Scentre Group – the parent company of Westfield Shopping Centres across Australia and New Zealand – has reported a 0.2 per cent slip in footwear sales for the three months ending September 30.
Footwear is one of two categories reporting sales slips between the third quarter of 2024 to the third quarter of 2025, with homewares down most by 3 per cent.
Fashion has reported the lowest growth in the third quarter, up just 0.9 per cent. This is down from a 1.3 per cent lift in the 9 months to September 30 and 1.5 per cent reported in the 12 months to September 30.
The footwear sales slip is down from a 0.2 per cent lift in the 9 months to September 30, and down from the 0.5 per cent lift in the 12 months to September 30.
Leading the charge in third quarter sales is dining, up 6.6 per cent, followed by health and beauty (6.4 per cent), technology and appliances (5.7 per cent) and jewellery (5.1 per cent).
For the 12 months to September 30, jewellery comes out on top with a 6.5 per cent lift.
Total specialties retail is up 4.4 per cent in the third quarter, which is up from 3.9 per cent in the nine months to September 30 and a 3.7 per cent lift in the 12 months to September 30.
Department stores and discount department stores have also been faring better in recent months, with sales across department stores up 2.1 per cent in the third quarter of 2025, a swing to green from the 0.1 per cent fall in the 9 months to September 30 and a 0.7 per cent for the full year to September 30.
Discount department stores continued to grow as well, reporting a 1.7 per cent lift in sales for the third quarter and a 0.4 per cent lift in the 9 months. Sales in DDS were flat in the 12 months to September 30.
Scentre Group also reported sales across the country by state, with Western Australia recording the highest sales growth in the third quarter (up 6.4 per cent), while South Australia has the highest growth in the 9 months (up 6.5 per cent) and the 12 months (6.8 per cent) to September 30.
New South Wales was on par with Queensland with the lowest growth, up 3.2 per cent each, with NSW having the lowest growth in the 12 months (up 1.9 per cent).
New Zealand has also been challenged, but has grown sales in the third quarter of 2025 (up 2 per cent). This lift follows a 0.2 per cent fall in the 9 months and a 0.4 per cent slip in the 12 months to September 30.
Total sales across all categories and stores lifted 3.7 per cent in the third quarter, up from a 2.9 per cent lift and a 2.6 per cent lift in the 9 months and the 12 months to September 30.
Scentre Group CEO Elliott Rusanow said customer visitation to its 42 Westfield centres in the 45 weeks to November 9 this year was 453 million, up 3.1 per cent or 13.5 million more than the same period in 2024.
“Total annual business partner sales across the portfolio to 30 September 2025 were $29.5 billion, up $760 million compared to the same period in 2024,” Rusanow said. “For the three months ended 30 September 2025, our business partners achieved total growth in sales of 3.7 per cent with specialty sales up 4.4 per cent.”