THE MALL of Cyprus at weekends is the closest Nicosia gets to shopping pandemonium.
Not only are the 2500 parking spaces always full, but the roads surrounding the shopping centre are also absolutely jam-packed as crowds bustle into Nicosia’s biggest retail space which opened in September 2007.
The mall averages 80,000 to 85, 000 visitors each week. Saturdays alone attract between 24,000 and 27, 000 people. No sign of a bleak financial climate at first glance then. But the real question is, are people actually spending or has the venue become more of a ‘cool’ hang out for families and teenagers?
Once you head inside the centre, it certainly doesn’t seem as though the shops are the main attraction. The main hub of activity is centred on the food hall on the second floor. Like a mini ‘fast food nation’, the area is home to youngsters filling themselves up with the likes of Pizza Hut and McDonalds.
The more mature adults are crammed in the nearby ‘smokers section’ sipping away on a cup of Starbucks. That’s if they’ve finally made it to the end of the long queue that trails well outside the confines of the hugely popular café.
The reasons for the mall’s popularity are logical. “There’s free parking here and it’s all indoors which means air-condition in the summer and shelter from rain in the winter. And there is so much more than just shopping to enjoy in one space,” says the mall’s marketing manager, Nektarios Vilanides.
The greatest action outside the restaurants is by K Cineplex as youngsters wait to watch the latest blockbuster release. Not so long ago it was down town Nicosia that was the weekend hot spot for kids.
Avid fans of the place are certainly not hard to find. Thirteen-year-old Adonis Antoniou meets his friends at the mall twice a week and spends at least five hours there on a Saturday. “Most of the time we come here to watch a movie,” he says, with all his friends nodding in agreement.
Sixteen-year-old Eugenia Georgiou has come to the mall with her family for a birthday shop up. “We can’t get her away from this place!” jokes a family friend, Nasia Loizou.
But where did Eugenia used to go before the mall opened? “I would usually walk with my friends down in Nicosia, especially Ledra Street. Now we meet here every Friday and Saturday.”
Loizou then points out: “Because we drop our kids of here, we usually come in for a quick bite to eat or a coffee.”
The majority of people visiting the mall come from Nicosia and its suburbs, but Vilanides explains there are even people from Paphos who visit. “Many people from the occupied areas also come to shop here, and we’ve noticed a particular rise in numbers when they have public holidays,” he adds. And he insists that sales are looking up. An international credit crunch there may be, but so far, so good. “This year there has been an increase in both customer traffic flow and sales,” says Vilanides.
But is the management feeling a looming threat what with the opening of the new Tiffany mall in Limassol at the end of May? “The new Limassol place is not in direct competition to us here in Nicosia and we can’t really see it affecting the numbers of people coming here.”
As I move away from the eating areas, I come across 25-year-old Alexia Chimonas, one of the many who head to the mall purely for a shop up. She visits one Saturday each month, dashing straight to the fashion stores for a glimpse of new collections.
She spends around €150 per visit, most of it on clothes with the odd €10 on refreshments. But why the fascination with the mall and not Makarios Avenue for example? “I like the way everything is in one closed space here, it makes shopping easier and somehow it feels like there is always more of a selection,” she says.
Her friend, 27-year-old Natalie Georgiou, says they often combine the mall with a visit to Ikea in search of new bits and bobs for her new apartment.
“It’s just really convenient to do both in one afternoon. There’s also Carrefour for a bit of food if you’re running low. I’d say I spend at least €250 here on a monthly basis.”
When it comes to the men wandering round the shopping centre, Public seems to be the most popular venue. “I always leave my boyfriend to browse around in there for ages,” says Natalie. “Most of the men we know get CDs and DVDs from the shop,” adds Alexia. Not surprising that the Greek electronics/book store is always packed with never-ending queues despite the generous rows of tills.
“We can safely say we haven’t really felt the effect of the economic crisis here at the mall at the moment,” says Vilanides. “But we are of course concerned for the future and are always observing the situation closely.”
