San Francisco, known for its sense of style, technology and creativity, opens the doors to its highly anticipated, partially revamped and enlarged historic Emporium Building, now occupied by the Westfield San Francisco Centre.
The new retail development merges the existing Westfield San Francisco Centre and the landmark Emporium site next door tripling the Westfield's size. The two sites blend together while partially preserving the Emporium's distinctive architectural elements, including the neoclassical façade, the grand rotunda, and the 102-foot-wide glass and steel dome.
The historic Emporium was designed by San Francisco architect Albert Pissis and was built in 1896. He was one of the first Americans to be trained at Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris. The building survived the 1906 earthquake, but was destroyed by the subsequent fire and rebuilt in 1908.
The $460 million renovation has transformed the old Emporium Building into a vast retail and office space
The combined Westfield mega-mall occupies an impressive 1.5 million square feet of retail and office space providing a shopping center, fine dining establishments, and an entertainment mecca. With nine floors available, the Centre is expected to attract nearly 25 million shoppers and generate $600 million in sales annually, according to Westfield's estimates.
Anchored in the heart of the city's shopping district among a wealth of exclusive boutiques, the new center is housing the chain's second largest Nordstrom in the country and the nation's second largest Bloomingdale's outside of New York.
The five-level Bloomingdale's carries exclusive fashions for San Francisco. It brings a taste of New York showcasing collections by Biba, Sonia Rykiel and Jimmy Choo.
In addition, the Centre houses 170 specialty stores and exclusive boutiques, a gourmet market and 14 fast gourmet eateries, a day spa, Century Theatres and office space.
Several stores are new to the region. The Adidas Sport Performance Store offers customized athletic footwear at the Adidas station. There customers can experience a high-tech three-step customization process to create a made-to-fit shoe. Abercrombie Kids personifies the prep school lifestyle. Tourneau, the world's largest watch store, showcases exclusive watches and vintage timepieces. And Spain's affordable fashion retailer MNG by Mango offers European clothing. The Italian company Geox—a relative newcomer to the American market—carries breathable and waterproof rubber-sole footwear that keep the feet dry and cool.
"Whenever we open a brand-new store we choose a prime location, both traffic-wise and image-wise and the new San Francisco Centre represents for us the best choice," said Eros Scattolin, head of communications for Geox. "Our primary goal is to target the U.S. market and expand. We work together with Westfield to open more stores in other U.S. cities."
The San Francisco Centre is also high-tech equipped. It features WiFi (wireless internet access) and electronic directories. The directories translate into four languages and help visitors and locals alike get maps or transit schedules.
The new shopping center—now the largest west of the Mississippi—is the result of joint efforts by two companies: Forest City Enterprises and the Westfield Group.
Forest City Enterprises, Inc. is an $8 billion national real estate company.
The Westfield Group is an Australian-based company with interests in 128 shopping centers in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the U.S. In America alone, Westfield owns 68 shopping centers.
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