Westfield Hornsby

Westfield Hornsby

Location	Hornsby, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates	33°42′15″S 151°06′03″E
Address	236 Pacific Highway
Opening date	July 1961 (July 1961) (original) 26 September 2001 (26 September 2001) (current)
Developer	Westfield Group
Owner	Scentre Group
No. of stores and services	314
No. of anchor tenants	8
Total retail floor area	99,550 square metres (1,071,500 sq ft)
No. of floors	3
Parking	3,200
Public transit access	Hornsby railway station
Website	westfield.com.au/hornsby

Westfield Hornsby is a large indoor/outdoor shopping centre in the suburb of Hornsby on the Upper North Shore of Sydney.[1]

History

The original Westfield Hornsby known as Westfield Plaza opened in July 1961.[2] The centre featured McDowells (later rebranded as Waltons and then Venture), Coles New World and 25 stores.[3][4][5]

In 1968 Westfield Hornsby received its first major redevelopment which saw the centre quadruple in size. The centre was also upgraded in 1976 and 1979.

A competing shopping centre opened on 14 November 1979 by Deputy Premier Jack Ferguson and Hornsby Shire President Don Evans.[6] The shopping centre known as Northgate featured Grace Bros (rebranded to Myer in 2004), Kmart and 67 speciality stores.[7]

In the early 1990s the intersection of Florence Street and Hunter Street became a pedestrian mall with a fountain at the centre of the pedestrian mall. The fountain known as the Hornsby Water Clock was designed by Victor Cusack who previously designed the Pacific Family fountain in 1988 at Westfield Warringah Mall. The fountain was unveiled in 1993.[8]

In 1999 Westfield purchased the Northgate Shopping Centre and commenced its four stage redevelopment. This redevelopment involved the closure and demolition of the original Westfield centre and incorporation of adjacent Northgate Centre into the development. In January 2000 Westfield was temporarily closed to pave way for the new centre which doubled the retail space and added restaurants and cinemas at a cost of $360 million over a two-year period.[9] During this redevelopment, the original Westfield centre was demolished and rebuilt, making it the second Westfield to be completely demolished after Westfield Burwood. It also extended and refurbished former Northgate centre.

The development opened in four stages. Stage 1 of the redevelopment opened in the former Northgate side in October 2000 with the Northgate name dropped and part of Westfield. This stage included the opening of Coles and 50 stores.

Stage 2 opened in May 2001 which was the old Westfield Hornsby side. This stage was physically separated from the stage 1 site until August when the 2 stages joined together via an underground level. This stage included the opening of Woolworths and 40 speciality stores

Stage 3 was completed in September 2001 which included the opening of David Jones, Target, Gowings, a food court and 100 stores.

Westfield Hornsby had its official grand opening on the 26 September 2001.

Stage 4 of the development opened on 29 November 2001 with the opening of the nine screen Greater Union Cinema (now Event Cinemas) and restaurant precinct which opened on 25 November 2001.[10]

In 2005 the three level Gowings store closed and was replaced by JB Hi-Fi on the upper level, Macro Wholefoods (rebranded as Thomas Dux on 26 September 2009 before closing in April 2016[11] and replaced by Toys R Us until 2018 which is now Uniqlo which opened in April 2019)[12] on the middle level and Dan Murphy's on the lower level.[13]

On 24 September 2011 Apple opened its 13th store in Australia in the centre.[14]

In July 2014, as part of a restructure of the Westfield Group, it came under the control of the Scentre Group.[15]

On 12 January 2020 Myer closed down its store after 40 years of trade and was replaced by Harvey Norman on the Upper level which opened on 3 October 2020 and TK Maxx on the second floor.[16]

Tenants

Westfield Hornsby has 99,550m² of floor space. The major retailers include David Jones, TK Maxx, Kmart, Target, Aldi, Coles, Woolworths, Uniqlo, Apple, Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, Rebel, Fitness First, KOKO Amusement and Event Cinemas.

Transport

The North Shore and Northern lines offer frequent train services to Hornsby station which is a short walk from the centre.

Westfield Hornsby has bus connections to the Sydney CBD, North Shore, Northern Suburbs and Hills District, as well as local surrounding suburbs. It is served by CDC NSW bus services. The majority of its bus services are located on Pacific Highway in front of the centre as well as on Station Street on the other side of the station.

Westfield Hornsby also has multi level car parks with 3,200 spaces.

Incidents

• On 18 November 2013, a tornado formed over the Hornsby area.[17] There was damage to the Westfield complex as part of the roof collapsed over the Event cinema. Nearby, a demountable structure was completely uplifted and landed a few metres away. There were no reported injuries. Media frequently reported the tornado as a 'mini-tornado' however, no such classification exists. The Bureau of Meteorology classified the tornado as an EF1 with winds between 117 km/h to 180 km/h.[18]
• On 13 February 2015, a bomb threat caused a centre lockdown, and the central plaza was evacuated. There were unconfirmed reports that a man left a bag unattended at a restaurant and told staff it was a bomb. The man was later taken into police custody.[19]
• On 31 March 2016, a man was stabbed to death at a restaurant by his partner's ex-husband. The attacker allegedly walked into the restaurant at 9.30pm, took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed the pair. The woman suffered serious injuries to her chest and a punctured sternum. Witnesses allege that after he stabbed the pair, he calmly walked up and down the shopping centre's concourse, covered in blood and carrying the 20 cm knife in his hand. He surrendered himself to police arrest without incident.[20]
• On 9 June 2016, a patient from a nearby psychiatric hospital escaped and confronted pedestrians at the central plaza. The man was confronted by police and was shot after he attempted to retaliate. As a result, three bystanders were injured by ricocheting bullets that struck them in the legs.[21]

References

1. "Westfield Hornsby". Scentre Group. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
2. FutureHornsby. "History". Future Hornsby. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
3. "Hornsby Westfield Shopping Plaza, 1961". Hornsby Shire. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
4. "THE SHOPPING MALL MUSEUM". Retrieved 6 October 2020.
5. "Trove". trove.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
6. "Opening of Northgate Shopping Centre". Hornsby Shire. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
7. "Opening of Northgate Hornsby advertisement, 1976". Hornsby Shire. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
8. "The Hornsby Water Clock". historyofsydney.com.au. 5 March 2016. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
9. "Westfield Trust Reports 16.1% Increase In Profit". Scoop News. Scoop. 9 August 2001. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
10. "Event Cinemas Hornsby in Sydney, AU - Cinema Treasures". cinematreasures.org. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
11. Colgan, Paul (2 February 2016). "It looks like Thomas Dux is the next problem for Woolworths". Business Insider Australia. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
12. "Uniqlo to open 6th store in NSW". Inside Retail. 10 April 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
13. "Gowings pays price for overreaching". Australian Financial Review. 9 November 2005. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
14. "Apple to open Hornsby store this week". PC World. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
15. "How the wild, wild Westfield restructure deal was eventually won". Australian Financial Review. 26 December 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
16. "Harvey Norman: Epic first half shaping for retail giant". News.com.au. 25 September 2020. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
17. "Roof collapses at movie theatre at Westfield Hornsby". 18 November 2013.
18. "Hornsby tornado: nothing mini about it". Sydney Morning Herald. 19 November 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
19. "Man arrested at Westfield Hornsby over suspected bomb hoax". Sydney Morning Herald. 13 February 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
20. "Westfield Hornsby stabbing victim Keith Collins lost son in car crash". Sydney Morning Herald. April 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
21. "Police Shoot And Kill Knifeman At Westfield Hornsby". News.com.au. 9 June 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2016.

External links

• Westfield Hornsby Official Website