The Westfield Group
The Westfield Group is an Australian-owned company that owns shopping centres in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.Many of their shopping centres are known as "Westfield Shoppingtowns", and pioneered the incorporation of entertainment and dining precincts into shopping centres.
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Westfield history
In 1959, Australian businessmen Frank Lowy and John Saunders opened a delicatessen in western Sydney. When the business proved successful, the pair purchased nearby land, and built a shopping centre with two department stores, twelve specialty shops, and parking for 50 cars. They named this centre "Westfield Place", "west" because it was located in the western suburbs, and "field" because the centre had a view across the sprawling market gardens. The centre's name was later shortened to simply "Westfield".
Westfield Holdings was publicly listed in 1960, and in the 1960s and 1970s the company constructed or acquired 14 centres on the Australian east coast. Westfield entered the United States market in 1977, and the New Zealand and UK markets in 2000.