Smooth center

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

Glatt shopping center
Glatt Tower after renovation in 2019
Basic data
Location:	Wallisellen
Opening:	February 13, 1975
Total area:	240,460 m²
Sales area :	43,387 m²
Shops:	116
Visitors:	9.1 million (2019)
Turnover :	600 million francs (2019)
Owner :	Swiss Life
Operator:	Board of Directors of the interest group Zentrum Glatt AG and Liegenschaften-Betrieb AG (both Migros-Zurich)
Website:	www.glatt.ch
Transport links
Railway station:	Wallisellen
Bus stop:	Wallisellen Smooth
S-Bahn :	S 8 S 14 S 19
Tram :	12
Omnibus :	94 759 787
Motorways :	A1 motorway A4 motorway
Other:	Hauptstrasse 1
Parking spaces :	4500 (free)
Bicycle parking spaces :	1,000
Technical specifications
Construction time :	1971-1975
Architect :	E. Schwarzenbach
Architects :	Victor Gruen, Planning and Architecture AG, Vienna and Cham
Building-costs:	CHF 200,000,000

The Glattzentrum , often only the smoothness (officially Glatt shopping center , and the center Glatt or EKZ Glatt ), is one of the first, and still the most profitable shopping center of Switzerland . It was opened in 1975 and is located in Wallisellen , in the Glattal directly adjacent to Zurich .

Owner and location

In the 1960s, various companies in Switzerland began planning shopping centers based on the US shopping malls . The plans found fertile ground and the framework conditions, which were much more favorable compared to later, led to the Migros Genossenschafts-Bund (MGB), Globus and Jelmoli agreeing to jointly build and operate a shopping center near Zurich. In 1962 the AG shopping center Glatt-Zurich was entered in the Zurich commercial register.

The choice of location fell on the municipality of Wallisellen , which owned the land required for this and was ready to sell - the location on the then only planned N1 motorway , which runs immediately south of the complex and after its opening, was also in a first phase ended near the mall. The river Glatt , which forms the border between the city of Zurich and Wallisellen and gave the shopping center its name, runs south of the motorway .

Due to financial bottlenecks in the Globus Group in the 1990s and the purchase of Globus, Migros came into possession of all shares in the Glattzentrum. In July 2020, Migros sold due to a realignment of the strategy. the large property at Swiss Life . Migros and Globus remained anchor tenants.

Opposite the shopping center, the Richti-Areal development was built in 2013 , which juxtaposes the Glatt skyscraper with a similar high building in the immediate vicinity.

Construction and development

The construction of the shopping town began in 1971 and, in addition to the actual shopping center, included a spacious parking garage, the large petrol station that was common at the time and an office tower. In coordination with the local authority, the city of Zurich, the canton of Zurich and the federal government, which also began building the N1 Zurich – Winterthur in 1971, the road accesses were created, to which the client made significant contributions. For example, the central motorway lane (towards Zurich) within the Wallisellen motorway junction includes a direct exit to or an entrance to the shopping center. A central development structure spans the Glatt and the Autobahn and bears the name Neue Winterthurerstrasse . The (old) Winterthurerstrasse was cut through the construction of the motorway and with the construction of the shopping center, the road connection was rebuilt in the form of a direction-separated bridge, which with its connecting ramps to the shopping center resembles a motorway. Since December 2010, line 12 of the Glattalbahn has also stopped at the Wallisellen, Glatt stop , which is directly connected to the shopping center by a pedestrian bridge.

Opening and operation

Interior view from the second floor

The infrastructure was completed in 1974 and the operating company Zentrum Glatt AG was entered in the commercial register. On 13. February 1975 the opening ceremony was followed by the shopping center. In the same year, the Zurich public transport company also put the 94 bus line, which has remained unchanged today and is partially subsidized by the shopping center, into operation. The ownership structure at the time of opening remained in place until 1996 - Migros, Globus and Jelmoli each owned a third of the shopping center and were responsible for the center administration according to this distribution. The tenant of the high-rise office building, which was fundamentally detached from the center, was the NCR , while the shops were rented to third parties by the center administration.

