Golden Hall: A New High Luxury Mall Opens Its Gates on Kifissias Avenue!!!

[gm2263]

Albeit in the middle of one of the worst financial crises worldwide, a new mall opened its gates to the Athenian public on 27 November 2008. The new mall has the symbolic name "Golden Hall" and it aims at offering the utmost in shopping luxury and elegance.

The building where GH is situated, is the well known IBC (International Broadcasting Center) building for the 2004 Athens Olympic games, where all broadcasts related to the 2004 Olympic Games of Athens took place. It is strategically located in the suburb of Maroussi at the intersection of Kifissias Avenue, the 17km-long avenue that connects central Athens with the rich suburbs of Kifissia, Maroussi, and the rest of the northern suburbs which are considered to be high-class residential areas, and Spyros Louis Avenue that passes in front of the Olympic stadium and the Athens Olympic Sports Complex (OAKA). Also, the mall is right in the middle of the business hub of kifissias Avenue, which is the base of many multinational companies, TV channels, shops, other lalls and hypermarkets, etc.


Golden Hall is the second largest at this time in Athens with a total GLA (Gross Leasable Area) of 41,000 sq meters and another 60,000 in two basement floors for the parking with capacity 1,400 vehicles. It hosts 135 stores, many belonging to international well-known retail chains, some of them using this venue for their first presence in Greece.

Even in this case, not all of the former IBC building is occupied since its back side facing the Athens Olympic Stadium will be used as a museum of the Olympic games and classical sports. So, lots of work needs to be done in order for the whole 100,000 sq meter floor area building to become fully utilized.

This mall was built by "Lamda Development" belonging to the Latsis family. It is the same construction company that built the largest mall in Greece today, the 58,000 sq meters GLA "The Mall Athens", which is located only from this one. However, the target market for this mall is different that that of "The Mall Athens" since it aims at customers with high purchasing power, belonging to the upper middle class and above.

To attract this exclusive high-end customer base, the GH offers the utmost in luxury and attempts to create this refined atmosphere found in other similar developments elsewhere in the world. So, in this mall there are no multiplex cinema theaters, fast food restaurants and supermarkets. At the third level you may find four restaurants offering Greek and other ethnic cuisines as well as gourmet dishes while a number of small cafes and bistros is scattered on all floors and arcades, including the two wide public atria on both ends of the shopping areas of the mall.

The photos that follow were taken by me from Friday 27 to Sunday 30 November (the exterior shots). I hope they give you a good idea of the place and its surroundings.

-2 General panoramas of the mall.





-Views of the entrance plaza and its environment.









This is the side of the building from Spyros Louis Avenue. In this, as well as the first two pictures, the characteristic shape of the Athens Olympic Stadium designed by the famous Spanish archiotect S. Calatrava is visible in the background.



From the main plaza looking towards Kifissias Avenue. The building in the background behind the fountain is the offices of the Hellenic Olympic Committee.




-Sleeping beauty or sleeping Buddha?



-Images of the interior with the main atria, shops and some architectural details:





















Observe the little boy in this one...

























Overall, I hope that this venture will succeed. If not for anything else, but for the hundreds of young (and the not-so-young) employees that found a job in this dry season, as well as the rest of us Athenians, who have one more elegant and cozy corner to visit in our city .

[new-sk]

well done gm!! very nice pics,it looks like a really nice mall.

[Sodnal]

Really surprised the stores use only Roman alphabet characters in their names. Should have made them use both alphabets!

[SonOfSparta]

What did this building originally look like during the Athens Olympics?

[LEAFS FANATIC]

Originally Posted by Sodnal

Really surprised the stores use only Roman alphabet characters in their names. Should have made them use both alphabets!

I don't agree. The names of these companies are like trademarks and are recognized around the wolrd in their english (Latin letters) format. Just glancing at the word gives immediate recognition.

If you look carefully, ΓΕΡΜΑΝΟΣ, which is a Greek company has its sign in Greek letters.

[gm2263]

I agree with LEAFS. It has to do with the origins of each trademark and most of them are foreign brands using English names.

[pilotos]

Oh well the mall looks fantastic, pity its not taller..but at least the building was there anyway, so here how it looked initially:





As for the discussion on the alphabet used on stores signs, even Greek firms rarely use Greek letters that's no secret, even simp[le cafes in example, but it looks normal to most of us..if they would use greek most would be surprised i guess...

[Skaros]

consume consume consume, ελπίζω να υπάρχουν και άλλοι στο φορουμ που δεν τρελαίνονται για "άλλο ένα" mall/hyper market/etc.
Από ότι φαίνεται είναι ο μόνος τομέας που κινείται τόσο δυναμικά σε ότι αφορά τις κατασκευές στην πρωτεύουσα.
Βέβαια να δούμε με την οικονομική κρίση και ένα δύσκολο 2009 μπροστά μας πόσο θα κρατήσουν όλοι αυτοί οι πολυχώροι κατανάλωσης και "ψυχαγωγίας".

[Billy8181]

oute egw trelenome giati pera apo tin katanalosi kai to oti de prosferoun tipota alo ston katanaloti , voithane kai sti kaliergeia mias katanalotikis manias me tous trendy, tous dithen kai ala polla.....

ola ayta vevea den einai exetias mono ton diaforon Mall ala logo elipsis alon erethismaton.....apo paidia kai vale.

gia ayto kai herome gia ta diafora malls giati (se sindiasmo me ala pola) dimourgoun mia oraia kai aparetiti ikona mias sovaris modernas polis..kai an einai kai oraia ktiria akomi kalitera!

distihos ta ala pola leipoun....

