Westfield Stratford attracts 47 million shoppers

East London shopping centre Westfield Stratford has marked its first anniversary with a record-breaking footfall of 47 million visitors in its opening year.

Property firm Westfield that owns the Stratford City said that the 1.9 million square foot shopping centre has outperformed the first year footfalls for the likes of Birmingham’s Bullring, which attracted 36.5 million visitors in its first year.

It added that Westfield Stratford attracted one million visitors within the first seven days of trading, 40 percent of whom return to the shopping centre at least once a week, and since then the shopping destination attracts around 800,000 shoppers a week.

The shopping centre’s footfall was also significantly boosted during the Olympics and Paralympics as the centre was the gateway to the Olympic Park, and during the two events visits hit 8.5 million.

As well as hitting record-breaking footfall the centre also achieved £500 million of sales in the first six months of trading and has created 10,000 permanent jobs have been created, 2,000 of which were put in place for the long-term local unemployed.

Commenting on the annual visitor figures, Bill Giouroukos, Westfield Director of Operations said: “Westfield is focussed on delivering the best customer experiences and the best environment for our retailers.

“Westfield Stratford City has the key ingredients for a successful shopping centre including a superior mix of retail, leisure and dining through to leading design, technology and sustainability.”

“Following an exceptional Games period for Westfield and our retailers, we are now entering the next key phase of development at Westfield Stratford City. We are committed to Stratford’s continued regeneration and look to deliver similarly iconic schemes in cities around the world.”