Consumer Paradise to Open in Belgrade, Serbia

"Alex" | March 26, 2009 | Alex in Belgrade

[Ravnagora]

Photos by "Beobuild"

The biggest shopping mall in the Balkans and the latest consumer hotspot will be opened in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, on 31 March 2009, regardless of the economic crisis or anything else, for that matter.

The Usce Shopping Center investment is worth 150 million euros. The investor is MPC Properties. The shopping mall will take 130,000 square meters of space, of which commercial space will be 50,000 square meters. The hyper-market will take 4,000 square meters of space; there will be 150 brand stores, with many familiar brands, but also with about 50 world brands that will be presenting themselves to the Serbian shoppers for the very first time. There will be eight restaurants and six cafes, and 1,300 parking spaces on two underground levels. There will also be a multiplex with 11 cinema theaters.

The Usce compound in the 1960s consisted of one building, the seat of President Tito's League of Communists of Yugoslavia. During the 1990s, it was the seat of President Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia, and also the seat of Radio Kosava, owned by his daughter Maria. The building had been repeatedly struck by Nato during the air strikes in 1999, but, amazingly, it had remained standing. In the meantime, it has been fully reconstructed and made more modern than before. Now it is known as the Usce Business Center. The existing tower, along with the Usce Shopping Center, which is almost complete, and the twin tower, which will be built from 2010 until 2012, will make the entire Usce business, shopping, and entertainment compound, complete.

Serbs are expecting this with enormous interest. Internet forums are filled with rumors as to which new brands will arrive to Serbia. Burger King, however, is still not one of them. To a Westerner, an opening of a shopping mall is no sensation. We must remember that America is a mass consumer society, and has been, for a long time. But, for a small country like Serbia, that has had Communism/Socialism/Nationalism/Isolationism and God knows what else, a country that has suffered the breakup of Yugoslavia, sanctions, hyperinflation, Nato bombing - this kind of thing, amidst an economic crisis, is something long awaited for. Many nationalists would object to the opening of such "western temples of worship to the God of Shopping", but this is a sign that things in Serbia are rapidly becoming normal, identical or similar to other places in Europe. Those who oppose the grand opening of an even more grand shopping mall, are a minority. Those who will be there in mass numbers, even if they have to spend several hours in line waiting to get in, are the absolute majority.

For Serbs, the term economic crisis will mean nothing, at least on that opening day. They will have forgotten all about their worries. Cash will be poured out of reserves, credit cards will be flashing, everyone will be eyeballing the glamorous stores and the world's super brands, and checking out what's hot and what's not. People will be buying anything on sale, from household appliances to computers and groceries. The new hotspot in town will no longer be Delta City, a shopping mall opened as recently as 2007. It will be the Usce Shopping Center. A symbol of a new world, the 21st century one, a symbol of mass-consumerism, and for Serbs, a symbol of a better economic future, a higher standard of living, of living a normal life like other Europeans, of being a part of the world that had neglected them for a decade. For Serbia and Serbs, this is not JUST a story about a shopping mall... It is a story ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE...

Alex in Belgrade

________________

For more information please go to http://www.beobuild.rs/

________________

[Ravnagora]

[MadelineZapeezda]

Good for them