Mall of Cyprus to open end-September

— EUR 100 mln investment by Shacolas-owned ITTL

 

The Mall of Cyprus, the biggest shopping mall on the island, will open its doors for business on September 27 promising to change the retail trade environment and incorporating many new features.

“It’s a dream come true,” said entrepreneur Nicos Shacolas at the official launch of operations of the Mall of Cyprus, which has become a reality after 26 years of planning, hard work, huge investments and most of all vision.

“The idea came to me while on a visit to Canada where I was impressed by the shopping malls there and after I came back to Cyprus, I started work on the project,” said Shacolas at a press briefing in Nicosia on the launch of operations.

The Mall of Cyprus is the flagship of the Shacolas Emporium Park spanning an area of 27.000 sq. metres, which will house 31 shops, ten cafés and fast food restaurants, five cinema screens, a children’s playing ground and parking space for 1,500 cars, of which 1,100 are covered.

The Mall of Cyprus will also house the first Carrefour store to open in Nicosia. Next door, IKEA will open its own store this week on land leased from ITTL, the owners of the mall.

“IKEA will pay ITTL a royalty based on sales or a guaranteed rent, whichever is higher,” said Shacolas who also thanked the owners of Zara in Cyprus who are opening eight shops, the Fourlis Group, K-Cineplex cinemas and other partners including McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, TGI Fridays and Starbucks franchise operators who have rented space at the mall.

ITTL Chairman Kyriakos Christophi said the Mall of Cyprus cost the Group EUR 100 mln in investments in addition to the land, which was financed through the German Eurohypo Bank and by own funds committed by the Shacolas Group.

Mall of Cyprus General Manager Marios Chyromerides said the project took three years to complete and incorporates state of the art systems and is environmental friendly.

Chyromerides said the shops within the mall will operate the same working hours according to the relevant legislation in place but the cafes, restaurants and cinemas will be open from 9am until 1am.

These include Debenhams and Next, Carrefour, Zara and Zara Home, Bershka, Pull & Bear, Mango, Intersport (Fourlis), Public, Early Learning Centre, a Food Court with TGIF’s, kiosks and speciality shops.

Adjacent to the Mall of Cyprus is the DIY Home Centre that has already become a focal point for shoppers.

Shacolas said every effort is being made to convince the authorities to agree to extended shopping hours for the benefit of consumers, who will want to enjoy the Mall of Cyprus experience.

Cushman & Wakefield, one of the world’s largest real estate consultancy firms are the managers of the mall. Company representative Philip Evans said vision, planning, implementation based on knowledge and experience as well as co-creation of value are the key ingredients to having a successful shopping mall.

The Mall of Cyprus will create value for the local area, for the city of Nicosia and for the whole of Cyprus, he said.

Another newcomer to Cyprus that will be making a debut at the mall is Public, the books, music, games and peripherals store that already operates three outlets in Greece and plans to open the Nicosia store by the end of the year.

The 1,900 sq.m. store will include sections for books, music, audio and video CDs and DVDs, computers, mobile phones, photography and gaming.

The holding company, PublicWorld AE, has already hired as many as 180 staff for all levels of work, from mid-management department heads, to marketing and sales, as well as engineers, cashiers and store keepers.

Public also attracts customers through its marketing gimmicks such as ‘in-store’ events, music downloading and surfing the Internet.