Centro Comercial Arkadia is the newest mall in Medellín located in the Belén comuna of Medellín. This new mall opened on November 13, 2019 with promotions in several of the stores.
This new mall is expected to be popular since it’s the only Western-style mall in the part of Belén west of the Olaya Herrera Airport. In addition, this new mall is located across the street from PriceSmart. I went to this mall on the first day it opened and it was packed with people.
I used to live in the Loma de los Bernal barrio of Belén, which is near this new mall. When I lived in Loma de los Bernal, I used to take taxis to shop at Los Molinos mall but this new Arkadia mall is closer. The new mall is within walking distance from Loma de los Bernal.
Inside Arkadia mall
More About Arkadia Mall
The Cimento consortium, which is a partnership between the Guatemalan investment firm Spectrum and the local company Amarilo, resulted in a new shopping mall in Medellín with 538,196 square feet (50,000 square meters) of space.
The new mall is located in Belén, which was considered underserved with malls with only one mall (Los Molinos) in the largest comuna in Medellín. Belén has a population of about 200,000 compared to about 133,000 in El Poblado.
Arkadia Mall
This is the second mall of this consortium, after having opened the Fontanar mall, on the outskirts of Bogotá. The new Arkadia mall in Medellín reportedly required an investment of 480,000 million pesos ($139 million USD). This new mall is what could be called a regional mall.
Inside Arkadia mall
The Shops in Arkadia Mall
The anchor tenants of the mall include Cinemark, Decathlon, Euro, Falabella, Ktronix and Smart Fit. The Cinemark and Decathlon were not open on the opening day of the mall. In addition, the mall has a total of about 160 shops of all types.
The shops and businesses in the mall include male and female fashion, children’s and youth clothing, footwear, sporting goods, furniture and decoration, lingerie, opticians and fast food places. And the mall has five floors.
The Falabella store in Arkadia mall
Falabella Department Store in Arkadia Mall
Falabella is a large U.S.-style department store that sells a wide range of items including appliances, clothing, computers and electronics, furnishings, furniture, sports equipment and many other things. In addition, you can find many imported brands at Falabella.
Falabella is based in Chile and reportedly has over 90 department stores located in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru. In Colombia, Falabella has 26 stores located in 11 cities. And in Medellín, Falabella only three stores, which are located in the San Diego, Santafé and Arkadia malls.
Also, Falabella has its own credit card, CMR Falabella, with more than 5.5 million cardholders in Latin America.
You can sometimes find good prices on computers in Falabella. For example, I purchased an iMac in the San Diego Falabella store a few years ago for less than the cost for the exact same model listed on Apple’s website at the time. The iMac was on sale and taxes and import duties don’t apply to lower costs computers in Colombia.
Falabella is also a good place to buy higher thread-count sheets that can be difficult to find in most other stores in Medellín.
Cinemark opens in December 2019
Movies at Cinemark in the Mall
The Cinemark movie theater in the new Arkadia mall hasn’t opened yet. It plans to open in December 2019 with nine screens.
The first location of Cinemark in Colombia opened in 1999 and is located in the El Tesoro mall. Since that time, Cinemark has grown to a total of 35 movie theaters in Colombia with a total of 188 screens.
This movie theater chain has movie theaters located in Armenia, Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cúcata, Ibagué, Ipiales, Manizales, Medellín, Monteria, Neiva, Palmira, Pasto, Pereira, Santa Marta, Soacha, Tunja, Valledupar and Villavicencio.
For 17,900 pesos you can get Cinemark Gold Gold card that gives you discounts on Cinemark movie tickets and discounts on food.
The Euro Supermercado on the bottom floor of the mall
Euro Supermercado in Arkadia
Euro Supermercado is one of the grocery store chains you can find in Medellín. The Euro grocery chain was founded in 2001 with its first store in Central Mayorista in Itagüí.
There are several other Euro grocery stores in the metro area including two in Envigado, two in Belén, one in El Pobaldo, one in Laureles, one in Sabaneta, one in Bello and one in Central Mayorista in Itagüí.
Ktronix in Arkadia mall
Ktronix in Arkadia Mall
Ktronix is a chain of stores in Colombia that is somewhat similar to a Best Buy in the U.S. The Ktronix chain of stores sells electronics including audio equipment, cameras, cellphones, computers, televisions and videogames as well as home appliances.
Ktronix frequently has sales, which are advertised on its website and in flyers. For example, it is currently advertising the sale of a LG 43” LED TV normally priced at 2,099,900 pesos for only 1,199,900 pesos.
In Medellín, Ktronix has two stores located in El Poblado on Avenida Poblado and in El Tesoro mall and in the new Arkadia mall in Belén. It also has 11 stores in Bogotá, one in Bucaramanga, one in Cali and one in Villavicencio.
