'Is Westfield going to be a white elephant?' blog discussion 18 November 2008 at 6:10PM in Martin's blogs & appearances & MoneySavingExpert in the news 16 replies 3.6K views

Former_MSE_Lawrence

This is the discussion to link on the back of Martin's blog. Please read the blog first, as this discussion follows it.

Read Martin's 'Is Westfield going to be a white elephant?' Blog.

Click reply to discuss below.

Horace

I don't think that it is - we have a Westfield Shopping Centre here in the Midlands called Merry Hill (known locally as Merry Hell), it is always heaving with shoppers. I do think that Merry Hill probably has more parking spaces than Westfield in White City though:rolleyes:

Where the rich are concerned there is no credit crunch - they spend money like water, you only need to know how much money John Lewis make in one department in one day to be aware of that.:rolleyes:

satsuki

That's funny, I was there yesterday with my mum and it was packed - right around the same time MSE claims to have been there.

ernie1

The Trafford centre was like a ghost town for months after it opened,
We would be watching films in empty cinemas and have the whole place to ourselves in the evenings, it took people ages to get use to the idea of going there.

BillScarab

Horace wrote: »

I don't think that it is - we have a Westfield Shopping Centre here in the Midlands called Merry Hill (known locally as Merry Hell), it is always heaving with shoppers. I do think that Merry Hill probably has more parking spaces than Westfield in White City though:rolleyes:

Where the rich are concerned there is no credit crunch - they spend money like water, you only need to know how much money John Lewis make in one department in one day to be aware of that.:rolleyes:

Merry Hill is different though, it's been there for 20 years and is an established centre. Trying to open a massive new centre at the moment is a different proposition.

Minerva69

Coming from "oop north" I'm not likely to be visiting this one in the near future, but in Bradford they kicked out the existing retailers and demolished half the city centre to build a Westfield shopping centre. Several years later and the centre of Bradford still looks like a building site and the Westfield centre has never been built because they can't get anyone to sign up to rent space in it :rolleyes: Are the days of large shopping centres numbered?

White_Boots

I have been to Westfield three times now, twice at the weekend and once during the week. The weekend trips were hellish - the place was so packed that it was difficult to move around. It took ages to walk from one shop to another because of the sheer volume of people and there were massive queues in every shop. The mid-week visit was certainly quieter although the shopping centre was still what I would describe as "very busy". I'm not sure exactly what time the MSE staff were there, but please tell us so we can go at that time too and avoid the huge crowds that have been my experience of the place so far!

dawnfuller

hi,
We went there on Saturday.
First impression WOW.
Then same stuff bigger floor space.
Think its aimed at people with a huge wallet or window shoppers rather than normal families wanting to go shopping.
£45.00 jeans Topshop - normal
£105.00 jeans All Saints Store

Please see my thread Which Shopping Center Is Best and Why.

vikingaero

One of my friends visited Westfield and it took her 3 hours to get there by car, 3 hours to return home and £12 for parking. Then she got lost and entered the Congestion Charging Zone and that's another £8!

She said the shops were nice but OTT.

She's going to stick to Bluey and Lakeside now!

wintersunshine

I live in West London and everyone tells me it's heaving, so I haven't been yet. Traffic around it is now a complete nightmare, so if you do go - get the tube.;)

Seahorse1_2

Hopefully it won't. Admittedly I have only been there once and that was the Saturday of the week it opened. Given where it is you cannot expect it to be busy all the time but come weekends or evenings I bet it will be packed. Each time friends have been there it ihas been packed. I hate the West End so am hapy to have somewhere nearer. Hammersmith where I live is dire. I don't care that Oxford Streeet has several branches of the same shops all along its route I cannot do that anymore.

Just wait until I am paid and I will be back there! I didn't even mind some young whippersnappers complaining that people (me) walked too slow:rolleyes: - that was me 20 years ago:rotfl:.

I am happy that is is 'upmarket to the rest of the Bush because it shouldn't affect the market or the number of middle eastern grocers etc etc.