Westfield to invest in luxury Village

Westfield London has announced a multimillion pound investment into the luxury shopping quarter, The Village at its shopping centre in Shepherd’s Bush.

The investment will see a number of stores expand, new luxury names opening and existing retailers relocating to larger spaces, as Westfield looks to enhance the shopping quarter in response to growing consumer demand for luxury retail at the shopping centre.

The refurbishment will see luxury fashion house Versace increasing its presence to three stores in Westfield London including two new stores in The Village, one for its Versace collection, and another for Versus Versace, following the success of its pop-up in the centre. The Versus Versace store will be the first permanent store for the range in the UK.

New additions arriving from autumn 2015 will include three French fashion labels, Sandro, Zadig and Voltaire, and Claudie Pierlot, as well as contemporary fashion brand Jigsaw. In addition, Whistles, which is already located in The Village, will open a larger store later this year.

In a statement, Westfield said improvements to The Village will run throughout 2015 with further new stores to be announced later this year.

Keith Mabbett, director of leasing at Westfield, said: “The Village was the first luxury offer inside a shopping centre in the UK and has proved popular, attracting over 100 million visitors since opening in 2008.

“We pride ourselves on creating exciting and innovative places for our customers and this major investment in The Village is an important part of this strategy. We work closely with our retail partners to understand how we can support their business ambitions for their stores and these enhancements are a critical part of these partnerships.”