Retail "as entertainment, shopping and theatre", gushes the PR bumpf for Westfield, Europe's largest shopping centre.

With its vast undulating glass roof, Westfield promises to transform Shepherd's Bush and rival Oxford Street as London's top shopping destination, when it opens at the end of the month.

Seven thousand new jobs will also be created, a new tube station and rail link have been built, soon to be joined by a bus station, and tens of millions of pounds will be pumped into the beleaguered local economy as shopaholic Londoners buck the credit crunch to sample the delights of W12.

So great is the pulling power of Westfield's 265 mid and upmarket shops, 50 restaurants and cafes, cinema complex, gym and spa, that even London's super-rich Russians are apparently already vying for property nearby.

That's the theory but is it too good to be true?

"We'll soon find out", says Andrew Slaughter MP for Shepherd's Bush, Ealing and Acton. "There's a question mark over how many of these 7,000 new jobs will go to local people, as most shops will be relocating staff from their other branches.

"Secondly, there's a lot of apprehension over parking and congestion, despite the promise of 4,500 car park inside Westfield. Finally I suspect some of the area's independent traders will suffer from a drop in footfall. The Tory council has effectively turned Shepherd's Bush into a one industry area - just like a US steel town. What impact that will have in the long run is anyone's guess."

Alert to the criticism that it has given a lot to Westfield in return for not very much (given scale of the development), Hammersmith and Fulham Council has been reeling off the community benefits of the giant shopping centre.

Shepherd's Bush Green will undergo an extensive £3million revamp next year, paid for by Westfield, as part of a"planning gain" deal with the council.

A new library, a major contribution to the area's 24/7 policing scheme and transport links such as Shepherd's Bush overground station, the new Wood Lane tube stop and a new bus station have all been enabled by dough from the Australian developers' deep pockets.

There's a mixed reception among locals. Some like 74-year-old Mary Griffin welcome the changes to the dreary and congested area.

"I'm quite looking forward to it. It's really quite upmarket for this area and I want a Waitrose because I have to get the bus to one at the minute, she added.

Others worry the low-key character of Shepherd's Bush is about to be erased forever.

"It's overdoing it a bit for this side of town. It'll take all the trade from the local shops," said 70-year-old Brian Crittenden.

And it's the local traders, both around Shepherd's Bush Green and further along the Uxbridge and Goldhawk Roads, who are braced for a dramatic slump in passing trade.

"It's a very difficult retail environment here at the minute and it could get worse with Westfield," says James Horada, chairman of the Shepherd's Bush Market Traders.

"But on the other hand, Westfield will boost footfall to the area, if people take a wander outside of the glass palace and spend money on the street it will obviously be a great thing as many of our stalls and shops are not in competition with it."

Other businessmen are less sanguine. Mohamed Marchoud, 43, who runs clothes shop 'Mojo' on Uxbridge Road, says his business has no chance once the retail behemoth opens its doors.

"I'm really upset, this will destroy our business and send us on our way to bankruptcy. Everybody on the high street is the same and lots of people want to sell up, although they can't find the buyers. The council should have protected us instead we've lost trade while the tube and road closed have been closed for Westfield's arrival."

Westfield's promotional document promises to deliver the same names, labels and atmosphere as top boulevards in "Paris, the Via Montenapoleone in Milan and Madison Avenue in New York".

Residents of the sometimes tatty, but always colourful, W12 may laugh to hear it uttered in the same breath as the fashion capitals of the world, but will nonetheless be eagerly awaiting the gains promised to the area come October 30.