Westfield Newmarket

Story

Westfield Newmarket is a medium-sized shopping centre with upmarket shops located at 277 Broadway, in the suburb of Newmarket in Auckland, New Zealand. It features a Countdown, a nearby Farmers and about 60 speciality stores. In 2005, it had retail sales of NZ$120 million. It contains the New Zealand head offices of the Westfield Group, and another new Westfield-owned shopping development, Nuffield Street, is nearby.A major extension is planned for the future, which is to double the size of the centre, by spreading to another site directly south of 277 Broadway. The 200 shop expansion at 309 Broadway has been planned for some time, and a general expansion of the 277 Broadway site had been prepared for even before Westfield acquired the centre from Auckland One, who demolished a 1980s office tower building to make way for the expansion. The work was however allegedly delayed because of reluctance by the Village SKYCITY Cinemas chain to move into the new centre from its existing location further north.In a 2008 rating of New Zealand shopping centres by a retail expert group, Westfield Newmarket received three out of four stars, based on the criteria of amount of shopping area, economic performance, amenity and appeal as well as future growth prospects. Praised were its positions as one of the best-performing centres in the country, though the reviewers noted that parking could be "a nightmare".In 2009, it became public that Westfield intends to construct a $250 million new shopping centre just south of Mortimer Pass (opposite of Westfield 277 Broadway), which is to be linked to the existing centre with a two-level airbridge.