The Revolt of Retailers as The Largest Mall In Europe Struggles

Westfield is the owner of Europe’s largest shopping center based in West London and is facing a slap on the face from cash-strapped retailers who are unhappy with the progress of the giant mall, which opened in October of 2008. The giant mall has been faced with restaurant closures, delays in opening a cinema and increased service charges with a large number of retailers looking at various ways to divorce themselves from the mall.

One retailer felt that the mall had been over sensationalized and subsequently, ill feelings have developed. The hike in service charges certainly hasn’t help calm any anxieties at all. Some feel that the grand opening of the mall was just horribly timed.

Amidst these claims, Westfield has claimed a 98.9% occupancy rate at its Shepherd’s Bush mall in February, but declined to say how many units were empty. Westfield owns 119 shopping malls across the globe and reported an annual loss last month of more than $1 billion GBP as consumers and retailers continue to suffer the wraths of the ailing economy and credit crunch. The majority of losses have been blamed in the North American and British malls.