Fashion and jewellery sales across Westfield shopping centres were strong in the three months to March 31 this year, according to Scentre Group's April operating update.
Fashion sales grew 6.4 per cent on the prior comparable period, with jewellery sales up 8.3 per cent. Health and beauty was the second strongest growing category, with a lift of 9.1 per cent.
The results were not uniform across all categories — footwear declined 3.7 per cent and homewares fell 1.4 per cent over the same period.
The overall strongest category was ‘Other’, which includes gifts and souvenirs, and discount variety.
Total specialty sales rose 5.3 per cent for the quarter. Total portfolio sales, including majors, grew 5.0 per cent, reaching $7 billion. Total sales for the month of March alone were 5.4 per cent higher than the prior year.
Among major store formats, discount department stores grew 3.9 per cent, department stores rose 3.3 per cent and supermarkets increased 2.8 per cent, bringing total majors growth to 3 per cent. Combined majors and specialties — excluding cinemas and travel in line with Shopping Centre Council of Australia guidelines — grew 4.4 per cent.
By region, Western Australia led all states with growth of 7.4 per cent, followed by South Australia at 5.6 per cent and Queensland at 5.3 per cent. Victoria grew 4.9 per cent, the ACT 5 per cent, and NSW 4.5 per cent. New Zealand was the softest market, growing 3.8 per cent.
Other specialty categories posting solid gains included dining, up 5.6 per cent, food retail, up 5.7 per cent, and technology and appliances, up 5 per cent. Leisure and sports grew 1.5 per cent, while retail services rose 2.6 per cent.
There are 42 Westfield shopping centres across Australia and New Zealand, with total annual sales achieved by its business partners hitting a record $30.3 billion in the year to March 31.
Scentre Group CEO Elliott Rusanow said customer visitation across its shopping centre portfolio from the beginning of this year to April 19 is 160 million, up 3.1 per cent or 4.9 million more than the same period in 2025.
“Our strategy to grow the economic activity that occurs at each of our destinations continues to deliver, with customer visitation growing across all regions,” Rusanow said.