Bluewater is a super-regional shopping centre, opened on 16 March 1999. It is located at Greenhithe in the borough of Dartford, near the M25 motorway in northwest Kent, England. It is owned by four major UK institutions. The centre is on a 240-acre plot in a former chalk quarry. It has a sales floor area of 154,000 min two levels, making it the second largest shopping centre in the UK after Gateshead’s MetroCentre. The floor plan is a triangular shape with 330 stores, including 3 anchors, 40 cafés and restaurants, and a 13-screen cinema. The centre employs 7,000 and serves over 27 million visitors a year.
A main rival is the Lakeside Shopping Centre and retail park some 9 miles away in West Thurrock, Essex.