MAR Shopping Algarve, locally known as the Ikea shopping center, is due to open this summer, has announced the first swathe of store agreements.
NOS cinemas has confirmed an 8 screen multiplex to compete with the cinema down the road at Forum Algarve.
Food outlets so far include, h3, Vitamins & Ca., Wok to Walk, Hanami Sushi, Burger Butcher, Barn Diet, Butcher's Market, Häagen-Dazs and Hussel.
Furnishings from The Black Cat Store and Art Quarter, then there is Deichmas, Foreva, Giovanni Galli, Inside, Knot, Mike Davis, Misako, OVS, Pandora, Parfois, Salsa, Springfield, Tous, Woman Secret and Zippy.
Health and beauty brands from Jean Louis David, Pluriscosmética, Rituals and Stenders.
In the jewelry and watchmaking sector, there will be Joyeria Jose Luis, Time Road and Casio. There will be a Vodafone telecoms store and toy store Centroxogo. Animals from Ornimundo and travel agency Abreu, plus NovaCâmbios and Opticalia.
Then there’s Zara, Bershka, Stradivarius, Zara Home, Pull & Bear, Oysho, Lefties and Massimo Dutti, Primark, Mango, C&A, Punt Roma, Sfera, Tiffosi, Aromas and Sephora.
For names you might have heard of, there is a Pingo Doce and a Worten.
Selected soundbites from Ana Machado, marketing director of IKEA Centers in Europe, include “the project has been a success from the commercial point of view…prominent role in the development of the region … the contacts have appeared in a very natural and effective way over the last months … we are already finalising all negotiations with national and international brands of reference …. soon we will conclude the marketing process…”
For those whose patience is limited, there is an 8,000m2 outside area in which to sit it out, hopefully there will be no piped music.
But no, for non-shoppers, Ikea has other ways of ‘improving the experience:’ - “The space will consist of two zones - Welcome & Discovery and Mountain Area - designed to provide the best entertainment before, during or after shopping, fostering moments of fun for all ages and benefiting from the climatic conditions of the region. The two outdoor areas, intended for games and more 'radical attractions,' include amusements such as sound pipes, suspension bridges, water pumps, stone paths, water mills, tree tunnels, caves, slides and rock climbing.”
This Ikea is different as the 8 hectare project joins three complexes into a single shopping center, the IKEA store and ‘Designer Outlet Algarve.’
MAR Shopping Algarve has space for 220 stores (110 in the mall and 110 in the outlet) and 3,500 parking spaces.
In total, Ikea reckons it will have spent €200 million on a project that will create the wonderfully round figure of “3,000 direct and indirect jobs.”