The Smart Fit is above the food court
Smart Fit in Arkadia Mall
Smart Fit is a Brazil-based fitness chain that expanded to Colombia with the help of MAS FIT and Grupo Bio Ritmo. The Smart Fit in Arkadia mall is located on the sixth floor.
The “Plan Smart” membership at Smart Fit costs 90,000 pesos to sign up and 59,900 pesos per month plus an annual maintenance of 89,000 pesos. This plan provides access to a single location.
And the “Plan Black” membership at Smart Fit costs 45,000 pesos to sign up and 69,900 pesos per month plus an annual maintenance of 89,000 pesos. This plan provides access to all Smart Fit locations and permits you to invite a friend.
In Medellín, Smart Fit has 10 locations plus an additional three locations in Envigado, two in Itagüí, one in Bello and one in Sabaneta. So, it has 17 locations in the metro area.
Smart Fit reportedly has a total of over 50 locations in Colombia with additional locations in Barranquilla, Bogotá, Cartagena, Cali, Ibaqué, Manizales, Montería, Neiva, Palmira and Popayán.
The food court on the fifth floor
Arkadia Mall Food Options
Arkadia mall has a large food court on the fifth floor. And there are over 20 fast food places in the mall. On opening day, not all the food spaces were open yet.
Fast food options in the mall include Bonanza Parrilla, Burger King, Dogger, El Corral, Frisby, KFC, Mis Carnes, Montolivo, Papa John’s, Sarku Japan, Sr. Wok, Subway and Tacohouse.
Crepes & Waffles in the new mall
In addition, there is a Juan Valdez Café in the mall. And there are several restaurants in the mall including Chef Burger, Crepes & Waffles, Il Forno, Lenos y Carbon, Romero, Sushi Market and Wajaca.
How to Get to Centro Comercial Arkadia
The new Arkadia Mall is located on the west side of the Olaya Herrera Airport and is near Clínicas Las Américas and is located across the street from PriceSmart. I used to live nearby when I lived in the Loma de los Bernal barrio in Belén.
Some taxi drivers in Medellín will know where this new mall is located. If not give them the address below or tell them “Cerca Clínicas Las Américas”. And it’s also fairly easy to catch a taxi on the streets on either side of the mall.
Website: https://www.arkadiacentrocomercial.com/
Address: Carrera 70 #1-141, Belén, Medellín
Telephone: +57 (4) 590 7070
Hours: Monday – Saturday: 10 am – 9 pm; Sunday and Holidays: 11 am – 8 pm.
The Most Popular Malls in Medellín
Several readers of Medellin Guru have asked for information about the malls in the Medellín metro area.
So, we have provided up-to-date guides to the 14 best and largest malls in the Medellín metro area in a series on this website:
- Viva Envigado – one of the newest malls in the Aburrá Valley located in Envigado, which is reportedly the largest mall in Colombia
- Santafé – one of the largest malls in Medellín located in El Poblado
- Mayorca Mega Plaza – a popular mall in Sabaneta with several outlet shops
- El Tesoro – Medellín’s popular mall with a view in El Poblado
- Premium Plaza – one of Medellín’s largest shopping malls with entertainment on the third floor
- Puerta del Norte – the largest and most popular mall in Bello
- Arkadia – the newest mall in Medellín and the nicest mall in Belén
- Los Molinos – the oldest Western-style mall in Belén
- Oviedo – the oldest mall in El Poblado.
- San Diego – the oldest mall in Medellín.
- Unicentro – the largest and most popular mall in Laureles-Estadio
- Monterrey – Medellín’s technology mall in El Poblado
- Florida Parque – the only Western-style mall in the Robledo comuna in Medellín
- La Central – the only Western-style mall in the Buenos Aires comuna in Medellín
Also, we included Arkadia in our article about the 14 best malls in Medellín.
Arkadia mall on the PriceSmart side of the mall
The Bottom Line: Centro Comercial Arkadia – the Newest Mall in Medellín
Centro Comerical Arkadia is the newest mall in Medellín. And it’s a very nice mall with a Cinemark (opening soon) for movies, Decathlon (opening soon) for sporting goods, Euro for groceries, Falabella and many fast food and restaurant options.
In addition, it has big selection of shops with about 160 shops. Also, it should be a popular mall as it’s the only mall in the area of Belén west of Olaya Herrera Airport.
However, this new mall is mainly a local mall with customers expected to come primarily from the nearby area of Belén. It’s not really a destination mall like Santafé or El Tesoro malls in El Poblado, Viva Envigado in Envigado or Mayorca Mega Plaza in Sabaneta.
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