Cardiff Council leader Rodney Berman believes the arrival of John Lewis is an important milestone for the city.
St David’s is a project of just under a million square feet that is bringing in circa £700m of investment into Cardiff city centre and create thousands of new jobs. This is in addition to the hundreds of construction jobs that have already been created as part of this development.
It is estimated that when completed the development will attract more than £250m of new spending to Cardiff city centre each year and establish the Welsh capital as one of the top retail destinations in Europe.
Cardiff Council Leader Rodney Berman said: “The opening of John Lewis on Thursday is another significant step forward for the city of Cardiff. I know there is huge expectation
from people, not just in Cardiff but the whole south Wales region, in the opening of this store and it is going to prove to be another major attraction for the city of Cardiff.”
The current St David’s Shopping Centre attracts around 30 million visitors a year, second only to Birmingham’s Bullring – but by the end of the decade it is estimated the Welsh capital will have the UK’s busiest shopping centre development with a catchment area of 1.6 million people.
Cllr Berman added: “John Lewis is going to play a key role in bringing more people into Cardiff and is another step forward into making the Welsh capital a leading European capital city.
“John Lewis and the St David’s development will work in harmony with other schemes in and around the city, including the International Sports Village, Cardiff Castle with Bute Park, Glamorgan Cricket Club at Sophia Gardens and the new Cardiff Football Club stadium development.
“I am proud of the Council’s involvement in helping bring these projects to fruition and look forward to John Lewis enjoying a successful and prosperous tenancy in Cardiff.”
