CYPRUS: Nicosia super mall opens in time for Black Friday and Christmas rush

Nicosia Mall, the largest retail shopping centre on the island with 140 stores, food halls and parking for 1,700 cars, opened its doors on Wednesday, just in time for the Black Friday consumer frenzy and pre-Christmas rush.

At 48,000 sq.m., the mall houses the usual clothing and apparel stores, as well as the largest Public books-to-electronics retailer, the second outlet for the popular Athienitis supermarket chain and a food court dominated by the PHC restaurants brands, in addition to Starbucks and Ocean Basket, and MTN and Cytashop, as well as a number of new franchise retailers.

The second floor also plans to have a cinema, the Rio, which will open its doors on Valentine’s Day 2019. Until then, shopping hours will be 9.30am to 8pm daily, 10am to 11 pm Sundays and the supermarket opening an hour earlier.

Located on the west side of the capital, just off the Nicosia-Troodos highway, the €200 mln project also boasts energy saving technologies for lighting and heating/cooling insulation, smart parking for more efficient location of available space, wide open spaces on the balconies of the cafés and a visual concept that does away with window dressing and shoppers look straight inside the shop.

Some 2,500 trees were also planted to enhance the area.

The Bank of Cyprus moved into the venture with a €35 mln loan-for-equity swap, as a result of which the mall’s CEO Marios Kalochoritis told the Financial Mirror that the project was completed having replaced investors who had fallen on hard times after the economic crisis.

“Today we have financially solid investors, with the project’s builders, the Athienitis construction and development company also maintaining a minority share,” he said.

The project was initiated seven years ago, and work came to a halt because of the 2013 economic crisis. Construction resumed 14 months ago and was completed in record time, with some shop owners working into the night to deliver their spaces in time for the official opening.