Shopping centre Saulės miestas celebrated its 5th anniversary

The shopping centre Saulės miestas (the City of the Sun) opened its doors in 2007. It was the first multifunctional complex in North Lithuania and the first shopping centre in Lithuania with an integrated modern bus terminal. E.L.L. Real Estate, the owner of the City of the Sun invested 80 million litas in the construction of the new shopping centre.

The City of the Sun comprises a lot of shops, offers a wide range of services and plenty of places to spend leisure time. For the joy of the citizens of Šiauliai, 110 shops and restaurants have been opened in the contemporary shopping centre.

The complex is in a convenient location right in the heart of the town and it has easy access from different parts of the town. Since the shopping centre integrates a bus terminal, also citizens of other towns gladly visit the City of the Sun.

Within the five years 30 million people have visited the City of the Sun. The shopping centre receives about 126,000 visitors a week which is more than there were citizens of Šiauliai in 2011 (according to the Statistical Office – 113,143). Every sixth citizen of Šiauliai stops by the shopping centre on a daily basis. In the social network Facebook the City of the Sun has more than 13,000 fans.

During 5–12 March 2012 the shopping centre Saulės miestas celebrated its fifth anniversary with a “Fairy-Tale Anniversary”. The diversity and profusion of events taking place was a pleasant surprise for the citizens of Šiauliai.

More than 160,000 people visited the shopping centre during the anniversary week. Every day had its own theme, different attractions and shows. The most famous Lithuanian artists – the magician Arvydas Stonys and the wizard Mantas Wizard – gave performances in the afternoons. The visitors had an opportunity to watch circus shows, performances of oriental dancers and Flint the Pirate, and the Šiauliai choir gave a concert. The entire shopping centre was decorated with spring flowers and the sales clerks greeted visitors dressed in special anniversary items – scarves.

Throughout all these five years the shopping centre has been socially helpful and obliging and has been on the same page with the city’s community – the complex has supported the undergraduate choir of the city of Šiauliai and with students of the Šiauliai University has carried out various initiatives, and cooperated with the international folk music festival “Saulės žiedas”.

The shopping centre has also surprised the citizens of Šiauliai with initiatives which require active participation and the unity of the community and which are inspiring and keep the entire family busy: setting a record within the campaign “The most bicycles on the roof”, selecting the best school in Šiauliai, photo sessions for families, selecting publicity figures from among ordinary citizens of Šiauliai, various animal and art exhibitions.

The shopping centre is continuously changing and expanding – more and more people visit it, the range of goods and services widens, various social campaigns are often organised, different events surprise visitors.

Pleasant surprises are topped with an eloquent slogan “Good purchases. Pleasant meetings”.