Epicenter opens EPILAND with the largest VR park in Ukraine
4 April 2025 13:03
With the opening of the second stage of the Epicenter shopping mall in Chabany, a new family leisure park Epiland will start operating. It will be implemented in the “Magic Forest” concept with the largest virtual reality zone in Ukraine, exclusive attractions and a large playground, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
The second stage of the Epicenter shopping mall at 8 Odeske Shosse is scheduled to be launched on April 5. On this day, the mall will open shops of the shopping gallery tenants, a food court with well-known restaurants and a large family leisure park EPILAND. The latter will occupy 5000 sq. m. of space and will be implemented in a new thematic concept.
“When developing the concept of the EPILAND amusement park in Chabany, we aimed to immerse the visitor in a magical world. This is our second project, and we followed the general theme of the entertainment chain – “Travel in space and time”, where each new park is a teleporter to a separate world. The new EPILAND is implemented in the Magic Forest concept. Here, the visitor finds himself in another dimension, a fairy-tale world where magical flowers and trees grow, giant butterflies and dragonflies fly, where everything is mysterious, beautiful and modern,” explained Kateryna Cherniak, director of the EPILAND network.
According to her, when developing the concept, the company took into account global trends and the competitive environment, focusing on unique entertainment products. In particular, the country’s largest virtual reality zone with exclusive simulators will be implemented in Chabany. For example, there will be a Formula 1 car with a virtual racing simulation, an original steering wheel and a real pilot’s seat, motorcycle and street racing simulations, fighter jet flight, sea adventures, a VR cinema with special effects, and other virtual entertainment.
Another large area of the park will be a 1500 sq. m. playground with mazes, trampolines, a ninja park, a climbing wall, a zone of consoles and interactive games, tubing, carousels and climbing walls for the youngest visitors.
Other attractions include a prize-themed shooting range, a racetrack with led cars, the latest slot and redemption machines, a swing with a waterfall and a giant butterfly, laser tag, paintball, hydroball, and the Magic Forest attraction, where visitors can go on an adventure quest with tests of agility, logic, and strength.
With the launch of the second stage, Epicenter will have a rental gallery with Sinsay (1130 sqm), Foxtrot (1022 sqm), Victoria’s Store (95 sqm), FAMO (76 sqm), Brabrabra (50 sqm), Secunda 32 (sqm), Bukva (75 sqm), Luxoptica (63 sqm), Tusso (16 sqm) and other well-known chains. In addition, the mall will significantly expand the offer of catering facilities.
The 600 sq m Pesto Family Italian restaurant chain, with which the company has successfully cooperated in its first family leisure park, will operate within EPILAND. Additionally, another food court will open next to the shopping gallery, where Lviv Croissants (52 sq. m), Menya Musashi (69 sq. m), Mr Grill (52 sq. m), Merry Berry (29 sq. m) and Brewsel coffee shop (26 sq. m) will operate.
“With the opening of the second phase, we expect the key performance indicators of Epicenter in Chabany to grow due to the synergy of Epicenter’s shopping formats, tenant stores and an exclusive family leisure park. Additional areas for recreation, entertainment and gastronomy will help create a comfortable space for visitors to stay for a long time, and this will have a positive impact on the turnover of all participants in the ecosystem of the company’s first shopping mall,” said Kateryna Vesna, Head of Development Department at Epicenter.
The first stage of the Epicenter shopping mall in Chabany village was opened in September last year. The two-storey shopping center with a total area of more than 96,000 sqm was opened with all the retail formats of the Epicenter chain: Food Market (3000 sqm), Lapki pet store (400 sqm), Intersport sports supermarket (1500 sqm), E.Pic children’s store (1600 sqm), Tse Te electronics and home appliances supermarket (1500 sqm), Deco Gallery home and household goods (2600 sqm) and others.
As part of the project, the company has also implemented a summer playground with its own lake and an artificial waterfall, which will be used for holidays and festivals of wine, cheese, ice cream, etc. in the warm season. To ensure the safety of visitors, a large underground parking lot was built under the mall, which will serve as a reliable shelter in case of air raids.
