SantaFe Shopping Mall Medellin

Santafe Shopping Mall In Medellin

Last week the New Santafe Shopping Mall opened its doors. This is the largest shopping mall in Medellin Colombia, with over 453 stores, 25 restaurants, VIP movie theaters and over 207,000 square meters (2,2 million sq ft).

After the success of Santafe Shopping Mall in Bogota, the same developers opened a new subsidiary in Medellin under the same brand name. According to the developers they invested over $300,000 million pesos (US$150 million) in the construction of this luxurious mall located at the Golden Mile in el Poblado.

Medellin Colombia Mall

This mall reminds me of any of the big malls you see in the USA or Canada including a great theme park resembling a small city that has been a huge hit among kids in Bogota.

This “mini-city” has over 6,000 m2 (64,000 sq ft) of commercial space offering everything and anything you can imagine with 427 stores, national and international banks, travel agencies, salons, electronics, VIP movie theaters, massive  food center and more. In addition to that there are over 25 great restaurants to dine or simply take a shopping break for you shopaholics. One of the most popular stores in the mall is called Falabella’s Department store with over 12,000 m2 (129,000 sq ft) and three floors.

The Colombia Company responsible for selling or renting the commercial space sold out the entire mall in record time actually beating the existing Guiness World Record.  Rumor has it that this creative and innovative company offered one year of free rent so potential buyers can decide if they buy the store space or not.

Medellin Commercial Spaces

The prices for commercial spaces hit a new high in Medellin with the Santafe Shopping Mall. At the start of the construction, commercial spaces were between 6-17 million pesos per squere meter (US$278-US$790 per sq ft). Today, the prices are 7 y 20 million pesos per square meter (US$325-US$929 per sq ft), for an average increase of 16%. However, at the food court the price per square meter is 25 million pesos (US$1161 per sq ft).

There is something I found interesting and new in this cutting-edge Medellin Santafe Shopping Mall. This shopping mall has 5 massive glass sliding roofs, quite a show when opening or closing for all lucky enough to be there at the right time.  Another great feature and services offered was the VIP Cinema where waiters will serve you as you watch the movie (movies are typically in English with Spanish sub-titles). You can order from a great menu of sushi, pasta and more with a glass of wine or dessert. Servers use portable ordering gadgets combined credit card readers and within a swipe  your card (visa, mastercard, amex or pay by cash) you can sit back and your enjoy the movie in style snuggled in a big lazy boy fold out chair with a great meal.

Medellin Colombia 1st World Amenities

After living both in the USA and now in Colombia I can tell you that Colombia offers as many of the lifestyle amenities that foreigners are used to or expect in their life at about 20-30% of the price they are used to paying. Unfortunately, due to long-standing stigma or simply ignorance many foreigners, many will never get to see this 1st world mall or many other amazing destinations that Colombia has to offer.

However I have noticed a definite increase in the number of foreigners traveling to my country which creates a sense of new found sense of pride. My partners and  with ColombiaMedellin.org feel our efforts (either directly or indirectly) hopefully contributed to convincing these adventurous travelers to see the many wonders of Colombia.

1. 

   stewart says:

   July 14, 2010 at 10:24 pm

   hard to imagine colombia is still thought of as a 3rd world country isnt it! The malls in medellin are nicer than most that ive visited in the us! I say we keep the masses ignorant so we can keep this great country to ourselves!

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2. 

   Jess Barofsky says:

   May 19, 2010 at 4:10 pm

   I’m a typical american who is married 25 years this June to his wife from Medellin. To put it simply “I love Colombia” The people , the metro, my wifes family, the food etc. I was one of those ugly americans who was ignorant about Colombia and now hope to spread the word about the colombia that I know now. I will move to Colombia at the end of the year and start spending at least six months a year there. The other six months will be spent promoting Colombia in the light it deserves. It would be nice to see more commercials on t.v. to promote Colombia. It would have even more impact if it was from an american.

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3. 

   Sebastian says:

   May 18, 2010 at 5:36 pm

   I think this is a great article!! I’m in USA right now as an exchange student and is very clear the bad reputation of my country therefore of my city and the ignorance of the average american and the rest of the exchange students I have met here. I also hope this kind of sites help to change that, because as a colombian here, I have felt how bad we are seen in the world, and that really hurts me. Once more is demonstrated the development of my city…I really miss it!

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