Lavish Malls Sprouting Up to Attract Iranian Elite

Newsha Tavakolian for The New York Times Retail space at Palladium mall is reportedly $330 a square meter. The owner said, We cater to what people desire to do: spending money, buying stuff and enjoying themselves as they shop.

TEHRAN The low rumble of powerful engines reverberated against the high-rises of Zaferanieh, an upmarket neighborhood, as Porsches and Mercedes lined up to enter the multistory parking lot of a fancy new shopping mall, the Palladium, the latest addition to Tehrans shopping scene.

Iran may be facing a dangerous economic abyss, with an empty treasury, historically low oil prices and the continuing damage of Western economic sanctions, but one indicator is going through the roof: Developers have broken ground on a record 400 shopping malls across the country, 65 in Tehran alone.

In part, the malls are a lagging indicator, a testament to a not-so-distant past when Iran was raking in record oil profits, earning more than $700 billion in the last decade. Awash in money, with a relatively strong currency, Iranians developed a taste for luxury, setting off a boom in construction projects to host new shopping experiences.

But the mall-building boom also reflects other factors, as construction and investment companies affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards Corps and the police have led the way.

Under sanctions, with nowhere else to invest, building shopping malls is the only lucrative business in Iran, said Jamshid Edalatian, an economist. The Guards, the police and other institutions are the ones who have money, so it is logical for them to invest in what makes a profit.

Together with banks, wealthy individuals and powerful foundations, tax-exempt organizations that are supposed to care for the poor, Irans security forces are building malls with Western-sounding names such as Rose, Mega Mall and Atlas Plaza. Their bright neon letters stand in sharp contrast to the revolutionary slogans painted on murals in surrounding neighborhoods, labeling consumerism a Western illness and taboo under Irans rigid ideology.

Newsha Tavakolian for The New York Times Kouroosh mall in Tehran has several cinemas and Western shops.

Not so long ago, shopping in revolutionary Iran was a dull experience, with hole-in-the-wall stores offering the same clothes, electronics and furniture. Shopping was considered a necessary evil meant to support a life of religious piety. Commercials, once banned on state television and billboards, are now allowed, but only for Iranian products.

The new malls represent a departure from all this. Customers can stroll past Nike and Massimo Dutti stores, order freshly baked baguettes in the ground level supermarket or work out at the penthouse gym overlooking the city and its majestic Alborz mountain range.

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Lavish Malls Sprouting Up to Attract Iranian Elite