[PRO] Westfield Marion

[Omicron]

I should hope they do a better job with Marion than they did with the Rundle Mall store. I couldn't find a more underwhelming way to spend a few hundred million than that monument to beige conservatism.

[Ben]

I should hope they do a better job with Marion than they did with the Rundle Mall store. I couldn't find a more underwhelming way to spend a few hundred million than that monument to beige conservatism.

That store has won many awards all over the world. The exterior may be bland but the interior and layout is very appealing imo.

From the David Jones website

The reconstructed David Jones store at Rundle Mall in Adelaide won a prestigious international award as the best newly completed store in the world in the year 2000.

[Omicron]

I should hope they do a better job with Marion than they did with the Rundle Mall store. I couldn't find a more underwhelming way to spend a few hundred million than that monument to beige conservatism.

That store has won many awards all over the world. The exterior may be bland but the interior and layout is very appealing imo.

From the David Jones website

The reconstructed David Jones store at Rundle Mall in Adelaide won a prestigious international award as the best newly completed store in the world in the year 2000.

I know. That's what scares me. The interior is so.......so........very testing upon my ability to find suitable adjectives. It's just not special at all. The marble flooring looks far too similar to the standard-issue terrazzo-esque tiling replicated in any suburban shopping centre; the cabinetry is the same shade of light beechwood as IKEA bookshelves; the cosmetics counters are impossibly close to one another and block any attempts to reach the escalators from the front door; the B&O showroom is tucked away into a tiny little corner behind the greeting cards; the handbags have all been tossed into a large pile and had prices stuck on wherever they landed; the light fittings are underwhelming; the ceilings are surprisingly low; the women's clothing section tapers off into the distance; and so on. At least Myer Rundle Mall tried to give their store a sense of occasion with the properly-sized full-height central atrium, although the recent relocation of some women's clothing to the eastern wall has turned that side into a horrendous, blaring road accident.

Let's not even begin to describe the opulence that was David Jones' original Adelaide home. How I miss thee *sob*

[rhino]

I'm with you. Omi. I couldn't believe they moved from that beautiful old store into that (internally) bland, nondescript box. However, unlike you, I wouldn't have a clue about the womens' apparell sections of the store. What's that all about?

[Prince George]

That store has won many awards all over the world. The exterior may be bland but the interior and layout is very appealing imo.

From the David Jones website

The reconstructed David Jones store at Rundle Mall in Adelaide won a prestigious international award as the best newly completed store in the world in the year 2000.

It did? More reason to ignore the results of these awards, methinks, if they hand them out to buildings that devote more time and money deciding how best to display Gant sweaters for the hundred or so people who can buy them than they do on what to do with a streetface. Charles St could be a fabulous connection between the university and the mall, and instead of contributing to that they chose to build not much more than a blank wall with a couple of windows for you to see through to the Aladin's cave of high-end cosmetics and toiletries that is the DJ's ground floor. I pity that poor bubble-tea place that's stuck looking at it's own reflection in the polished granite across the street.

[Omicron]

Taken from Westfield's 3rd Quarter Presentation (12th November):



All three South Australian redevelopments are still on the cards, then. The efforts at Westfield London are quite spectacular indeed - South Australian shopping centres have been traditionally quite mundane compared to their interstate counterparts, let alone international ones, so here's hoping for something a bit better this time around.





Incidentally, the history section of Westfield's corporate website is a very good read, if you're into that sort of thing. Plenty of pictures and details right from the very beginning up to the present.
http://westfield.com/corporate//about-w ... p/history/

[Prince George]

They have rather more competition at the high-design end of the scale in Europe than they do here. Such as Selfridges' Birmingham store:



Or Galleries Lafeyette in Berlin:



Sadly, in Adelaide they almost only have to compete with themselves so they have no motivation to provide the same level of experience as they do elsewhere.

[Shuz]

We can only dream, but I would seriously doubt that Westfield would pour that much investment into its Australian stores. Our establishments are merely revenue-raising joints to fuel the competetion of attracting customers to their stores in Europe with the fancy-everythings.

[pushbutton]

You do realise that Westfield is a shopping centre operator?

They don't even have any stores! Here or anywhere else!

[rogue]

And the point you are trying to make is?

[steveadl]

This probably explains the reason behind the SA Westfield's outside look:

Hofbauer says that while actual
construction methods have not changed
much since the late 1960s, design has.
Thirty years ago, shopping centres were
like boxes on the landscape and Westfield
is the first to admit it didn’t put much
effort into disguising them or making them
blend in with the environment. Today
there is far greater awareness of this need
and consequently serious attempts are
made to improve the façades, so that the
buildings are more aesthetically pleasing
from the outside.

So when the SA centres were built yonks ago, they didn't care about the aesthetics. The centres they're building in London etc now are designed to be more pleasing to the eye. Short of pulling down Marion, TTP etc completely and starting over, probably not a hell of a lot they can do about the 'big box' look they have.

[pushbutton]

Agreed to some extent, but the Marion centre was extensively rebuilt about 1996ish which isn't that long ago, and they did significantly change the external facades of it then. They could have done a much better job of it.

Let's hope this time around they will!

[deano91]

Does anyone know when this upgrade is going to begin? Have they even provided a timeline yet?

[steveadl]

You're right, they could make more effort in future work.

Guess it still comes down to money. Anyone seen the newly redeveloped and expanded Newton shopping centre owned by Ross Makris? I went and had a look few months back and it is literally just a massive cement box that has been dumped on the whole site. Reaches almost every boundary of the site, and just plain big walls on every side. Fairly different to what he and his dad's done at O'Connell St and what they have planned for LeCornu site. Again probably comes down to budget and size restrictions of the site in Newton's case.

[Ben]

Still a couple of years away yet.

From The Advertiser:

David Jones plans Marion store makeover

MEREDITH BOOTH

November 26, 2008 05:00pm

DEPARTMENT store David Jones will refurbish its Westfield Marion store as part of a wider upgrade and new store rollout in a move designed to add $200 million in sales for the retailer from 2012.

Westfield Marion DJs and stores in New South Wales and Western Australia will be upgraded and three sites will be added in Queensland.

David Jones has extended its lease with Westfield at Marion by 25 years as part of the upgrade and expects to begin work on the site in April, 2010.

The announcement is the best indicator yet that Westfield will commit to its $200 million redevelopment in two years.

Marion Council granted initial approval in August last year for Westfield Marion's redevelopment - expanding the floorspace to 150,000sq m with 90 new shops, a supermarket, a two-level mall and 900 parking spaces and creating 700 construction and 750 new retail jobs in the process.

David Jones retail development general manager Tony Karp said the retailer would align with its landlord on refurbishment which would be completed before the peak Christmas trading period from October, 2010.

He said the multi-faceted property deal with Westfield, AMP Managed Funds, Dexus and APPF would require no additional debt funding for the retailer.

"The company's capital expenditure will be split across financial years 2011 and 2012 and will on average only utilise 30 per cent of the existing $50 million a year target for each of those years,'' Mr Karp said. He gave no estimate of the Marion refurbishment cost.