Europe’s last mall? Hamburg marks the end of an era as Westfield looks to Saudi Arabia for its next retail boom

Paris-based Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) — the shopping center powerhouse best known for its Westfield-branded malls — threw open the doors to its latest mall development last month. Nothing unusual about that, but as it made its debut, the question is whether it will be the last new ground-up mall in Europe, for URW or any of the other major developers.

And hot on the heels of Hamburg, the company also announced a major deal to expand its brand in the Middle East’s hottest market, Saudi Arabia.