Opening of the Mall of Switzerland
On Wednesday, November 8, 2017, the Mall of Switzerland, Switzerland's second-largest shopping and leisure center with a total area of 65,000 sqm, opened in Ebikon near Lucerne.
When it opens, it will be home to around 100 shops and restaurants as well as a Pathé multiplex cinema with twelve screens, including an IMAX cinema. The largest areas are occupied by Migros with four concepts (supermarket, DIY and garden centre, restaurant and sports market Sport XX), the textile chains H&M, C&A, Bershka and Mango as well as Ochsner Sport, the drugstore chain Müller and "Kidsland", which alone covers 1,500 sqm.
The occupancy rate, including the leisure area, is currently 83 percent, as Nikolas Loehr from project developer Freo explains. Other stores in the new Mall of Switzerland include Adidas, Bata, Camicissima, Guess, Jack & Jones, Lee & Wrangler, Marc O'Polo, Nespresso, New Yorker, Skechers, Snipes, Stefanel, Terranova and Vivobarefoot. The US fashion brand Original Penguin and the Turkish premium shoe label Hotic are represented for the first time with a store in Switzerland. The range of products is complemented by the motorcycle supplier Indian Motorcycles and the premium mass-produced shirt manufacturer House of Shirts - as well as a temporary pop-up store of the US electric car manufacturer Tesla..
Regional Swiss tenants include Mode Bayard, Optik Unternährer, Blumen Widler, Click Star, Confiserie Bachmann, Cut & Color, Enchanté, Head Case, Läderach, Luzerner Kantonalbank, Presentini and SUC+. The French indoor surfing specialist "Glisss", founded by surfing legend Fred Beauchêne, will initially offer surfing simulators in the Mall of Switzerland before Jochen Schweizer's permanently installed "Citywave" goes into operation in March 2018.
The new mall consists of three structures with shopping, leisure and parking functions. The Swiss architecture and general planning firm Burckhardt+Partner AG was responsible for the architecture and project concept. The center was managed by Jan Wengeler of CBRE Switzerland, Berlin, and Ronnie Hürlimann, a marketing and media specialist based in Nidwalden.
