Westfield sees boost from upsizing retailers
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) has reported an increase in retailers looking to upsize their stores.
The group said that there had been an increase in retailers at both its Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City shopping centres wanting to grow their footprint.
Tenants including Whistles, Rituals, and Bucherer had all expanded their stores.
Other retailers such as Zara at Wesfield Stratford City and EE Studio at Westfield London had also opened larger units, the former increasing its footprint by almost a third whilst the latter tripled its presence.
A number of sportswear brands had also opened and upsized, including New Balance, Origin Kicks, and Lids.
Both centres also saw an increase in the beauty and food and beverage categories, with Sephora signing for a second site at Westfield Stratford City whilst gelato brand Badiani agreed to open at Westfield London.
URW said it had a “strong pipeline” of openings during the second half of the year.
URW UK leasing director UK Kate Orwin said: “We’ve experienced a strong half year in retail leasing, primarily fuelled by a substantial demand for upsizing at both of our UK centres.
“Major brands are increasingly investing in our prime physical locations to offer customers unique and captivating in-store experiences”.