MELBOURNE: Myer has wasted no time capitalising on rival David Jones' departure from Westfield Fountain Gate.
On the same day David Jones confirmed it had terminated its lease with Fountain Gate, Myer has announced it will build a new store in the Melbourne shopping centre.
The new store will be built as part of Westfield's recently announced redevelopment of the Fountain Gate centre, with construction due to commence in 2011. Myer Fountain Gate will be a two level, 12,000 square-metre store and is scheduled to open in 2012.
Myer CEO Bernie Brookes said the company was “delighted” to have secured a lease with Westfield Fountain Gate.
“There are very few locations in Australia that present retailers with such a golden opportunity to grow and expand their business,” Brookes said.
“The Centre is well established, it has turnover exceeding $700 million and it is located in the middle of one of Australia's fastest growing growth corridors – an area that services more than 360,000 people.
“That is a very healthy platform to build on and in the future these key growth metrics are only going to continue to rise.”
David Jones terminated its lease with Westfield Fountain Gate this year after first trying to exit the centre back in 2003. David Jones CEO Paul Zahra said the demography of Fountain Gate was not aligned with the company's target customer.