Tuesday 29th November 2016 -The Newly Refurbished Westfield Warringah Mall - Is this the future of Shopping Malls?

If you recalled I attended my first Myer AGM whilst I was down in Melbourne a few weeks ago and at the AGM all the board talked about was the brand new Myer located at Warringah Mall that opened the day before the AGM and how as shareholders we should pay a visit to it if we got an opportunity to and were from Sydney. It was meant to be a fantastic store which is state of the art and very in line with the lifestyle of the Northern Beaches.

So today was my first opportunity since returning from Melbourne to pay it a visit. Was I impressed? - no not really - it looked like every other suburban Myer store. It had the same old "Where were the staff when you needed them?" although I was approached twice by staff members when I didn't really need them and they didn't stock what I wanted. No distinguishing features about it except it was new and had escalators at the entrance( which my work collegue pointed out and also thought that the new Myer was nothing special either) . I think I spent 30 minutes there max and most of my time looking around the mall instead at its layout, architecture and design. Warringah Mall is huge and is becoming a mall of the future - I won't be surprised if it becomes the next Macquarie Centre or Chatswood Chase or even a Chadstone (suburban Melbourne) - a tourist shopping destination on the Northern Beaches. Just 40 minutes from Chatswood Station Interchange on the 280 bus.

I have to admit being a postcard snob I have never travelled to Warringah let alone Warringah Mall. I do believe once the massive amount of construction around the mall is complete and public transport links to the Northern Beaches improves (it is actually not that bad presently), people will be drawn to Warringah Mall. The uniqueness about this mall is it feels as if you are outdoors in some places of the mall yet you are actually indoors enclosed by very high glass celings and arches with very large industrial sized fans and plants on the ground floor and supports growing upwards. Water features and sculptures add to the atmosphere of shopping within a glasshouse or biodome - think walking through the "The Calyx" except without the mists of water or slightly humid envionment I blogged about previously at Sydney Open. (photos attached)