I may have been “down south” for almost a year now but I have just had my Westfield cherry popped, and it was the best first time ever!!
The place is massive and literally has something for everyone, even those people who are not really shoppers. They have plenty of restaurants and snack stands, you can visit the pick and mix or the milk shake bar to keep you going between shops or sit and eat Sushi or even Nando’s if you are making a day of it, or have a partner who needs to be bribed with food so that you can shop for longer than 30 minutes. I had heard that you could spend a whole day at this place and was sceptical, although I am a shopaholic I have a time limit which is directly proportional to the shoes I am wearing and when the first blister springs up to say “hello”. Today that was 3 hours, and to be honest any longer and I wouldn’t have had a roof over my head or been able to eat for a year as I had just stumbled across The Village. The Village has the top end designers, including Versace, Gucci and Dior, right next to Boots and Marks&Spencer, now how often do you get that diversity in a single place!
I went to Westfield with a game plan, and I am pleased to say I stuck to it, in the main. I was slightly side tracked by LK Bennett and Russell & Bromley with their sales but I was very good and after only trying and not buying I got back on track. I needed work clothes, a hand bag, my boyfriends birthday present and if some pretty shoes said “buy me” then I couldn’t have turned them down. I came away with a whole new wardrobe, which is going to cause real spacial problems but it is something that I am prepared to work through, closing the boot was bad enough, god help my wardrobe doors! But now I am kitted out for the summer and have a gorgeous new hand bag and some jewellery - yes I know that wasn’t on the ‘need’ list but I had already said no to some beautiful LK Bennet ballet pumps, I already have them in black, I figured purple was excessive, and a really cute black John Rocha dress, but I did succumb to the Julien Macdonald dress, pretending it was work wear.
I decided to go to Westfield rather than my local shopping centre as I fancied a change, and now I am sorely tempted to change my alliance to this beautiful place! Not only is parking free for the first two hours (until 30th September 2009) there after it is hardly bank breaking, they also offer valet parking and are situated right next to the tube - not that you could carry all your bags home on there even if you have a whole carriage to yourself! Now if you are not a “Southerner” or can’t get to Westfield and you still need your designer fix check out Yoox for a great range of designers, it is not the same and I would urge people to give Westfield a go!