Westfield Burwood Redevelopment (2000)

Source: Westfield. 2000. "Westfield Burwood Grand Opening Thursday 17 August" (Advertisement). The Inner Western Suburbs Courier, August 14: 1. 

Did you know that Westfield Burwood is the only Westfield Shopping Centre to have been completely demolished and rebuilt as part of a redevelopment?

Source: Anon. 2000. "Designed for the new millennium". The Inner Western Suburbs Courier, August 14: 21.

This month is 25 years since the redeveloped complex opened to shoppers. The size of the centre was doubled to 62 000sq/m and contained 220 stores. Anchor tenants from the original complex returned, including Grace Bros and Coles. Target, which traded on a separate site in Victoria Street, moved into the complex and its former site was incorporated into Westfield, becoming home to a new 12-screen Greater Union (now Event Cinemas) complex. 

 

Source: Westfield. 2000. "It's easier to get here (but even harder to resist)." (Advertisement). The Inner Western Suburbs Courier, August 14: 155. 

Woolworths and Kmart opened new stores for the first time. The official opening was on August 17, 2000, by swimming legend Dawn Fraser, an Inner West local herself.

According to The Inner Western Suburbs Courier,  an estimated 90,000 flocked to the centre for the first day of trading.

Source: Anon. 2000. "Huge crowd flocks to Westfield". The Inner Western Suburbs Courier, August 21: 1.

Grace Bros was branded as Myer in 2004, before closing in 2007 and was replaced by David Jones. In 2024, a refurbishment saw David Jones reduce its trading space from three floors to two floors. The space on level 2 is now occupied by Aldi, JB Hifi, Nike and Rebel Sport. 

These advertisements were published in The Inner Western Suburbs Courier in its editions throughout August 2000.

Coles

 Woolworths 

 Kmart

Dymocks

 

Grace Bros published a special advertising supplement on August 17, 2000, in The Daily Telegraph. I share three of those pages with you.

Entry of interest

MILESTONE: Westfield Burwood opens (1966)

Property Advertisement of the Week: Parkview Gardens, Burwood (1967)

Below is a 1967 newspaper advertisement from The Daily Telegraph promoting apartments for sale in "Parkview Gardens" in Comer Street, Burwood. 

   

Source: H. H. Dening Pty. Ltd. 1967. "Parkview Gardens" (Advertisement). The Daily Telegraph, March 18: 44. 

Apartments were on sale from £6950 ($13900) for a two-bedroom apartment. According to the RBA Inflation Calculator, this would be equivalent to around $ 209,500 today.

1964: Westfield Burwood Plans released

Full Citation Below

In 2016, I published an entry on the opening of Westfield Burwood in 1966. This year, the complex will turn 55.  Below is a clipping from The Daily Telegraph in July 1964 relating to the announcement of plans by Westfield to construct the centre. One eventual tenant (Mark Foys) was reported to have announced that they would open a store in the new centre. 

Source. Anon. 1964. "£2m. Plan for Burwood". The Daily Telegraph, July 1:9. 

This was not the final scheme. In June 1965, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the planned shopping centre had enlarged to encompass more of the block, which would be the built design. Additional retail space was added along with an office block facing Burwood Road.  

Source: Anon. 1965. "Myer's Gets Store Site Sought by Mark Foy's". The Sydney Morning Herald, June 17: 1. 

Despite three years of negotiations, Mark Foys was unsuccessful to act as the anchor for the new centre. Farmers (owned by Myer) was successful in securing the lease for 100 000 square feet of space (up from 80 000 square feet in the previous scheme). Mark Foys had to settle for a smaller space within the centre. 

Related:

MILESTONE: Westfield Burwood opens (1966)

Property Advert of the Week: Chequers Burwood (1994)

In 1994, $380 000 bought you a home in the Chequers complex at Burwood. 

Source: Mirvac Projects. 1994. "Chequers" (Advertisement). The Sydney Morning Herald, May 12: 48.

MILESTONE: Westfield Burwood opens (1966)

Above: An advertisement by Westfield to promote the opening of their new centre at Burwood. It was published in The Sun  on October 10 1966. 

On the back of Bankstown Square opening in 1966 and Roselands the year before, the emerging Westfield Development Corporation (Westfield Group)  needed to step up in what their centres offered to Sydney shoppers.

Westfield had centres at Hornsby, Blacktown, Eastwood, Baulkham Hills and Dee Why. Except for Hornsby, the other centres are no longer managed by Westfield.

The centre was known as Westfield Burwood Shoppingtown and was the first centre to carry the famous Westfield logo.

Key facts:

• Westfield selected Burwood due to its location between Parramatta & the Sydney CBD and Westfield wanted to revitalise Burwood, even believing it would benefit businesses on Burwood Road. 
• Construction took 12 months and cost $8 million.
• Major tenants included Farmers (Myer), Coles, Winns & Mark Foys. 
• First shopping centre in NSW to have shops sloped on an incline making it possible for a shopper to not use stairs to access the two levels inside the centre. Westfield Hurstville (1978) and Macquarie Centre (1981) have layouts based on the incline. 
• First Westfield Shopping Centre to be branded as a "shoppingtown". The idea of a "shoppingtown" was that the centre would contain just more than shops, but professional services like cinemas, petrol stations, doctors and dentists. There were even commercial offices available, though the redeveloped centre no longer has a office component. 
• The original centre had a Hoyts Cinema and Ampol Petrol station.
• 1000 carpaking spots over three levels.


Below are some assorted advertisements to promote its opening sourced from the major Sydney newspapers at the time of opening.

An advertisement for Farmers:

And one for Coles.

 

None of the original centre remains today. As part of the redevelopment of Westfield Burwood, the entire centre was demolished and rebuilt from scratch during 1999 and was reopened to the public in 2000. It now has 250 shops. Coles remains but Farmers (which became Myer, then Grace Bros and reverted to Myer) left in 2007 and was replaced by David Jones.

Finally, for those of you on Facebook, there is a Facebook Page (Old Westfield Shoppingtown Burwood Mermories) dedicated to the original Westfield complex itself with photos and tales.