside, New Zealand

Morningside is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It lies four kilometres south-west of the city centre, close to Eden Park and Western Springs....

.

The centre has a current catchment area of 174,340 persons, and annual turnover at the centre for 2006 was $161.1 m NZD with 8.5 million visitors per year.

History and development

The shopping centre had its origins in the 1960s, when the Henderson Borough Council established it, with the first stage opened in 1968, with a Woolworth's store as the main tenant. The second and third stages followed by 1970, and by 1974 the centre rivalled LynnMall in size. In 1997, St Lukes Group redeveloped the centre and renamed it WestCity Shopping Centre, a name Westfield kept (plus the standardised 'Westfield' prefix) after purchase of the property. In 2000, Westfield began a 16-month, $80 million redevelopment program. The result was the first "Street" entertainment and leisure precinct in New Zealand, launched at WestCity in July 2001.

In a 2008 rating of New Zealand shopping centres by a retail expert group, Westfield WestCity received three out of four stars based on the criteria of amount of shopping area, economic performance, amenity and appeal as well as future growth prospects.

Transport

The centre is accessible via the nearby Henderson Train Station

Henderson Train Station

Henderson Train Station is a major station on the Western Line of the Auckland railway network. It is near the town centre of Henderson and the new Council offices, as well as a major shopping centre, Westfield WestCity.-Major upgrade:...

 and by bus services from Britomart Transport Centre

Britomart Transport Centre

Britomart Transport Centre is the CBD public transport hub of Auckland, New Zealand, and the northern terminus of the North Island Main Trunk line. It combines a bus interchange with a railway station in a former Edwardian post office, extended with expansive post-modernist architectural elements...

 and New Lynn Train Station

New Lynn Train Station

New Lynn Train Station is on the Western Line of the Auckland railway network, New Zealand, and is part of an integrated transport centre where transfers can be made to and from bus services. A redeveloped station in a new rail trench was opened on 25 September 2010...

.

Major retailers

Major retailers operating within the shopping centre include;

• Farmers
  Farmers (department store)
  The Farmers Trading Company is a New Zealand mid-market department store chain. Based in Flat Bush in Auckland, Farmers operates 56 stores across New Zealand, specialising in fashion, beauty, home-wares and furniture.- History :...
  
  
• The Warehouse
  The Warehouse Group
  The Warehouse Group Limited, founded by Stephen Tindall in 1982, is the largest department store retailer operating in New Zealand. The Warehouse is largely a discount store similar to Wal-Mart in the United States, however The Warehouse sells far more generic brand merchandise than other discount...
  
  
• Countdown
  Countdown (supermarket)
  Countdown is a New Zealand full-service supermarket chain, owned by Woolworths Limited. Founded in 1981, Countdown is now the flagship brand of Progressive Enterprises, Woolworths' New Zealand supermarket subsidiary, with 133 supermarkets across New Zealand...
  
  

Major food restaurants

Major food retailers within the centre include:

• Burger King
  Burger King
  Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...
  
  
• McDonalds
• Nando's
  Nando's
  Nando's is a casual dining restaurant group originating from South Africa with a Portuguese/Mozambican theme. Founded in 1987, Nando's operates in thirty countries on five continents....
  
  

External links

• Westfield WestCity website