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Westfield will "force Oxford Street to respond"

Oxford Street will be forced to respond

Oxford Street will be forced to respond says Don McCarthy

Retail leaders called for the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street following the opening of the Westfield London shopping centre.

Don McCarthy, chairman of House of Fraser, which opened its most upscale store concept to date at the centre, told Drapers: "Westfield has really upped the ante for west London in terms of quality of shopping offer and experience. Oxford Street will be forced to respond."

He added that Oxford Street needs to be pedestrian-only from Marble Arch to Oxford Circus. "We need to clear the street of vehicles and it will transform the experience for shoppers," he said.

Marks & Spencer chief executive Stuart Rose echoed McCarthy's sentiments and said: "It's quite simple really, we need the visitor to Oxford Street to be able to cross the street to shop without fear of being run over all the time. Let's get rid of the vehicles."

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Reader Response

Added: Friday, 31 October 2008 23:02 GMT
Anonymous, Falkirk, United Kingdom

hear hear!! Josie - what a crock of s***.same old same old and why on earth would you want to pedestrianise Oxford Street????? to make it into the same as every other clone town in the UK! sorry, hate centres - full of people wearing clothes from Next and Asda, fake handbags and that think Ted Baker is a designer brand. Pathetic


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Added: Friday, 31 October 2008 00:14 GMT
Josie S, london and brighton, United Kingdom

In the end, this is yet another Clone development, dressed up with marketing hype as 'Not so Clone' but you can't disguise the essence of clone for ever. It will rise, as always and suffocate the devt.
The winning strategy, however, is the free parking as Ms + Mr Clone love to drive and park for free, protected from all the nasty 'Real Life' people one has to endure on public transport *said tongue in cheek*.

The retailers on Oxford St (and some Bond St) are the same batch as at Westfield. But I bet £1 that the units let in Westfield have been so heavily incentivised (sic?) most of the retailers will stay for 2 or 3 years.
Then come the breaks.
And then the recession will have already bitten...the trickle down takes 3 yrs to be widely felt.

So I would suggest that Oxford St turn all the roadway into free carpark. It's what sheeple like.
If, in 5 years, Westfield does to turn into a memorial for conspicuous and needless consumption....they could always turn it into a depot/distribution centre for on-line retailers.

Personally, I feel sorry for the local retailers in the area, but hey ho, that's progress. Destroy a few modest but independent livlihoods and replace them with lots of juicy 4 hour contract, min wage jobs.......and proviide set scripts for the staff. Don't want any personality ruining the whole shopping centre experience.


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