Europark is so far Maribor's biggest and most popular shopping mall. It was opened on August 23, 2000. At that time it was one of the biggest shopping malls in Slovenia (and still is today). This year the mall celebrated its 10 years anniversary and it can show some pretty impressive numbers of a very successful decade of growth and profit. In the late 1990s, when the design of the Viennese architect Heinz H. Brunner was made public, many people criticized it, especially the so called local sheriff of Maribor's architects Bogdan Reicheberg, who said the building looks "massive and only serves the purpose of being noticed instead of focusing on the ambiance". He also said, that it should've been built 5km away from where it stands. Looks like some of our local architects think, if they've done some good projects in the 1980s, that they have own the city now. Luckily nobody listened to Reichenberg end of 1990s, because Europark is today one of the best examples of modern architecture in the city and one of the most popular parts of Maribor. That's partly, because it was built so close to the city center and the Tito bridge (Titov most). Now you can park your car in Europark for free and go to the old town by foot. If it's snowing or raining, you can do everything inside the huge mall: Shop, eat, go to post office or bank, meet friends... Europark enriched Maribor unlike any other shopping mall. Rarely Maribor succeeds to make something amazing and Europark is definitely something like that. It's built at the right spot and at the right time.
At the time of completion in 2000, Europark measured 28,000 sq meters, but in 2007 a new part was added and the building is now 40,000 sq meters large. A big part of it is a huge parking garage, which currently houses 2600 free parking spaces. There are 120 shops, bars and restaurants in the building giving jobs to around 1000 people. Maribor is probably one of the best shopping destinations in Slovenia and if you choose to come here, Europark should be your top spot for a shopping adventure as well as for exploring the city by foot. The old medieval center is within 10min of walk.
See some of my photos of Europark (take in August 2010):
There's also a big supermarket inside the building called InterSpar, was also an investor of Europark, that's why they have such a prominent spot in the building.
Opening hours: Europark is open every day.
Monday - Friday: 9h-21h, bars until 22h
Saturday's: 8h-21h, bars until 22h
Sunday's: 9h-15h
Saturday's: 8h-21h, bars until 22h
Sunday's: 9h-15h
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