Box Hill Central Shopping Centre

Box Hill Central Shopping Centre is a regional shopping centre complex (made up of two separate centres) located in the eastern Melbourne suburb of Box Hill in Victoria, Australia. It is approximately 16 kilometres (10 mi) east of Melbourne's central business district and both shopping centres are centrally located within the Box Hill shopping precinct and Whitehorse City Council's Principal Activity Centre.

History

Box Hill Central - North

Box Hill Central - North was originally opened in the 1970s as Whitehorse Plaza, however due to the lack of patrons it was closed down in 2000. After redevelopment of the entire shopping centre which consisted of demolition of all tenancies with the shopping centre, reconfigure of the main shopping mall & car parks as well as major refurbishment of the external as well as the internal facades by Centro Properties Group it was reopened on 1 July 2003 as Centro Whitehorse (although called Whitehorse City while under redevelopment), the shopping centre has had incremental expansions over time since then. In 2007 Centro Whitehorse was re branded as Centro Box Hill North and expanded to included a brand new Harris Scarfe store, now the flagship store in Victoria. It has been speculated that there will be additional expansion of the shopping centre to include a pedestrian bridge linking Centro Box Hill North & South, additional speciality stores as well as a new Amart sports store. In 2013 it was rebranded to Box Hill Central - North as a result of an organisation wide rebranding of all centres owned by Federation Limited.

Box Hill Central - South

Box Hill Central - South was originally opened in the 1987 as Box Hill Central, it was built when the old railway station and level crossing was removed, and Market and Main Streets were closed to traffic. The centre was refurbished in 1998 and in 2000 was acquired by the Centro Properties Group, who have since renamed it to Centro Box Hill South, though many still refer to it as Box Hill Central. Unusually, the shopping centre has a large indoor fresh food market located along the eastern edge of the complex. The original market opened in 1895 which was incorporated into the shopping centre when it was developed.

Tenants

The two shopping centres have a combined gross lettable area of 37,995 m² (408,970 sq ft), 2,537 parking spaces and over 190 retailers, eateries and service providers. They also contain approximately 100 professional office suites in professional office towers.

Major retailers include Safeway and Coles supermarkets, a Harris Scarfe department store and a Big W discount department store (which opened on 11 November 2010 after replacing Target. The former store closed on 16 January 2010 because it was no longer viable and not a "full line" store at approximately 5400m2). Minor retailers in the centre include Homeart, Liquorland, BankWest, Bendigo Bank, Dick Smith Electronics, The Reject Shop, EB Games and various pharmacies.

A number of major services providers are located in the centre, such as Australia Post, EastLink, and Medibank.

The Box Hill region is well known for its large population of Hong Kong Chinese, with smaller groups of mainland China, Taiwanese and Vietnamese. This is reflected in the diversity of the produce in fresh food markets, medicinal herb retailers and clothing shops. In addition to the familiar European market offerings, the market area stocks an extensive range of traditional Asian foods.

Box Hill Central (North and South) has an annual turnover in excess of A$150 million.

Transport

Box Hill Central - South was built above Box Hill station (Premium Station) and has a major bus interchange on its roof. Box Hill Central - North is right next to the terminus for tram route 109. It passes through the inner eastern suburbs en route to the city and Port Melbourne. It was extended from Mont Albert to Box Hill in May 2003. There are a few bus stops situated around both the shopping centres and they are both situated in Metlink zone 2. Box Hill Central has 7 levels of undercover car parking. The shopping centre has bicycle racks located at most major entrances as well as an on-site taxi rank.

References

External links

• Box Hill Central Website

Coordinates: 37°49′10″S 145°7′24″E / 37.81944°S 145.12333°E / -37.81944; 145.12333