The Zlín center Golden Apple opened to visitors

Zlín - The newly opened shopping and entertainment center Golden Apple in Zlín welcomed its first visitors today. Most of the more than 70 stores are already in operation, and this evening the Golden Apple Cinema will also start screening films. The preparation of the center's project began back in 2006. The entire construction cost the investor, Rein Holding company, more than 700 million crowns.
    "The preparation phase in the last week was very demanding," said Jiří Kratochvíl, the center's director, to ČTK today. "There are a lot of operational details that will hopefully get sorted out over the week, but according to the visitors' reactions, it looks very good," he added.
    The four-story building, located in the busiest part of the city and connecting Míru Square with Dlouhá Street, offers visitors not only stores with textiles, cosmetics, or sports goods but also a variety of restaurants, bars, and hair salons. The construction is also remarkable in that it incorporates part of the historical building of the former Civic Savings Bank.
    "It's good that the shopping center is located right in the center of Zlín, which I think will especially be appreciated by older people and those without cars," claims one visitor. "On the other hand, I don't like the building; I don't think it fits the architecture of Zlín's center," she added. "People will get used to it. Zlín is not such a big city, and they will have everything nearby," shared another visitor.
    The center also includes a multiplex cinema with six halls with capacity for nearly 1,000 spectators. The cinema will start operating this evening with a screening of the film "U mě dobrý" by Jan Hřebejk, while for the youngest viewers, the organizers have prepared a program of fairy tales for this morning. More than 25 screenings will be prepared daily for visitors to the multiplex, and the traditional International Film Festival for Children and Youth will also take place in its halls this year.
    The shopping center premises will be open to visitors, considering the operating hours of some stores and the multiplex, from seven in the morning until midnight. Most shops will be open from nine to 9 PM.
    With a sales area of more than 13,000 square meters, Golden Apple is the largest shopping center in the Zlín Region. The complex also includes a parking garage with a capacity of over 240 spaces. The center's building was constructed by PSJ company, which identified it as one of the largest projects it has realized in Moravia so far.