Westfield Hurstville

Westfield Hurstville is a shopping centre located in the suburb of Hurstville in Sydney, Australia. It is built over three blocks and stretches from Forest Road over Crofts Street, Park Road to The Avenue and connects to the Hurstville CBD. In 2015, Westfield Hurstville underwent a redevelopment which included the addition of a rooftop dining and entertainment precinct and extensive ambience upgrade.^[1]

History

Westfield Hurstville opened in 1978 and featured Waltons (later Venture), Norman Ross, Coles New World, Nock & Kirby (rebranded to BBC Hardware in 1983), Franklins and Best & Less. It was the first shopping centre in Australia to feature a quiet park on top of the centre. The park was Snowy Hill Park a quiet park for shoppers who wanted a break from shopping.^[2] In the 1990s Westfield Hurstville was redeveloped and the centre extended across Park Road toward The Avenue with Grace Bros, Kmart, Greater Union Cinema and 125 speciality stores were added to the centre as part of the extension. Snowy Hill park was later converted to a carpark. However after the redevelopment of the centre, shops on Forest Road started to decline with plans for a pedestrian mall on Forest Road to be known as Forest Road Mall or Hurstville Boulevard.^[3] From 1998 and onwards Westfield Hurstville was facing a decline due to strong competition of the development of Westfield Miranda and the demolition of Westfield Burwood.^[4] Many stores including Brashs and Intencity has closed. Toys R Us (which replaced the two-level Venture store in 1993) has shrunk to become a one-level store. Target was later added to the space vacated by Intencity in 1997. Many department stores including Norman Ross and Venture have closed with Myer being the only department store until its closure in early 2015. Many variety stores were later added with many local residents criticising the centre as cheap $2 shopping centre and the centre was in need of redevelopment.^[5]

Recent development

In late 2015 Myer has closed its store when its lease expired in January 24, 2016.^[6] On March 2016, Westfield Hurstville underwent a $100m redevelopment.^[7][8] Toys R Us has also closed when its lease expired.^[9] Myer was soon replaced by Woolworths and Big W. The redevelopment was completed in November 2015 and consists of:

• A full line Woolworths and JB Hi-Fi on the bottom floor of the space vacated by Myer
• A Big W and Cotton On on the first floor of the Myer space.
• A Rebel Sport added to the centre on the half of Kmart
• A rooftop alfresco dining precinct.
• A refurbished Greater Union Cinema renamed Event Cinemas which added a large VMAX screen (the largest in the Southern Hemisphere )
• New floor finishes, lighting, ceiling treatments, furniture and soft furnishings
• New ticketless, number-plate recognition system parking

As a result Westfield Hurstville is expected reach an average of $17 million in spending and can support a trade area of over 329,000 people.^[10]

Tenants

Anchor Tenants:

• Big W
• Kmart
• Target
• Aldi Supermarket
• Coles Supermarket
• Woolworths Supermarket

Entertainment & Leisure:

• EVENT Cinemas
• EVENT Cinemas VMAX

Mini Majors:

• JB Hi-Fi
• Rebel Sport

Incidents and accidents

• On July 4, 2003, a women aged in her 60s fell five floors to her death from a rooftop carpark. Reports from the media of this incident was suicide.^[11]
• On September 22, 2010, a suspicious brown package was found outside the centre at 1am and the police bomb squad was called. The bag was later deemed not dangerous and security clothing tags were stashed inside the bag, which was taken away by police about 2.45am.^[12]
• On November 4, 2014, shopping trolleys were thrown off from a rooftop carpark which landed on a car and bus. A women in her 50s who was in the car suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene. Two boys aged 15 and 16 were taken into police custody and were cautioned under the Young Offenders Act.^[13]
• On March 10, 2015, a suitcase full of Italian jewellery worth $100,000 was stolen from a wholesale jeweller as he walked through the centre car park. The 55-year-old victim was returning to his car at 3.30pm when the attack took place. He turned around and saw two men running at him with one of them striking his arm. The jeweller dropped his suitcase and the other offender grabbed it before running to a waiting Mitsubishi Magna and fleeing.^[14]
• On February 3, 2016, a bus driver was crushed between his own 46-seater bus and a parked bus outside the centre and died. Police said that the 41 years old, was hit seconds after he left his vehicle, which police say rolled forward. Despite the desperate efforts of paramedics, the driver died at the scene in Park Rd about 4.45pm.^[15]

References

1. ↑ "Westfield Hurstville | Scentre Group". www.scentregroup.com. Retrieved 2016-11-02. 
2. ↑ "Hurstville | Past/Lives of the Near Future". pastlivesofthenearfuture.com. Retrieved 2016-11-02. 
3. ↑ "Georges River Council - Georges River Council". www.hurstville.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 2016-11-03. 
4. ↑ Wayne, Michael (2013-09-23). "Hurstfield – Act II: Hubris (1975-1988)". Past/Lives of the Near Future. Retrieved 2016-11-03. 
5. ↑ Heary, Maria Galinovic, Monica (2014-11-06). "'My store' no more: Myer pulls out of Westfield Hurstville". St George & Sutherland Shire Leader. Retrieved 2016-11-03. 
6. ↑ Cummins, Carolyn (2015-05-07). "Myer closures create 'opportunity' for Scentre Group". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2016-11-03. 
7. ↑ Galinovic, Maria (2015-03-13). "Westfield Hurstville gets a new look with $100 million upgrade". St George & Sutherland Shire Leader. Retrieved 2016-11-03. 
8. ↑ "Westfield Hurstville revamp begins". Inside Retail. 2015-03-18. Retrieved 2016-11-03. 
9. ↑ Galinovic, Maria (2014-11-20). "Toys'R'Us to leave Westfield Hurstville". St George & Sutherland Shire Leader. Retrieved 2016-11-03. 
10. ↑ "Westfield Hurstville revamp begins". Inside Retail. 2015-03-18. Retrieved 2016-11-03. 
11. ↑ "Media 'sparked suicide tragedy' - theage.com.au". www.theage.com.au. Retrieved 2016-11-05. 
12. ↑ "Suspicious package found at Westfield shopping centre at Hurstville". DailyTelegraph. Retrieved 2016-11-24. 
13. ↑ Beichert, Kahlia (2014-11-07). "Police interview two boys after shopping trolleys thrown off Westfield Hurstville onto car". St George & Sutherland Shire Leader. Retrieved 2016-11-05. 
14. ↑ "$100k loot stolen in broad daylight". Retrieved 2016-11-24. 
15. ↑ "Bus driver pinned after leaving vehicle". Retrieved 2016-11-05. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Westfield Hurstville.

• Westfield Hurstville website