More than a million visit Westfield in first week

The huge new Westfield mall in Stratford has smashed all records in its first week by attracting more than one million shoppers.

The crowds have been so enormous that the main entrance to the £1.45 billion centre next to the Olympic Park had to be shut for an hour on Saturday.

The million mark was reached in seven and a half days, easily beating the 10 days it took sister
mall Westfield London, in White City, to reach the same milestone.

It means that crowds equivalent to the entire population of Birmingham passed through Westfield Stratford City in a week, with some 220,000, about the same as the population of Derby, on Saturday alone.

A Westfield spokesman said it had been forced to make its main entrance from the Underground stations "exit only" on Saturday afternoon because of the crush.

Shoppers were redirected to the quieter entrance on the other side of the centre near the John Lewis department store. She said: "We had to do a bit of crowd control because everyone was coming in at one point and we got a bottleneck."

Traders said they had been stunned by the response since the opening of Europe's largest urban shopping centre last Tuesday.

Noel Saunders, managing director of John Lewis Stratford City, said: "Seeing the queues of shoppers outside the doors on opening day was tremendously exciting for the team. We've had some amazing feedback and with sales higher than anticipated, we are thrilled.

"The London 2012 Shop and the amazing view of the Olympic Park have proved the biggest hit with customers and the commemorative London 2012 pin badges have flown off the shelves."

Larry Meyer, executive vice president of fashion store Forever 21, said: "We had over 800 fashion-fans queuing across two floors outside, waiting for the doors to open on launch day."

Matt Hermer, chief executive of Ignite Group, which runs the Bumpkin organic restaurant at Westfield, said: "We are 50 per cent over our financial projections, we had a party last night to celebrate."

Mexican-themed restaurant Wahaca said it had queues for nine hours continuously on Saturday. A spokesman said: "Throughout the first week, Wahaca got through 36 litres of their hottest habanero salsa, with back-up supplies having to be ordered."

A spokesman for Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Italian said 5,000 meals were served in the first week.
Michael Gutman, managing director of Westfield UK/Europe and new markets, said: "We are overwhelmed by the response from our consumers. The transport infrastructure, both road and rail, has performed superbly."

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