Sambil, touted as the largest shopping mall in Santo Domingo, opens today, Friday 30 November. The mall is owned and operated by the leading Venezuelan shopping mall chain, and is its first mall outside of Venezuela.
The management promises that the Sambil shopping experience will be different because of the strong slant on entertainment. Sambil opens with 70 shops with a further 80 opening in time for peak Christmas shopping. The mall has capacity for 300 shops and boasts the largest movie center in the country with 14 screens (Palacio del Cine), as well as being the first to feature a marine museum and a theater with capacity for more than 1,000 people.
Company spokesman Alfredo Cohen announced that the mall had reached a strategic alliance with the Palacio de Bellas Artes to present artistic shows at the mall. For the opening and first days of Christmas, the Mall will host performances by the National Choir, the Metacrusa Latin Jam, the youth band of the Santa Ana Polytechnic School, the Alambrito and Tia Nancy show, and more.
The mall is open from Monday to Saturday from 10am to 11pm and on Sundays from noon to 11pm. On special shopping days, such as from 17-24 December, the mall posts it will open earlier at 9am. On Christmas Day and New Year’s only movie house and food businesses will be open. After the Christmas shopping holidays, the mall will close at 8pm on Sundays and most holidays.
Sambil’s opening consolidates Santo Domingo as a leading shopping destination in the Caribbean. In addition to the US and European franchises, the new malls are luring many South American shops to open branches in Santo Domingo, making the city more attractive. Other leading malls in the city include Agora Mall, Blue Mall, Acropolis, Novocentro, Megacentro, Plaza Central, Plaza Lama, Galerias 360 and Bella Vista Mall.