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Bulevardul Magheru
 The best shopping districts are Calea Victoriei
and Bulevardul General Magheru or Bucharesti Mall, Calea Vitan 55-59 (open
daily 1000-2200). The main department stores are Cocor, Bulevardul Bratianu
29-33, and Unirea, Piata Unirii 1, which also has a large supermarket. In
the upmarket shopping districts, shoppers can expect to find every top
European chain, from Benetton to Max Mara and Terzoatto. But bargain hunters
can also have plenty of fun in the old neighbourhoods around Strada Lipscani,
at shops such as Palarierul, Strada Gabroveni 2-4, which sells handmade
hats, made to order. |
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Bucharest Mall is a modern shopping mall that opened in 1999. The building
in which it is located has a bit of history. It is part of a series built
all around the city at Ceausescu order. They were intended to be used as
produce markets but I believe only one or two opened before December 1989
which was the end of Ceausescu's era. The rest have been left incomplete and
abandoned for a long time. Their official name was "Complex agro-alimentar"
but they were known to everyone as "hunger circuses" (the reason being that
their dome-shaped design looked a lot like Bucharest's circus building; and
hunger because people didn't really expect to find any food there despite
the official word). Anyway, the past is in the past :-) the building got a
good facial and today it looks a lot like a US mall. It has over 70
(expensive) stores spread over 4 levels, a large supermarket, a food court
with over 20 restaurants, a multiplex cinema, a video games arcade and ... I
can't think of something else to enumerate but it has almost everything one
needs. It even has a big parking lot, a true rarity in Bucharest. Address:
Calea Vitan 55-59 |
