Nordstan


Nordstan is a shopping centre in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is the largest shopping centre in Gothenburg with approximately 180 shops and 150 offices. The shopping centre's total area is about divided into nine interconnected buildings, where retail and restaurant floor space makes up around. The covered streets and squares comprise. The companies housed in Nordstan employ approximately six thousand people and the total annual turnover was SEK 4.1 billion in 2013. The main passageways in the centre are public spaces and therefore are open for use after shops have closed. The character of the centre changes after closing time of the shops. The presence of adults is drastically reduced and the premises become a hangout for youth.

History

The construction of Nordstan began in 1967, over a part of the city previously neglected. The area was called Östra Nordstan, as it was located north of the Great Canal and east of the Östra Hamngatan street, in opposite to Västra Nordstan located west of that street. Östra Nordstan was shortened to Nordstan when the shopping centre was opened. Most of the current Nordstan was finished by 1972. At its time, the construction of the shopping centre was Sweden's largest ever city renovation project. In the last few years Nordstan has gone through a major renovation to make it more attractive.
Nordstan was for some time a hangout for street children with foreign backgrounds, from the suburbs of Gothenburg and from outside Sweden, after the shops close at night. These gangs threatened shop keepers, traded drugs and fought with other gangs in the centre. Many of the unaccompanied minors hanging in the shopping centre have had several asylum applications rejected.

Location and transportation

Nordstan is located in Gothenburg's city centre, connected to the Gothenburg Central Station and the Nils Ericson Terminal by an underground pedestrian tunnel, and to the Lilla Bommen marina and the Gothenburg Opera house by sheltered walkways. The shopping centre also offers parking space to 2,700 cars. Just outside Nordstan are three different tram stops on three sides of the shopping center, making it easy to reach Nordstan by public transportation. A majority of the visitors use public transportation. If almost all of the visitors had used cars, around 8,000 parking places would be needed and this would need more parking space area than shop area.