Westfield Living Centres endured 81 government-restricted trading days in 2021, by contrast to 31 in 2020. Yet in the spite of the onerous state lockdowns caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, parent company Scentre Group has reported annual sales of $22.1 billion for the calendar year 2021 ended December 31.
Proving again that Westfield shopping centres have a magnetic attraction for Australian consumers, total foot traffic for 2021 reached 413 million customers.
Beauty and personal care are a major part of the Westfield retail mix. Depending on the area, shoppers can browse through Myer, David Jones, Mecca, Sephora, Chanel, Christian Dior, Aveda, M.A.C, L’Occitane, The Body Shop, Lush, Priceline and Innisfree stores and enjoy a host of beauty services from brow bars and nail salons to laser clinics and therapists.
One of the biggest initiatives of 2021 was the launch of Westfield Direct, Scentre Group’s aggregated Click and Collect service. The company’s membership platform Westfield Plus also surged to 2.2 million customers.
Our team delivered better results in 2021 than in 2020, even with more Covid-19 restrictions, said Peter Allen, CEO of Scentre Group.
“We are focused on the customer, leveraging the strengths of our leading platform and pursuing our ambition to grow by becoming essential to people, communities and the businesses that interact with them.
“We continue to drive strong demand for space in our Westfield Living Centres from existing and new businesses who are focused on growing their customer engagement and optimising their most productive stores with us. During the year, we welcomed 267 new brands to the portfolio.”
Major developments for 2022 and 2023 include the $355 million investment in Westfield Knox in Melbourne and the $55 million and $33 million projects in Westfield Mount Druitt and Penrith in Sydney.