Wikipedia
WestQuay is a shopping centre in Southampton, United Kingdom, and has an area of of retail space and contains around a 150 shops, including major retailers such as, John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, Zara, Schuh, Waterstone's, Hollister Co., Bank, Apple, and many more top brand names.
It is situated in the centre of the city, close to the docks, with entrances on the main High Street (Above Bar Street), on Portland Terrace, through Waterstone's and through John Lewis. There is also a built in multi-storey car park with an entrance into the centre along with a 3 tier car park beneath. Building work began in 1997 as the former Daily Echo building and Pirelli Cable Works were demolished to make way for the centre. The centre was opened on 28 September 2000.
The building is heated using geothermal energy, as is the civic centre. A centralised plant uses heat from an aquifer underground and then distributes it to the buildings in the city centre via a district heating scheme.
The John Lewis store replaced the local department store Tyrrell & Green (a branch of the John Lewis Partnership), which met with mixed emotions from the local people. Marks & Spencer re-located from Above Bar Street to take the second anchor store.
There have been a few major changes to the centre's shops since its opening. Tower Records (which faced fierce competition from the HMV store across the street) was replaced with a Nike store, which closed after just a few months. This unit is now Pret A Manger, a sandwich retailer. Waitrose moved to Portswood in 2006 and the old Waitrose space has now been replaced by New Look, which was originally located in a smaller store a floor above. The former New Look store is now River Island.
In mid May 2009 the first Hollister Store to be opened outside of the extended London area opened in WestQuay, this is considered to be a major coup for West Quay as it reflects well on the strength of the retail offering available within WestQuay.