50 years of Westpolder: a wonderful milestone!
Our organization's portfolio includes some notable neighborhood shopping centers. These centres share a number of special characteristics: they are often the beating heart of the neighbourhood, act as a meeting place for local residents and offer ample free parking. This clearly distinguishes them from the A-locations in the city centres. This opens up perspectives for the future. Despite the shift to online shopping, there appears to be a continuous demand for this form of shopping opportunity for daily groceries in residential areas.
Take our Westpolder shopping centre, for example, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. It all started in the 60s with the development of the new housing estate, where the shopping centre was officially opened in 1974. Since then, it has been regularly renovated and improved, culminating in the expansion in 2005 and the renewal of the exterior and interior in 2018. This not only increased shopping comfort, but also made the centre more sustainable.
Westpolder has emerged as a successful and stable shopping centre. This indoor neighbourhood shopping centre attracts enthusiastic visitors from the surrounding area and has a loyal group of shopkeepers. The turnover among retailers is remarkably low and the range of shops is diverse. The shopkeepers in Westpolder work well together, which results in regularly recurring promotions and events.
Of course, the 50th anniversary does not go unnoticed. On March 23 at 10:30 a.m.
Together with mayor Margreet van Driel, alderman Sophia De Keizer and chairman of the shopkeepers' association Edwin Kraaijeveld, we will officially start the party by cutting a 50 meter long cake. A festive moment that underlines the community spirit and the resilience of Westpolder.
