The shopping centre is far from dead said Westfield director of operations Bill Giouroukos at the BCSC conference in Liverpool this afternoon, but landlords do need to be more relevant to their customers.
Giouroukos said that Westfield’s Stratford City mall had enjoyed a “phenomenal summer”, with 8.5m people passing through its doors in the six-week period of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
This was caused not only by visitors to the Games but also because of experiental events hosted at the mall, said Giouroukos.
Big draw events included football star David Beckham surprising shoppers in a photobooth within the mall.
“Is the shopping mall dead? Absolutely not,” said Giouroukos. “But you have to be relevant to customers’ needs and you have to create that element of surprise and excitement.”
simon.binns@estatesgazette.com
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