[AAL]

Ασφαλώς πολλά λείπουν...όμως τέτοια projects για μένα κάνουν καλό: δίνουν θέσεις εργασίας, προάγουν το εμπόριο, ακόμα και την αρχιτεκτονική παραγωγή. Επίσης, να μην ξεχνάμε ότι στην Ελλάδα το πρόβλημά μας ΔΕΝ είναι το μεγάλο κεφάλαιο...το πρόβλημα είναι η μικρομεσαία μιζέρια, είναι ότι κάθε κακή εξυπηρέτηση/αγένεια/παρανομία/πανωσήκωμα/κλείσιμο ρετιρέ με άθλια τζαμαρία/κλείσιμο ημιυπαίθριων κλπ κλπ συγχωρείται στο μικρομεσαίο, δημιουργώντας ένα κακώς εννοούμενο "παρεϊστικο" κλίμα, όπου το "δε βαριέσαι" διαμορφώνει τελικά την κρατούσα κοινωνική ηθική. Όχι, δε με πειράζουν καθόλου τα malls. Είναι χώροι που καλλιεργείται μια μορφή επαγγελματισμού στις εμπορικές σχέσεις η οποία, με την πάροδο των χρόνων, μπορεί να επηρεάσει θετικά την κοινωνία. Στην πολιτισμένη προπολεμική Αθήνα, ή στις χώρες της Βόρειας Ευρώπης που παραμένουν πολιτισμένες στις κοινωνικές τους αλληλεπιδράσεις, ασφαλώς το μικρό μαγαζί του αξιοπρεπούς έντιμου εμπόρου είναι συμπαθεστατο. Αλλά στη σημερινή Ελλάδα του τσάτρα-πάτρα, της γαϊδουριάς και τής έλλειψης επαγγελματισμού, η επιβολή ενός τέτοιου προφίλ είναι το μεγάλο κεφάλαιο είναι κοινωνική προσφορά...μια και οι εκάστοτε κρατούντες ποτέ δεν τολμούν να κάνουν τίποτα που θα ενοχλήσει κανένα, μπας και χάσουν καμμιά ψήφο...

[Giorgio]

Beautiful upscale mall, I think they could have done better with the exterior (the non entrance part).
The fountain out front is really large, I am impressed.

[Giorgio]

Here are some more great pics from flickr member Philos from Athens:

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr

[christos-greece]

Looks great

[EngineerGreece]

I love it... It's elegance. I even saw some brands I was searching for into 'The Mall' but I couldn't find. I'm certainly going to visit it in X-mas brake.

But I can say that the interior of the mall is more friendly to the costumer. Its worm and welcome. Maybe because its red colors and design.

This ones interior is more likely ''chilly'' cold. But elegance and luxury in the same time.

What you guys think??

[SonOfSparta]

The photos are all great, but I find the overall design rather typical of a mall (boring). It would be nice to give these malls Greek names, Golden Hall just sounds like something I would find in one of Toronto's chinatowns. Yes the Latin alphabet is international but it wouldn't hurt to have Greek lettering as well, just look at the way they spell McDonalds in Russia.

[EngineerGreece]

Originally Posted by SonOfSparta

The photos are all great, but I find the overall design rather typical of a mall (boring). It would be nice to give these malls Greek names, Golden Hall just sounds like something I would find in one of Toronto's chinatowns. Yes the Latin alphabet is international but it wouldn't hurt to have Greek lettering as well, just look at the way they spell McDonalds in Russia.

Not all malls in Greece are boring. I think The Mall Athens is not boring at all. Its very beautiful it has nice colors and welcomes the consumer. Just check the Mall Athens thread.

[AEK]

Oti kai na poume, fainetai polu wraio mesa.

[TeddyAmsterdam]

Originally Posted by Sodnal

Really surprised the stores use only Roman alphabet characters in their names. Should have made them use both alphabets!

what old fashioned idea is this? I"ve only seen this happening in countries like Russia or Saudi Arabia, where you will have to "translate" your logo into local language and it looks just hedeous. And only happens in such totaletarian areas...

could you imagine this somewhere in Greece?

ΣΤΑΡΜΠΑΞ ΚΟΦΙ



ΜΑΚ ΝΤΟΝΑΛΝΤΣ



αι γκοου δεαρ ολ δε ταιμ, εντ τραστ μι, αι εμ χαβηνγκ ε μπιγκ λαφ ολγουεηζ!

[SonOfSparta]

Yeah I can totally see signs like this in Greece written in both Greek and any other language. You can have signs in both languages, its no big deal, many countries have billingual signs. In Canada there are signs in French and English and other languages depending on the ethnic neighbourhood. It's not old fashion thinking, it's the opposite, it is progressive. Whenever I travel to Greece it saddens me to see less and less Greek signs. People now even write text in forums using latin letters to spell Greek words!!!! At this pace we can say goodbye to the Greek language within a couple of generations. The more the Greek language gets eroded the more we lose touch with our past.

[Sodnal]

In Canada there are signs in French and English and other languages depending on the ethnic neighbourhood. It's not old fashion thinking, it's the opposite, it is progressive.

I agree. Wouldn't hurt anything using both alphabets. As for McDonalds and Starbucks I kind of like the Cyrillic alphabet! The Logo's of the stores (Golden Arches and so on) clearly identify the company.

When I go to Greece it helps me polish my Greek by reading in the original alphabet. I hate to see too much western influence-too much already, frankly.