Best in Kyiv

Best Mall: Kvadrat at Druzhby Narodiv

Post photo by Viktor Suvorov
A decent large food court is a must at any mall.

The Best Of team goes gaga for sports. But when the hot summer days clamp down on Kyiv, we go for that most profitable of pastimes: mall walking. A good mall crawl is not just about shopping. It’s an air-conditioned walk on the commercial wild side. It’s like visiting a casino (minus the gambling) where just about every need is met under one roof. A quality mall is a place where you can buy sneakers and order Kung Pao chicken without ever seeing a patch of sky.

Let’s first define our terms. A covered market cannot be considered a mall, nor can rows of Soviet-style kiosks or stalls. A mall must be a series of stand-alone stores providing a variety of different goods under one roof. A true mall also hosts service establishments like beauty salons and optical shops. A food court is non-negotiable. Fast food is the nucleus of all the great malls of the world; the shops and booths radiate from its center like the petals of a grand capitalist flower.

Maidan Nezalezhnosti and the underpass by Khreshchatyk metro host mall-like structures that are part of the Kvadrat chain. However, both are simply too small and undefined to be called proper malls. They both host underground shopping centers with a range of brands as opposed to specifically branded stores. The Maidan Kvadrat also features a Shvydko outlet, but one restaurant does not make a food court.

Arsenalna was also in the running, but it is basically just an underpass with some glass doors affixed to the entrances. Its Middle Eastern fast food establishment, Orion, offers classic mall fare, but most of the underpass is dominated by row upon row of pre-fab kiosks.

The undisputed winner is the Kvadrat shopping center in the Druzhby Narodiv metro. The sprawling shopping center is a sparkling, split-level structure with everything from name-brand stores like Reebok to smaller boutiques featuring local styles. A large food court features Shvydko, Shanghai-Ko, Mr. Snack and Dzhar Pizza, all of which provide fast, affordable meals with remarkably pleasant service. The Druzhby Narodiv Kvadrat also features service establishments such as an Internet cafe and a solarium.

However, Druzhby Narodiv may not hold the title for long. New malls are in the works. There are plans for a multi-level shopping center under Khreshchatyk from Maidan to Yevropeyska ploshcha. Funded in part by 21st Century, the investment group that brought the Kvadrat chain to Kyiv’s underpasses, this new facility will supposedly host a movie theater, a bar, restaurants, an Internet cafe and more. Another similar facility is planned for Sevastopolska ploshcha on the outskirts of Kyiv’s Right Bank.