Can one mall be that different from any other? We asked ourselves this question on the way to the recently opened The Mall shopping centre on Sofia’s Tsarigradsko Chaussee.

Frankly, neither of us wanted to go there. Not because we had something against such centres, as they do provide many convenient advantages compared to shopping on Sofia’s narrow, potholed streets, but because the prospect of joining a throng of thousands of aimless shoppers, piling into lifts, crammed full of bags and packages, was unappealing.

Our strategy on visiting new malls, ever since the first appeared in Sofia in 2006, has been to wait at least a month after the official opening, hoping that the crowds looking for promotional discounts will abate. Let’s face it - once you’ve seen one mall, you’ve seen them all, regardless of their size. They’re all based on the same principle: underground parking accompanied by a retail store, shops on the first, second and third floors, and food and cinema on top. Still, on a rainy Sunday afternoon with nothing to do, The Mall did not seem so unattractive. After all, it has been presented to us as Sofia’s biggest mall - as, by the way, all previous such establishments have claimed to be.

So there we were on Tsarigradsko Chaussee driving to The Mall. First, we had to spot the detour taking us to the other side of the boulevard via a special tunnel. Here is a little tip to The Mall’s management: make the sign bigger because it can barely be seen unless you pay special attention and this, on the busy Tsarigradsko Chaussee, is a challenge. First-time arrivals are advised to look for the McDonald’s restaurant as The Mall sign is a few metres ahead of it.

Once in the tunnel we had to wait a couple of minutes to enter the car park; unsurprising since it was Sunday. Once inside, the several storeys of parking enabled us to find a space easily. Since it was the first weekend after opening, parking was free, helping the cars to move faster. One conspicuous sight in the tunnel was dozens of people carrying similar bags using it as an underground passage (obviously the tunnel was designed specifically for cars), suggesting that something big was happening at The Mall. Note too that entry to the mall (through the tunnel itself) is not particularly friendly to those without cars, especially if coming from the city centre and therefore approaching from the other side of Tsarigradsko Chaussee.

When we entered the underground floor of The Mall we realised what this "something" was. This floor is entirely dominated by the Carrefour hypermarket. It’s worth a view if only because it’s interesting to see hundreds, if not thousands, of people - during a crisis - moving around endless aisles, pushing big trolleys and shopping for sundry goods, from food to TV sets. Frankly, it’s a scary sight and the women working at what we counted as more than 30 checkouts have my sympathy. Obviously the 0.08 leva offer for a yoghurt had encouraged customers.

Since buying yoghurt was not our goal, we decided to spare ourselves the Carrefour jungle and move to the top floor. Here we encountered another novelty, unprecedented in Sofia’s other malls. Some of the lifts are designed so that you can take your trolley (presumably full of Carrefour goods) with you. Indeed, as we walked around the boutiques we could see people pushing trolleys laden with food, undermining some of the appeal of The Mall boutique area. True to its advertising campaign, The Mall is indeed big, as are some of the boutiques. Unfortunately, this also applies to the prices. One would think that the recession, and competition from other malls, would reduce prices to reasonable levels but this is not the case.

The Mall’s total build-up area may be 65 000 sq m but the only place that gives an impression of spaciousness is the food and drink area where the cinema complex is. This area is so vast that it resembles a large railway station with hundreds of people sitting on plastic chairs eating fast food. All that is missing is a voice on loudspeakers announcing train times.

Restaurants and coffee shops are definitely not among The Mall’s strong cards. In theory, it has 185 stores, restaurants, recreations centres, bars and cafeterias, but despite this choice the place fails to provide a comfortable dining out experience. This is probably because it has just opened. Still, The Mall’s purpose is to make people shop, not just dine out, so this is probably justified.

After spending a couple of hours walking around and drinking coffee we decided we had had enough and headed to the exit. This proved a bigger challenge than entering the car park through the tunnel because getting back onto the busy Tsarigradsko Chaussee is not easy when you have dozens of vehicles waiting in line. After about 20 minutes queueing we decided that this would probably be our last visit to The Mall if only because we live on the other side of the city, closer to already existing malls that provide the same expensive shops and services. This is actually The Mall’s main advantage because it lies in an area hitherto bypassed by large shopping centres. This gap has now been filled.