Luxury looms as Chadstone verges on $2.5b in sales
Chadstone shopping centre’s new 250-room luxury hotel has started taking bookings, with the $130 million, 12-storey building — which includes a rooftop bar and swimming pool, two restaurants and a wellness centre — set to open later this year. Take a look inside.
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Chadstone shopping centre will generate a record $2.5 billion in annual sales by the end of the year, a milestone set to come as it welcomes the first guests at its new luxury hotel.
The shopping centre, which attracts 24 million annual visitors including 450,000 international shoppers, will open the $130 million MGallery by Sofitel hotel in November.
The 12-storey, 250-room hotel, named Hotel Chadstone Melbourne, started taking bookings this week.
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Chadstone general manager Fiona Mackenzie said the hotel — which includes a rooftop conservatory bar and swimming pool, two restaurants and a wellness centre — would set a new benchmark for luxury accommodation outside Melbourne’s centre.
Guests are expected to range from businesspeople using the hotel’s conference and event facilities to visitors from regional Victoria keen for a dose of retail therapy on the weekends.
“It’s going to appeal to a really broad audience,” Ms Mackenzie told Business Daily. “We see that potentially Monday through Thursday we will have the corporate traveller.
“Many people are unaware of the depth of the corporate market in the southeast corridor of Melbourne, which is home to Monash Health, Monash University Caulfield Campus and quite a lot of substantial head offices.
“As we move towards the weekend, Friday Saturday and Sunday, we see a real leisure market opening up. We think we will have strong penetration from regional Victoria where they will make it a weekend destination for a family shopping trip or a girls’ weekend out.”
Ms Mackenzie said Chadstone was turning over close to $2.2 billion in annual sales, making it the fourth largest shopping centre in the world by turnover.
Sales across its more than 500 stores and restaurants will hit $2.5 billion by the end of the year and the shopping mecca has doubled its sales every decade for the past 30 years.
While falling house prices and the rise of online shopping were putting some retailers under enormous pressure, Ms Mackenzie said she was confident Chadstone would continue to draw in shoppers, dinners and people looking to be entertained.
“We are opening this hotel with absolute confidence,” she said.
“We are continually evolving Chadstone in terms of introducing first-to-market retail offers, brands that have not been seen in Australia before and upscale destination dining. What the hotel does is funnel more and more customers into this retail market to continue to drive the turnover.”
Chadstone is owned by listed shopping centre owner Vicinity Centres and Melbourne billionaire property magnate John Gandel.
Rooms at Hotel Chadstone for two adults in the first week of December start from $305.
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