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Around Town

Shopping paradise

By Benjamin Thomas Cunningham
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
October 31st, 2007 issue

Getting the Palladium shopping mall open on time on náměstí Republiky in New Town was a push, and it’s still not completely done.

Workers of all types, from stevedores to stylish shopkeepers and their employees, have been literally going around the clock in recent weeks to get the place ready — we saw empty stores and brigades of employees carrying boxes of merchandise into a side entrance less than 24 hours before the big day.
But the frantic last-minute preparations didn’t stop the grand-opening extravaganza from being a spectacular blowout of bands, personalities and blasts of music into the wee hours. Fireworks heralded the moment the doors were opened to the public at 10 p.m. Oct. 25.
Firefighters sitting on top of a hook-and-ladder fire truck on the outskirts had a ringside seat. Hundreds of people willing to hang out on a school night saw a five-hour show featuring widely differing acts, from the orchestra to the popular band Support Lesbiens.
Luxor bookstore with a small part of its space currently open, might be the biggest casualty of the last-minute scramble. Much of the store stocking was delayed because of the special building measures made to protect the archaeological site there, one of three in the mall. Workers were installing stone steps in the bookstore when we visited. There were just a few books on sale, and posters are up; the rest is slated to open soon.
Mike Pilar, 36, an American computer programmer for the mall, was up on a ladder hanging Wi-Fi equipment for his company just six hours before the opening. Asked what he was going to do to celebrate the end of the project, Pilar said he’d be at Harley’s, having a drink.
Yes, Prague institution Harley’s has an outpost in the Palladium, joined by the venerable Tretter’s, and several other bars and restaurants on the third floor of the mall. The hip and trendy will love the Fashion Café, a free-standing fishbowl of a place with glass walls where folks can see and be seen. An all-you-can-eat sushi place is Katka Zíková’s personal favorite. We chatted with the 28-year-old outside a side door on opening night, where her red wristband marked her as a VIP.
If foreigners don’t find enough excitement on the food side of things, both the American coffee chain Starbucks and fast-food giant Burger King are slated to open in 2008, said Pilar, a Los Angeles native.
Overall, the place seems to get high marks from shoppers, who came in droves over the weekend, pointing out historical notes to their friends.
But kitschy design details made the place seem more Hollywood than historical to Jiřina Podlešáková, 52, who was among the visitors who came to see how the archaeological elements had been incorporated into the building. Podlešáková didn’t like the jostling crowds on opening night, but she was won over by how easy it is to get around inside, with numerous entrances and escalators.
Kateřina Elenová, 40, also came to see how the historical remains underneath the mall had been preserved. She complained that the crush of visitors made it hard to see the original pieces saved from the previous building.
A digital clock counting down the seconds to the mall’s opening drew John and Alice Feeney, tourists from the U.S. city of Baltimore, Maryland, who were staying at the nearby Hotel Ibis. It’s strange to see new malls going up in Central Europe when Americans are now building new outdoor “Main Street”-style centers, John Feeney said. He marveled at the number of people hanging out on the street on a weekday night for the entertainment.
The facade’s pinky-red color harkens to the barracks and stables that were there before, and the facade contains other historical elements. It’s at the junction of Na Poříčí and Revoluční streets and has its own entrance from the Náměstí Republiky metro station.
— Marketa Podlešaková contributed to this report.

Benjamin Thomas Cunningham can be reached at bcunningham@praguepost.com


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