Westfield Riccarton

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Westfield Riccarton
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Westfield Riccarton Level 1.jpg
Westfield Riccarton
Location Riccarton, New Zealand
Coordinates 43°31′51.38″S172°35′51.62″E / 43.5309389°S 172.5976722°E / -43.5309389; 172.5976722
Address129 Riccarton Road
Opening date3 November 1965;59 years ago (1965-11-03)
DeveloperRiccarton Mall Ltd.
Owner Scentre Group
No. of stores and services162
No. of anchor tenants 7
Total retail floor area 54,000 m2 (580,000 sq ft)
No. of floors2
Parking2,400 (Lighted Lot, Parking garage)
Website www.westfield.co.nz/riccarton

Westfield Riccarton, also known by its former name Riccarton Mall, is a large retail complex located in the Christchurch, New Zealand, suburb of Riccarton. First opened on 3 November 1965, it is Christchurch's oldest shopping mall. [1] The complex is currently anchored by Farmers, Kmart, H&M, Pak'nSave, Rebel Sport, JB Hi-Fi and Hoyts. [2]

Contents

History

Early history

Construction of Riccarton Mall began in February 1965. It was officially opened by John McAlpine, MP for Selwyn and Minister of Transport, on 2 November 1965 and opened to shoppers the following day. The initial mall covered 67,000 square feet (6,200 m2) and cost £525,000 to construct ($22.6 million in December 2021 dollars). [3] [4] It contained 20 retailers including three anchor tenants: The Farmers' supermarket and department store (owned by the New Zealand Farmers' Co-operative Association of Canterbury), a Four Square-New World supermarket, and a McKenzie's department store. [3]

A 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2) extension to the mall opened in November 1970 along with a fourth anchor tenant: Calder Mackay & Co. department store, which at the time had just been acquired by the Farmers Trading Company of Auckland. [5] A new 20,000 sq ft (1,900 m2) New World supermarket opened in July 1974, followed two months later by a 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) extension housing four stores, bringing the mall to 123,000 square feet (11,400 m2). [6]

In November 1979, a third major extension opened and expanded the mall to 19,070 m2 (205,300 sq ft). The expansion included a 460 m2 (5,000 sq ft) Smiths City Market and 12 stores, bringing the mall to 50 stores. [7]

Riccarton Mall was extensively remodeled in 1992 with most stores relocating to new premises within the mall; Farmers Trading Company (now simply Farmers) is one of the few stores to remain in its original location. The remodel introduced a food court into the mall and a new rooftop car park.[ citation needed ]

Westfield era

Farmers at Westfield Riccarton in July 2016 JPG Farmers Riccarton main entrance 2016.jpg
Farmers at Westfield Riccarton in July 2016

In 2003 the Westfield Group began a NZD$90 million redevelopment of the shopping centre which was completed in 2005. A strong focus of the redevelopment was a leisure component, with the introduction of the six-screen Hoyts Cinema multiplex, which features the second-largest projection screen in New Zealand. In addition to the cinema, a restaurant and café area was constructed at the Rotherham Street end of the mall.

On 28 May 2009, the mall opened phase one of a new $75m expansion. [8]

The latest redevelopment included 40 new retailers and a new café court. An additional cinema screen was added to the existing Hoyts Multiplex. The first stage of development, a new four-level car park building with space for 400 cars, was completed in January 2009. The expansion increased the size of the mall to approximately 54,000 square metres.[ citation needed ]

Annual sales for the full year 2018 were $535.6 million. [9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Canterbury places – North and west Christchurch". Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  2. ↑ "Westfield Riccarton Shopping Centre". www.westfield.co.nz. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Grand Carnival Opening - Riccarton Mall". The Press . 2 November 1965. pp. 23–30. Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  4. ↑ "Inflation calculator". Reserve Bank of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 18 February 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  5. ↑ "Extension of mall". The Press . 5 October 1970. p. 18. Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  6. ↑ "Extension of Mall". The Press . 10 September 1974. p. 18. Archived from the original on 15 November 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  7. ↑ "A third expansion since 1965 takes place at Riccarton". The Press . 13 November 1979. p. 9. Archived from the original on 15 November 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  8. ↑ "Westfield Riccarton - Phase One Of Redevelopment Completed". Voxy. 27 May 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  9. ↑ "Four biggest NZ malls a focus for Scentre in $790m property expansion". Archived from the original on 10 April 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
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