Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) has reported continued growth in store upsizes across both Westfield UK shopping centres.
The property giant said that both Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City saw a rise in demand from retailers that wanted to increase the space of their stores.
Retailers including Whistles, beauty specialist Rituals and luxury jeweler Bucherer all expanded their stores.
Meanwhile, URW reported store openings for brands seeking to embrace larger spaces to meet increased demand, such as Zara in Westfield Stratford City, which upped its store space by almost 30% and EE Studio’s flagship store, which tripled its store footprint at Westfield London.
The shopping centre giant said it had a “strong pipeline” of further brand openings scheduled for the second half of the year.
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Sportswear signings and store openings also surged by brands including New Balance, Origin Kicks and Lids.
Both Westfield centres experienced a boom in the beauty and food and beverage categories, with the signing of a second UK Sephora store at Westfield Stratford City and for gelato brand Badiani at Westfield London.
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield UK leasing director UK Kate Orwin said: “We’ve experienced a strong half year in retail leasing, primarily fuelled by a substantial demand for upsizing at both of our UK centres.
“Major brands are increasingly investing in our prime physical locations to offer customers unique and captivating in-store experiences”.
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