QUICK TAKES

Metromall, A New Shopping Option

By Will Irvine

It´s Sunday where do you find many Panamanians? At the mall and it just got better. A new mall opened at the end of October. Panamanians flocked to welcome a new addition to their roster of shopping centers: Metromall. It is located on Domingo Diaz Avenue (the road on the way from Tocumen Airport), also called Via Tocumen, right in front of Los Pueblos Mall. The mall is being developed by Grupo Roble, who also developed Multiplaza in Punta Pacifica. Grupo Roble is a division of Grupo Poma from El Salvador.

Metromall is an indoor mall sitting on approximately 130 thousand square meters and will have space for 300 stores plus 3000 parking spaces. The mall is expected to have 8 anchor stores, convenience stores, a 3,500 square meter supermarket and a sector exclusively dedicated to outlet stores. Some of the stores that will be present in this mall are El Costo, Titán and El Machetazo (all Panamanian stores resembling Walmart or Target).

The new shopping complex will also host the stores of many reknowned, international brands such as Guess, Tommy Hilfiger, Nike, Lacoste, Puma, Studio F, Quicksilver, MacStore, La Senza, New Balance, Sony Center, Hallmark, Columbia, Kenneth Cole and Adidas, to name a few.

Additionally on the entertainment side the mall will be home to a 10 screen multiplex cinema associated to a reknowned franchise. Its food court will have more than 30 restaurants and cafes. The usual complement of banks and pharmacies will also be present at the mall.

Metromall is located in an area in the City of Panama with very high population density, it is close to the international airport and to major roads such as the Corredores Norte and Sur. The sector it is located in has almost 600,000 thousand residents comprising very diverse income brackets and many of the neighborhoods such as Brisas del Golf, San Antonio and Cerro Viento, are in expansion phases planned by their developers as housing in this sector of Panama is still affordable.

Metromall intends to capture the local market as well as the international market due to its proximity to the airport thereby duplicating the success of its neighbor across the street, Los Pueblos, which is a popular destination for international shopping tours as well as for local buyers. To solidify this market position Grupo Roble has already planned a second stage to Metromall including apartments and a 180 room hotel. The project has already been approved.

The investment in Metromall is estimated at about USD$100 million but is estimated to generate approximately USD$700 million per year through its 50,000 to 60,000 visitors per day. This is the largest investment in the group´s portfolio until now and they have chosen to build it in Panama.

Metromall promises to be an eclectic mix of stores and should have offerings for every taste and desire. It is even expected to have some new international franchises from such as Grupo Salvador, Venezuela´s largest chain of beauty salons and Pressto from Spain, a boutique laundromat franchise that is environment friendly.

Shopping just got a lot more fun, so don´t wait and bring your credit card.

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