Botany Town Centre

Botany Town Centre is one of the largest outdoor shopping complexes in the southern hemisphere. Located in Auckland, New Zealand, it has approximately 150 shops and restaurants, as well as entertainment buildings such as a bowling alley and cinemas.

It is a regular hangout for teenagers and schoolgoers. Many shops are directed at the teenage market and many shoppers are under the age of 25. It has a small library, which is also a recreation area for youth. It has taken over from Pakuranga, Centrepoint and Meadowlands as the main shopping centre for East Auckland. Westfield Manukau remains the main shopping centre for South Auckland.

It is surrounded by upper-class suburbia. It has an array of shops on either side of it.

The centre's anchor tenants are discount retailer The Warehouse, a New World supermarket, and a Farmers department store.

The centre has gained tough competition with the opening of the nearby Sylvia Park shopping centre in Mount Wellington, which was built as an enclosed mall instead of the "Town Centre" format.

In a 2008 rating of New Zealand shopping centres by a retail expert group, Botany Town Centre received three-and-a-half stars, just under the maximum rating of four stars, based on the criteria of amount of shopping area, economic performance, amenity and appeal as well as future growth prospects. [cite |author=Gibson, Anne |title=From 'yahoo' to ho hum - how the shopping malls rate |publisher=The New Zealand Herald |date=2008-07-07 ]

References

External links

* [http://www.botanytowncentre.co.nz/ Botany Town Centre Official Website]
* [http://www.sylviapark.org Sylvia Park Official Website]
* [http://www.berkeleycinemas.co.nz/default.asp?sectionID=16 Berkeley Cinemas Botany Town Website]