The Centre is the name of a shopping centre in

Livingston, Scotland Livingston (, ) is the largest town in West Lothian, Scotland. Designated in 1962, it is the fourth post-war new town to be built in Scotland. Taking its name from a village of the same name incorporated into the new town, it was originally de ...

. Formerly known as 'Livingston Regional Centre' before becoming the more widely recognised 'Almondvale Shopping Centre'. It is (as of 2019) the 28th largest shopping centre in the UK. It lies opposite the

Livingston Designer Outlet Livingston Designer Outlet is the largest outlet mall in Scotland, and opened in October 2000 under the ownership of McArthur Glen as McArthur Glen Livingston Designer Outlet and sits opposite the popular The Centre (Livingston) shopping centre. ...

, Scotland's largest outlet mall. This makes the combined complex one of the UK's largest shopping districts with a combined 1.29 million square ft of retail space.

Origins

The original centre was built in the 1970s by the now defunct

Livingston Development Corporation Livingston (, ) is the largest town in West Lothian, Scotland. Designated in 1962, it is the fourth post-war new town to be built in Scotland. Taking its name from a village of the same name incorporated into the new town, it was originally de ...

or LDC and was home to smaller independent retailers such as Virgo a fashion store and Coda music up to the larger well known brand names such as WoolCo (which became the now defunct Woolworths) and FineFare (the equally defunct Gateway). The shopping centre was very dark and gave the appearances of an outside mall except it was roofed. Through time modernizations were made to make it more appealing to shoppers and more upmarket, bringing in more up to date floor tiling, bright lighting and the centres' branding and logos on the walls.

Phase Two

It was decided that a second phase would be built onto the existing frontage of the centre and would incorporate a purpose-built supermarket and feature two twin towers one on the front entrance elevation and the other on the side entrance where the new supermarket would be. Phase two opened in 1995 and had bigger well known names such as Iceland, Vodafone and Boots to name but a few.

Phase Three

The latest extension to the centre in 2008 sees a whole new concept for the now 30-year-old centre, the new addon which was code named The Elements tied in what would be seen as many different elements to give the illusion and overall feel of being outside but yet still being indoors. To achieve this they built a very high glass roof to cover a very widened pathway which felt like a shopping precinct with grey slate like tiles to finish off the effect. The Elements opened in 2008 and is home to names such as River Island, Next and Marks & Spencer.

The Zones

The Centre is made up of 3 zones:- * Almondvale Walk (the original 1970s phase one of the shopping centre), * Almondvale Place (phase two which opened in 1995 and featured the two twin towers at each side of the building) * Elements Square, the Wintergarden and The Avenue (phase three or The Elements which was opened in 2008). The Centre is beside Livingston Designer Outlet (formerly McArthur Glen Livingston).

Anchor stores

The Centre contains two anchor stores -

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

Primark Primark Limited (; trading as Penneys in Ireland) is an Irish multinational fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with outlets across Europe and in the United States. The original ''Penneys'' brand is not used outside of Irel ...

- as well as many other smaller retail units, and the new mall - named Elements Square - has a transparent ETFE roof covering its four shopping ''avenues''. There is also an internal civic space known as the ''Wintergarden''.

Other stores

Stores include:

HMV HMV is an international music and entertainment retailer, founded in 1921. The brand is owned by Hilco Capital and operated by Sunrise Records, except in Japan, where it is owned and operated by Lawson. The inaugural shop was opened on Lo ...

Waterstone's Waterstones Booksellers Limited, trading as Waterstones (formerly Waterstone's), is a British bookselling, book retailer based in London, England, owned by the American investment group Elliott Investment Management. It operates 311 shops, ma ...

, H&M,

Asda Asda Stores Limited (), trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters is in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded ...

WHSmith WH Smith plc, trading as WHSmith (also written WH Smith and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son), is a British retailer, with headquarters in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of railway station, airport, port, hospital and motorway service s ...

, New Look, and

Schuh schuh ( ) is a Scottish footwear retailer based in Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland. It has 132 stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company is predominantly a branded shoe stockist, selling over 80 brands, including: Converse, Van ...

Ownership transfer

In December 2014, The Centre's owners 'Land Securities' sold the shopping centre and associated retail parks to an investment firm 'HSBC Investments' marking the end of 30 plus years of ownership by the London-based management firm.

References

External links

The Centre website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Centre Shopping centres in Scotland Livingston, West Lothian Buildings and structures in West Lothian Tourist attractions in West Lothian