Infrastructure

The three department stores had wings that were detached from the common center infrastructure, each of which extended over all three sales floors and had a basement that was not open to the public in the rest of the center, but housed the supplies and technology.

Remodeling and restructuring

Since its opening, the shopping center has been rebuilt several times, the most profound change took place in 1992 and removed the seventies style , which was characterized by brown tones . The central mall received its current glass dome and two glazed lifts, the two side malls received glazed roofs, the Migros restaurant was completely redesigned and received an additional floor with a glazed roof. The wing occupied by Migros was also completely rebuilt and the top floor, which was originally insulated, was connected to the other Migros floors.

The wings occupied by Globus and Jelmoli were also intended for renovation, but developed differently than planned. Jelmoli rebuilt his wing, but only stayed there for a few weeks. The poor financial situation of the Jelmoli Group led to the closure of all branches, with the exception of the Zurich headquarters - the shares in the Glattzentrum were therefore sold to Globus in 1996, which then moved to the already renovated wing. However, Globus's finances were no better, and weeks later the Federation of Migros Cooperatives took over the Globus Group. The old Globus wing was then opened to the center, was given a glass dome and has since been rented to third parties.

With these changes, the ownership structure of the organization of the center had also changed: until the end of 2006, the AG shopping center Glatt-Zürich belonged to 66.7% of Migros and 33.3% of the Globus Group, the operating company Zentrum Glatt AG belonged to 75% of Migros and 25% of the Globus group. Since January 1, 2007 - with the dissolution of the Globus Group - the Glatt shopping center has belonged to 100% of Liegenschaften-Betrieb AG , a 100% subsidiary of the Federation of Migros Cooperatives, through the takeover of AG Shopping Mall Glatt-Zürich (MGB). In July 2020 it was then sold to Swiss Life.

Glattzentrum before the renovation

Glattzentrum after the renovation

Room of silence

Under the name space + silence one is Room of Silence offered. It is run as an ecumenical offer by the Reformed and Catholic Churches in the Canton of Zurich in cooperation with the Glatt shopping center and is available to everyone regardless of their worldview or belief. Talks are also offered there.

numbers

The shopping center covers an area of ​​43,387 m² and offers around 4,500 parking spaces. In addition to two department stores, four specialist markets, five restaurants and four bars, there are 90 specialty shops in the center. A total of 1,800 people are employed there. In 2019 the Glattzentrum had 9.1 million customers and a turnover of more than CHF 600 million. Both figures remained largely stable compared to the previous year. The turnover per m ^{2 of} sales area in 2013 was a comparatively high CHF 14,290. The Glattzentrum is therefore still the largest shopping center in Switzerland.

marketing

The name Glattzentrum comes from the Glatt river of the same name . Since smooth in Swiss German also means funny , amusing , nice or beautiful , this was used in the early days for marketing campaigns and PR for the Glattzentrum: "Glatt for Alli!" or "It's smooth in the slippery!" . The current slogan is “Your First Shopping Destination”.

Web links

Commons : Glattzentrum  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ https://www.e-periodica.ch/cntmng?pid=sbz-002:1975:93::164
2. ↑ https://www.e-periodica.ch/cntmng?pid=sbz-002:1975:93::164
3. ↑ https://www.e-periodica.ch/cntmng?pid=sbz-002:1975:93::164
4. ↑ https://www.e-periodica.ch/cntmng?pid=sbz-002:1975:93::164
5. ↑ https://www.migros.ch/de/unternehmen/medien/mitteilungen/show/news/medienmitteilungen/2020/glattzentrum.html
6. ↑ https://www.nzz.ch/zuerich/migros-will-auch-das-glattzentrum-verkaufen-ld.1537680
7. ↑ https://www.raumundstille.ch/
8. ^ Annual report Glatt 2019. Retrieved on August 15, 2020 . 
9. ↑ Patrik Berger and Noé Waldmann: Who wins, who loses: these are the 10 biggest shopping temples. In: blick.ch. Ringier, May 10, 2019, accessed on August 15, 2020 . 

Coordinates: 47 ° 24 '32 "  N , 8 ° 35' 42.3"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred eighty-seven thousand two hundred eighty-three  /  251541