Westfield Fountain Gate
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| Location | Narre Warren, Victoria, Australia |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Opening date | November 1970 |
| Management | Scentre Group[1] |
| Owner | Scentre Group |
| No. of stores and services | 464[2] |
| No. of anchor tenants | 13 |
| Total retail floor area | 177,755 m2[2] |
| No. of floors | 2 |
| Parking | 6,493[2] |
| Website | westfield.com/fountaingate |
Westfield Fountain Gate is a super regional shopping centre located in Narre Warren in the outer south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. When measured by floor area, it is the second largest shopping centre in Australia, behind Chadstone Shopping Centre, another Melbourne shopping centre.
Contents
History
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Initially opening in November 1970, the centre was reconstructed and re-opened on 11 March 1980 by the Victorian Governor of the time, Sir Henry Winneke, with a Kmart and Coles New World being the major tenants. In September 1988, the adjacent homemaker centre opened. The centre was later purchased by the Westfield Group in July 1995 and was eventually extended and redeveloped into a much larger complex, which was completed by November 2001. The centre hosts a variety of major chains including Kmart, Coles, Woolworths, Big W, Target, Aldi and approximately 320 specialty stores.
A major expansion of the complex took place between 2011 and 2012. Approved by the City of Casey in December 2007, the extension featured a new two level 12,000m2 Myer store, a new 4200m2 Coles store, in a new location near the former BI-LO, with the existing store shell being reconfigured with space for two new minor anchor stores, as well as providing increased retail space for Target, which increased from 6884m2 to 8368m2. David Jones was set to open a store in the new expansion, however terminated the contract with Westfield in July 2010, with Myer replacing David Jones in the expansion. David Jones had been trying to get out of the contract since 2003 as Fountain Gate did not fit the company's strategy or target demographic.[3] Four new minor anchor retail spaces were constructed, as well as 114 new specialty store spaces and 1500 new car parking spaces, with new ground level parking surrounding the centre and new rooftop parking above the new mall areas.[4]
It is the location of the first ever Krispy Kreme in Victoria.
In popular culture
Fountain Gate Shopping Centre is named as the mall frequented by the characters in popular television series Kath & Kim. Scenes in the show are filmed at Fountain Gate, and at another Westfield complex, Westfield Southland.
Fountain Gate Shopping Centre was a filming location in feature film Bad Eggs, where in the first scene a car rolls into the actual shopping centre. In the film's story the mall is named Crystal Heights Shop Kingdom.
Other than this, the shooting of a modernized Shakespeare movie took place at this shopping centre. This movie was directed by Jaskarn while Ibrahim and Brendan were the main actors of this movie.[5]
Stores
Fountain Gate has 440 individual stores. Major retailers are located on either end of the centre, including:
- Myer department store
- Coles supermarket
- Kmart discount department store
- Target discount department store
- Woolworths supermarket
- Big W discount department store
- Harris Scarfe department store
- Village Cinemas complex
- Aldi supermarket
- JB Hi-Fi electronics store
- Dick Smith Electronics electrical store
- Best and Less discount apparel store
- The Reject Shop discount variety store
- Harvey World Travel travel agency
- Apple Store electrical store (opened 15 December 2012[6])
Outside the main centre there are, among others, Harvey Norman, Officeworks, Rebel Sport, Rays Outdoors, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and Cash Converters outlets, as well as a fast food precinct. There is also a fitness gym, a local Centrelink office, Casey ARC, a swimming pool complex, and the local library. The Casey Lifestyle centre houses another JB HiFi, Forty Winks and Anaconda, while there is also a Bunnings Warehouse located nearby.
Transport
Narre Warren railway station is approximately 1 km away from the centre and is linked by a number of bus routes to Westfield Fountain Gate. Some regional buses also stop at Fountain Gate.
The Hallam Bypass, a new section of the Monash Freeway opened in 2003 passes beside the complex and can be viewed from the windows in the food court. A trail known as the Hallam Bypass Trail constructed at the same time runs beside the centre, on the north east side, providing access for cyclists and pedestrians.
See also
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Brighter outlook for a retail giant" Sydney Morning Herald. 19 September 2012
- ↑ No fountain of cash for David Jones, Herald Sun Business Daily, 10 July 2010.
- ↑ Westfield Group Investor Presentation - 3 June 2010
- ↑ http://www.meetup.com/cities/au/narre_warren/events/lgbt/
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
