Chadstone Shopping Centre
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| Chadstone Shopping Centre | |
 Chadstone Logo |
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| Mall facts and statistics | |
|---|---|
| Location | Chadstone, Victoria, Australia |
| Opening date | 1960 |
| Developer | Colonial First State Property Management |
| Management | Colonial First State Property Management |
| Owner | Colonial First State Property Management |
| No. of stores and services | 398 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 398 |
| Total retail floor area | 132,000 m² (lettable) |
| Parking | 8,556 |
| No. of floors | 2 (ground and lower) |
Chadstone Shopping Centre in Malvern East, Victoria, Australia is one of the largest shopping centres in the southern hemisphere, with nearly four hundred stores. It is touted as "The Fashion Capital", as the majority of its vast number of stores are clothing or fashion related.
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[edit] History
The site of the current shopping centre was once extensive paddocks of the Convent of the Good Shepherd on which cattle grazed until the mid 1950s.
Opened in 1962, Chadstone Shopping Centre was the first self-contained regional shopping centre in Melbourne. The centre was built and owned by the Myer Emporium. The original shopping centre consisted of a single mall-way with Myer at the southern end and a supermarket at the northern end. This end was subsequently redeveloped as a Target department store with Hoyts Cinemas downstairs.
In the early 1980s, the Myer Emporium sold the shopping centre to the Gandel Group, which has since managed and developed the complex. A major extension doubled the lettable area in the late 1980s. The Convent of the Good Shepherd was finally demolished to extend the carpark of the complex in this era.
Throughout the 1990s, the complex has undergone numerous developments. These include the development of multi-storey carparks due to the boundaries of the centre being built-up with no further room to expand. Approximately 20% of the original mall structure left intact.
It remained Australia's largest shopping mall until November 2003, when Chadstone's biggest rival, the Knox City Shopping Centre, underwent large scale redevelopments to achieve a lettable area of 143,000m², breaking Chadstone's record of 126,980m² at the time. Westfield Parramatta in Sydney also claims to be the largest shopping centre in Australia. Parramatta is currently undergoing a renovation which is threatening the two Melbourne centres of Chadstone and Knox City. Another shopping centre that will potentially rival Chadstone will be Castle Towers, which has approval to expand to 170,000m².
However, Chadstone is currently (as of December 21, 2005) undertaking a AUD$100 million upgrade of its own, with the Gandel Group planning to extend Chadstone's lettable area to 170,000 square metres, which will once again make Chadstone the largest shopping centre in Australia. The new extension, dubbed 'Chadstone Place', will most likely feature a Safeway Supermarket and a Big W Discount Department Store along with a new airport style waiting area for a new bus interchange, a health club and a creche. Construction will start early 2007.
Although the centre was created in the era of the motor vehicle, this fact is now severely limiting the growth of the complex. There are concerns from the City of Stonnington Council and local residents about the motor vehicle congestion around it as well as competition from local street shopping strips. The nearest trains are at Holmesglen railway station, over a kilometre away, although there are many bus lines that use the shopping centre as an interchange.
[edit] Commerce
Chadstone Shopping Centre has a total annual turnover of over AUD$800 million. It is surrounded by over 8,500 car parking spaces on three parking levels, and yet it is still notoriously difficult to park there. The current upgrade will increase the number of parking spaces even further.
The centre is known for its excellent award-winning architecture and prized sculpture collection, having undergone numerous renovations, extensions, and redecorations, particularly over the last decade.
It contains a diverse mix of major international brands and local stores. Major tenants include Myer, David Jones, Kmart, Target, Coles, BI-LO, Borders Books and Music, an AMF Bowling Center, Toys R Us, JB Hi-Fi, Pancake Parlour, Reactor Café, Nandos, and a Hoyts Cinema Complex featuring 16 theatres (of which 7 are Cinemaxx with stadium seating and 5 include the higher-priced La Premiere seating. The countless clothing stores within range from globally renowned names like Armani, Ralph Lauren, Speedo, right down to lesser known labels like Saba.
