Westfield Riccarton
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| Location | Riccarton, New Zealand |
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| Coordinates | 43°31′51.38″S 172°35′51.62″E / 43.5309389°S 172.5976722°E |
| Address | 129 Riccarton Road |
| Opening date | 3 November 1965 |
| Developer | Ricarton Mall Ltd. |
| Owner | Scentre Group |
| No. of stores and services | 162 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 4 |
| Total retail floor area | 54,000 m2 (580,000 sq ft) |
| No. of floors | 2 |
| Parking | 2,400 (Lighted Lot, Parking garage) |
| Website | www |
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, Pak'nSave and Hoyts.[2]
History
[edit]Early history
[edit]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
[edit]
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
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Canterbury places – North and west Christchurch". Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
- ^ "Westfield Riccarton Shopping Centre". www.westfield.co.nz. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
- ^ a b "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.
- ^ "Inflation calculator". Reserve Bank of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 18 February 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
- ^ "Extension of mall". The Press. 5 October 1970. p. 18. Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
- ^ "Extension of Mall". The Press. 10 September 1974. p. 18. Archived from the original on 15 November 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Westfield Riccarton - Phase One Of Redevelopment Completed". Voxy. 27 May 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
- ^ "Four biggest NZ malls a focus for Scentre in $790m property expansion". Archived from the original on 10 April 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Westfield Riccarton at Wikimedia Commons- Official website
