London’s latest shopportunity complex – what’s in it for you?

London got its latest landmark today – the Westfield shopping centre opened, funnily enough, in West London.

Having worked in this part of London for 12 years I am seriously thankful for somewhere to go at lunchtime other than the local Superdrug and pound shops.

But if you don’t work round the corner, what would make you make the trip to London’s latest shopportunity complex? Well there’s plenty there for snowboarders and girls of a boardsports persuasion.

Entering through the White City of the mall, the first exciting thing I encounter is the new Vans store. It’s the first time Vans have opened a store in a mall in Europe and it’s a pretty sweet shop. It’s firmly streetwear based with a massive selection of footwear, clothing and accessories including the ubercute kids shoe range. They’re also stocking a range of Dragon goggles. The exterior of the shop features concrete shaped not unlike a halfpipe so fingers crossed they are able to get some skaters down to test it out soon.

Just down the road a little is Oakley’s store. As well as a massive range of shades and goggles they’re also stocking Oakley’s snowboard outerwear and streetwear ranges. Plenty of nice ladies stuff to check out and try on. Directly opposite that is the North Face store which has a good range of high quality outerwear and layers.

Upstairs on the first floor are some bigger two-floor stores. Representing the snowsports industry here is Ellis Brigham and upstairs in this store is The Snowboard Asylum. It’s 6pm at the end of the first day of training and owner Jeremy Sladen, Will Hughes and the rest of the crew are knackered. They’ve been in the store since 7am getting it ready for opening. And they had plenty of stock to get ready – there’s a good range of hardware and outerwear from brands including Burton, Bonfire and Vans.

With the snow gear sorted all that’s left to pick up is some skin care and sunscreen (take your pick from Debenhams, House of Fraser, M&S and Superdrug) and grab some healthy snack bars for your kit bag from Waitrose or Boots. That should be you set for your winter trip.

That is, of course, assuming you don’t end up in the Apple store and spend all your holiday money on shiny things….

Apologies for the crapness of my photos. I took them on my iPhone and was trying to do it quickly in case I got rugbytackled by an overzealous security guard...