Westfield Knox redevelopment: shoppers deserting centre as upgrades lag
It’s been six years since Westfield Knox trumpeted its $450 million expansion plans, but now shoppers are ditching the rundown centre as it trails behind other upgraded precincts like Eastland and The Glen. So when will the redevelopment start?
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SHOPPERS are deserting run-down Westfield Knox, with still no word on when work on its long-awaited upgrade will begin.
Photos of the centre’s Myer store show how desperately it needs a spruce-up, with masking tape holding carpet together and carpet in a change room stained.
WESTFIELD KNOX REDEVELOPMENT SCALED BACK
MEGA SHOPPING CENTRE ON THE HORIZON
MELBOURNE HOME TO AUSTRALIA’S BIGGEST SHOPPING CENTRES
A $450 million expansion of the shopping centre was announced six years ago, but work has still not begun.
Knox Leader revealed last year the redevelopment will be scaled back, with a new design, fewer shops and less parking than originally planned.
And construction might not start until November, after Knox Council granted Westfield an extension after its original planning permit expired in November 2017.
After recent upgrades to Eastland, The Glen and with work to soon begin on another upgrade of Westfield Doncaster, shoppers are questioning when it will be Knox’s turn.
Bec Boyd works at a clothing store at the centre and said it desperately needed an overhaul.
“All the shops need redoing; the Myer is the oldest-looking store, and just from a sales point of view we’re watching the sales plummet every year now,” Ms Boyd said.
“You see all the other shopping centres getting upgraded, and poor Knox just gets left behind.”
She said Christmas was quieter at the centre compared to previous years and shoppers were going elsewhere.
“Other centres are booming but Knox is going downhill every year,” Ms Boyd said.
Scoresby’s Caitlin Beggs said the centre was “like a ghetto” and every new shop that opened was a nail salon.
“We need shops like an Apple store, Big W and Aldi,” she said.
Reviews on the shopping centre’s Facebook page also called for upgrades.
Perri Hicks called on the centre to “hurry up”, writing “if I see one more nail salon or massage parlour go in I’ll punch myself in the face”.
Sharon Jones said the centre was “a poor cousin to a badly tenanted DFO” with “hardly any well shopped brands or if so a ‘C’ grade version of them”.
“Sad reflection of what was a great shopping experience in its peak,” she wrote.
But Amanda Booth said it was a “nice sized shopping centre with decent shops”.
Knox Mayor Jake Keogh said the planning permit approved in September 2017 for the redevelopment would expire if work did not start by November 26 this year, though Westfield could seek another extension.
In a statement, centre owners Scentre Group said it was progressing plans for the redevelopment and was looking forward to understanding more about what customers and the community wanted to see as part of a reinvigorated Westfield Knox.
The statement said brands including Decjuba and Adidas, as well as restaurants like Seoul Kitchen and Carl’s Jnr, had recently opened at the centre.
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