Queensgate Shopping Centre, New Zealand
Queensgate Shopping Centre is a medium sized shopping centre in central Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand. The centre first opened in October 1986, and underwent a large scale redevelopment that was completed in August 2006. The centre features over 130 speciality stores. The centre is anchored by Farmers, JB Hi-Fi, H&M, Bed Bath and Beyond, The Warehouse, Woolworths and Event Cinemas.
History and development
The area was formerly a residential area. The houses were demolished in the mid-60s to mid-70s to make way for a transport centre. The centre opened in 1986. The centre refurbished in 1991 and was expanded. It was purchased by Westfield in 1999. Between 2004 and 2006 the mall had a big expansion doubling the size of the centre with a bigger carpark, more shops and a new Event Cinemas multiplex. The Woolworths supermarket that is overtaken by the carpark now has now moved south-east of the mall under The Warehouse. The centre has a catchment area of 375,030+ people. The centre has a footfall of over 8 million people per annum. The centre's floor space is and the centre has an annual turnover of NZ$202.5 million.Thirteen structurally separate buildings make up the centre. Following the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake, the entire shopping centre closed for urgent safety inspections, partially reopening eleven days later. One building in the northeast corner of the mall, containing the Event Cinema and part of the carpark, was deemed structurally unsafe and was demolished. During the deconstruction of the northeast corner, half of the stores remained closed. The mall was completely reopened on 6 April 2017.
In 2017, a car dealer opened a showroom in the mall, complete with cars for a brief period.
Cinema and carpark rebuild
In 2019, rebuilding of the carpark and cinema commenced. On 17 September 2019, Event Cinemas were confirmed to be the new cinema complex operator. It was also announced that the region's first VMAX movie theatre would open in the site. It was reopened in December 2022.Anchor Tenants
Queensgate has four anchor tenants.Farmers has a two storey store in the centre of the mall.
Woolworths is on the ground floor of the mall, which originally was a Woolworths, prior to rebranding to Countdown, when the mall was redeveloped. However in 2025, has since reverted back to Woolworths inline with the company's larger reversion back to the Woolworths brand.
In October 2017, H&M opened a two storey store, their first in Wellington.
In December 2022, Event Cinemas reopened after being demolished due to the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake.