Shoppi Tivoli

Shoppi Tivoli is a large shopping centre in Spreitenbach in the Limmattal valley of the canton of Aargau, Switzerland, roughly eight kilometres west of the edge of Zurich. According to German-language Wikipedia it is, by floor area, the largest shopping centre in Switzerland. It opened on 12 March 1970 and was thoroughly renewed and repositioned in 2010, with a further revitalisation completed in 2013. The centre was conceived in the context of Switzerland's post-war shopping-centre boom, planned alongside the emerging motorway network. Its design is associated with the architect and planner Victor Gruen, the Austrian-born theorist of the shopping centre who had emigrated to the United States. The original concept combined retail with leisure and residential uses: supermarkets of the major Swiss distributors as anchors, dozens of specialist shops along a central promenade, restaurants, bowling alleys and a fitness club, plus high-rise residential towers and a public indoor swimming pool built at the developer's expense. Today Shoppi Tivoli presents itself as a modern, family-friendly destination. Its official website describes national and international brands across 160 shops, a mall flooded with daylight after the 2013 revitalisation, and barrier-free access for people with disabilities, older visitors and customers with small children. Services include free WiFi in the malls, cash machines and a crypto ATM, gift cards valid in all 160 shops and restaurants (with some exceptions) as well as in the shops of the Limmatpark, a home-delivery service for purchases, personal shopping, a children's paradise and extensive parking. The centre is operated by Tivoli Real Estate Management AG, which is named as the contracting party for the home-delivery service. Shoppi Tivoli positions itself as a regional shopping and leisure hub for the Limmattal and the western Zurich area, combining everyday retail, dining, services and events under one roof.

The origins of Shoppi Tivoli lie in the Swiss shopping-centre debate of the late 1950s. Three weeks after the topic of 'shopping centres' was publicly discussed in June 1957 at the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute in Rüschlikon, it reached the local planning agenda of Spreitenbach. The planner Klaus Scheifele proposed siting a shopping centre in the planned community zone that would go beyond daily fresh-food needs, and the zoning plan approved in 1960 already provided for a shopping centre at that location. Large shopping centres arose in Switzerland in parallel with the construction of the motorway network, at its junctions. The Glatt shopping centre was planned at the same time as the Shoppi, but delays caused by the complex traffic situation and motorway construction meant it opened only five years after the Shoppi. Together these centres durably changed Swiss retailing by removing the distance protection of established commercial shops; by 1967 the system of fixed resale prices for food and luxury goods ('Preisbindung der zweiten Hand') had also fallen, creating the conditions for sharp price competition. On 27 August 1962 representatives of the Zurich firm Agemit appeared before the municipal council with plans for a 'regional shopping centre with entertainment and cultural centre', also requesting permission for later evening closing hours — 9 p.m. in summer and 8 p.m. in winter. This extension of opening hours was approved on 18 February 1963. Because the intended building plot spanned several zones of the 1960 building code, a new partial zoning plan and a guiding plan were required, delaying the start of construction. The municipal assembly approved the necessary special building code on 17 August 1965 with a single opposing vote. Construction proper began in July 1967. At the laying of the foundation stone on 11 October 1967, the municipal president Robert Locher made clear that the large development had not been imposed on the community but corresponded to the clear ideas of its planning specialists and political authorities. The community did not obstruct the project but rather sought concessions, so that for example the indoor swimming pool had to be built at the developer's expense. The guiding plan settled in autumn 1967 envisaged four high-rise buildings around the Shoppi, of which only two were built. The first, a 17-storey tower, was also the reason the opening, initially planned for autumn 1969, had to be postponed to spring 1970, because poor ground conditions required time-consuming pile foundations. The shopping centre in Spreitenbach, one of the first in Switzerland, was perceived by the public of the time as a sight and a cultural phenomenon. The Austrian-born architect and planner Victor Gruen, who had emigrated to the United States, had defined the cornerstones of the shopping-centre system in his visionary publications and lectures, and as architect designed the Spreitenbach centre: unity of living, working, shopping and leisure; avoidance of commuter journeys; combination of commercial with public use; and separation of car, rail and pedestrian traffic onto different levels. Following the English transport planner Colin Buchanan, he placed the pedestrian level above that of cars, thereby separating them. The shopping centre followed at least in approach the classic concept: a central promenade, supermarkets of the major distributors Migros, Søstrene Grene, Manor AG and Denner as customer magnets, and fifty-two lined-up specialist shops. The totality of uses in Spreitenbach — residential high-rises, congress rooms, indoor swimming pool, sports facilities — was meant to form the fitting framework for shopping as a family experience. Attractions and exhibitions reinforced the experiential character. Initially crowds thronged in Spreitenbach even on Sundays, when the shops were closed, to stroll past the shop windows. Seven restaurants, eight bowling alleys and a fitness club underlined the shopping centre's claim to be a holistic leisure and entertainment platform for urban, modern people. It is worth noting that at the time of the Shoppi's opening and the start of construction of the Tivoli, not only was the canton planning to upgrade the existing country road (main road no. 3) into a direction-separated expressway, but between the two buildings on that road the possibility of a terminus of the extended Kloten–Dietikon line of the Zurich underground was also under discussion. The first promoter of Spreitenbach was the Swiss retail pioneer Karl Schweri, who from 1962 had built up Switzerland's first discount chain under the Denner brand. Schweri hired the young lawyer Jacques Müller (later founder and head of the Intershop group). Müller had founded several real-estate funds (Interswiss, Interglobe) and was sent by Schweri to France and the United States to study the new sales format of shopping centres and to buy retail properties for the funds. The Investment Fund Act that came into force in 1966, however, ruined Schweri's business before the plans in Spreitenbach could take concrete shape; under pressure from the major banks a return... [source text truncated]. The centre opened on 12 March 1970. In 2010 it was thoroughly renewed and repositioned, and a revitalisation completed in 2013 gave the mall more daylight and barrier-free access. Today the centre is operated by Tivoli Real Estate Management AG and presents 160 shops and restaurants, a gift-card programme, a home-delivery service and a range of family and lifestyle services.

• 2013

  Revitalisation completed, bringing more daylight into the mall and barrier-free access.

• 2010

  Centre thoroughly renewed and repositioned.

• 1970

  Shoppi Tivoli opens on 12 March.

• 1967

  Construction begins in July; foundation stone laid on 11 October.

• 1965

  Municipal assembly approves the special building code with a single opposing vote.

• 1963

  Extended evening opening hours approved (9 p.m. summer, 8 p.m. winter).

• 1962

  Representatives of the Zurich firm Agemit present plans for a regional shopping centre with entertainment and cultural centre.

• 1960

  Spreitenbach zoning plan approved, already providing for a shopping centre at the site.

• 1957

  Shopping centres publicly debated at the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute; the topic reaches Spreitenbach's local planning agenda.

Switzerland's largest shopping centre by floor area, positioned as a family-friendly regional retail and leisure destination in the Limmattal with national and international brands, services and events.

• Gift card

  Digital gift cards valid in all 160 shops and restaurants of Shoppi Tivoli (excluding Post, banks, SBB and Lidl) and in the shops of the Limmatpark; loadable from CHF 10 to 250, available at the Center Information or online.

• Home delivery service (Lieferservice)

  Delivery of purchases made at Shoppi Tivoli to home addresses within a defined delivery area (max. 18 km radius), with zone-based fees; orders placed by 12:00 delivered the same day by 18:00.

• Free WiFi

  Free internet access in the malls via one-time registration and SMS activation code.

• Personal Shopping

  Personal shopping service listed among the centre's services.

• Children's paradise

  A children's play area listed among the centre's services.

1. 1Shoppi Tivoli official websiteshoppitivoli.ch
2. 2Lieferservice | Shoppi Tivoli Spreitenbachshoppitivoli.ch
3. 3Infrastruktur | Shoppi Tivoli Spreitenbachshoppitivoli.ch
4. 4Geschenkkarten | Shoppi Tivoli Spreitenbachshoppitivoli.ch
5. 5Shoppi Tivoli – Wikidatawikidata.org
6. 6Shoppi Tivoli – Wikipedia (German)de.wikipedia.org