Westfield Eastgardens is a shopping centre

Shopping mall

A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...

 that is located in the suburb of Eastgardens

Eastgardens, New South Wales

Eastgardens is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, specifically south-eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Eastgardens is located 9km south east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the City of Botany Bay....

 in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The centre was the largest shopping centre in Australia when it opened in September 1987. The centre is owned by the Terrace Tower Group but operated and managed on a long term agreement by the Westfield Group. The centre's major tenants include three supermarkets, a department store, three discount department stores and a cinema.

History

Westfield Eastgardens is built on the site of a former General Motors Holden factory. The factory closed in 1982 and was soon followed by the nearby W. D. & H. O. Wills factory. The closure of these two sites would result in job losses of around 1000 people. In order to save jobs, the Government of New South Wales

Government of New South Wales

The form of the Government of New South Wales is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1856, although it has been amended many times since then...

 persuaded Westfield to develop the site. The Government rezoned

Zoning

Zoning is a device of land use planning used by local governments in most developed countries. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another...

 the site and added crown land

Crown land

In Commonwealth realms, Crown land is an area belonging to the monarch , the equivalent of an entailed estate that passed with the monarchy and could not be alienated from it....

 in order to convince Westfield. In July 1982 three other commercial landlords whose own trade would be affected by the new shopping centre made a challenge to the Land and Environment Court. Following this the Government passed legislation that disallowed an appeal to be made to the Land and Environment Court. Significant public debate followed about the right of the New South Wales Government to overrule the legal process.

The shopping centre was opened on 23 September 1987 and was the largest shopping centre in Australia for a short period until Chadstone Shopping Centre

Chadstone Shopping Centre

Chadstone Shopping Centre is a super regional shopping centre located in the inner south-eastern suburb of Malvern East in the city of Melbourne, Australia...

 in Malvern East

Malvern East, Victoria

Malvern East is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 11 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Stonnington...

 in Melbourne, Victoria was redeveloped. When the centre opened it had two supermarkets, a department store, two discount department stores, a 6-screen Hoyts cinema as well as 180 other retailers. The centre was redeveloped in 2002. This added a new supermarket, discount department store and brought the total amount of retailers to 290 with parking for 3260 cars and the upgrade of Hoyts. When the redevelopment completed, Westfield Eastgardens was the first shopping centre in NSW to house three discount department stores, Kmart, Target and Big W.

Myer

David Jones Limited

David Jones Limited

David Jones Limited , colloquially known as DJs, is a high-end Australian department store chain.David Jones was founded in 1838 by David Jones, a Welsh immigrant, and is claimed to be the oldest continuously operating department store in the world still trading under its original name. It...

 announced in May 2007 that it would not renew its lease for its Eastgardens store within the Westfield Eastgardens centre due to its proximity to the company's Westfield Bondi Junction

Westfield Bondi Junction

Westfield Bondi Junction is a large, upmarket shopping centre located in the suburb of Bondi Junction in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.The six-level complex, notable for its modern structure and retail mix, has several anchor tenants including David Jones and Myer department stores, Coles and...

 and Elizabeth Street

Elizabeth Street, Sydney

Elizabeth Street is a street in Sydney, Australia.-Description and history:Elizabeth Street runs south from Hunter Street, past Hyde Park and David Jones, Central station and through the inner city suburbs of Surry Hills, Redfern, Waterloo and Zetland...

/Market Street

Market Street, Sydney

Market Street is a cross street in the Central Business District of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It runs from Sussex Street near Darling Harbour in the west, to Elizabeth Street at St. James railway station in the east....

 stores. Myer announced shortly after that it would take David Jones' space after an extensive refurbishment. The David Jones closed on 23 September 2007 with the new Myer store opening on 8 March 2008. David Jones Eastgardens closed on the 20th anniversary of it and Eastgardens' opening, 23 September 1987.

Access

The centre has a major bus interchange serviced by Sydney Buses, a taxi

Taxicab

A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...

rank, and also contains many car parking spots.

External links

• Westfield Eastgardens