Despite the fact that the capital of the Altai Territory is far from the largest or richest city in the country, it stands out by the fact that from year to year it confirms the status of one of the most endowed with retail space. For every thousand inhabitants, there are 880 square meters of shops and shopping centers - only Krasnodar has more. What can the shopping centers of Barnaul boast of?
The oldest shopping centers of the city
Today, there are about a dozen large malls in the city, but simply not counting small cozy shopping centers . Many of those that opened 15-20 years ago are still operating. Then the shopping centers were simply rows of shops without entertainment venues, fountains and huge galleries.
In 2001, the shopping center “Caesar” was opened in the city. For many years, the red brick building with columns and a wide porch was the most popular trading place in the city. Luxury brands of clothes and shoes could be bought here. Today, like many of the outdated shopping centers of Barnaul, it has exhausted its former gloss and, one by one, is losing anchor tenants.
In 2002, the Altai shopping center was opened on the site of empty factory premises. At 63 thousand square meters then the main flagships of the market were presented - a grocery supermarket, a home goods store, furniture stores and many boutiques of clothes and shoes. Today, it is still popular, despite the fact that the larger shopping centers of Barnaul compete with it.
The list of shopping centers beloved by the townspeople would be incomplete without a building built specifically for trade - “Ultra” on Lenin Avenue. It opened in 2004 and for 10 years did not stand out among its own kind. But in 2015, the trading house changed its concept and began to position itself as a place of leisure and entertainment in the historical part of the city.
Newest malls
Literally every year, new shopping centers of Barnaul open, photo projects capture the townspeople because the buildings are huge and modern. So, in 2014, a huge shopping center “Arena” was opened in the city, and a year later the Parad shopping center appeared in Barnaul.
This year, two interesting projects have appeared among the newcomers - the Gulliver shopping and office center and the Pioneer shopping center. In 2017, it is planned to open another mall called “Galaxy”.
The largest shopping centers of Barnaul
And there is something to brag about for the city on the Ob - at its disposal one of the largest malls in Russia - the Arena shopping center with a total area of ​​170 thousand square meters! It is visited by 15 thousand people a day and can get any kind of entertainment here - from busy shopping to watching a movie or dinner at a restaurant.
But Arena will not be the largest for long - the Galaxy shopping center will soon be built on the site of an inactive hardware-mechanical plant. The area of ​​the future complex is 200 thousand square meters. It will accommodate shops, and entertainment, and even a full-fledged hockey court.
So far, the second largest center is Pioneer in the New Market. Its area is “only” 80 thousand squares, but the advantage in location is that the mall is located in the very center of the city with excellent transport accessibility. You can get here by all means of transport - bus, minibus, trolley bus and even tram.
Interesting malls for entertainment
If the trading part of the malls is almost the same for everyone - with the exception of a couple of anchor tenants, the brands are similar in all, then in terms of entertainment the new shopping centers are trying to surpass competitors.
Barnaul is no longer surprised by good cinema halls in the malls, many of them have their own cinemas:
- “Arena” - 9 IMAX and D-BOX rooms.
- “Europe” and “Lights” are the halls of the Kinomir network of Barnaul.
Also in all malls you can eat at the food court, in a cafe or a full restaurant:
- There are both under the roof of the Arena, for example, Balkon, Fargo restaurants, Cinnabon cafe, pancake shop, fast foods and coffee houses.
- In the “City Center” these are the restaurants “Titian” and “Greenwich”.
- In the "Lights" is the bar "Hans".
- In “Europe”, guests will find a steak pub, sushi bar and coffee shop-restaurant.
And many other shopping centers in Barnaul offer their own amusement parks for families. In “Spring” Happy land works with bowling, attractions and slot machines, in “Lights” “Smeshariki” for kids and Dream land for older children, and in “City Center” - “Cosmopark”. “Arena” surprises with the attraction of gyro scooters and a rope park, a mirror labyrinth and numerous toy libraries.