Pan-European developer HB Reavis has officially opened its first Aupark in Hradec Kralove, czech Republic. The shopping centre brings 120 stores, new international brands, a large food court and various service and entertainment units to the city.
The new 21,000 sqm Aupark is characterised by its modern design, clear layout and excellent visibility of all retail outlets. High quality materials such as wood, glass and stone, as well as natural light permeating the mall have been used to provide a unique customer experience. The shopping center will also offer a spacious food court for up to 300 people with several new restaurants and many top brands such as H&M, New Yorker, Terranova, CCC, Reno shoes, Sportisimo, Euronics DM drogerie, and Billa. Aupark also brings a number of completely new brands such as 4F, Celio, ECCO, Gas jeans, Le Premier, My food market and Superdry.
The city of Hradec Kralove is the Czech Republic’s third largest urban cluster and lies an hour’s drive to the East of Prague. The city has long had one of the highest standards of living in the country and benefits from excellent transportation infrastructure and civic amenities. In spite of this, Hradec Kralove currently has the lowest saturation of retail space among the Czech Republic’s large cities, with around 750 sqm per thousand inhabitants.
HB Reavis saw great potential in the location and decided to develop an inner-city shopping centre that benefits from the proximity of major transport nodes. “We’re thrilled to have delivered our first Aupark outside of Slovakia and we’re confident the shopping centre’s brand will provide a great business opportunity for established firms as well as newcomers to the Czech retail market. The idea of the city’s architects to connect something historical at one end with something modern at the other fit perfectly with our aim of bringing an architecturally modern shopping centre to Hradec Kralove that would become a natural part of the whole neighbourhood,” explained HB Reavis Shopping Centre Management Director Marcel Zeleňák.
The construction of the Czech Republic’s only shopping centre to be opened in 2016 took roughly 23 months – from November 2014 to October 2016 – to complete.