The Mall Athens is a shopping mall in Athens, Greece. It was the first of the kind to be constructed in Greece and one of the largest shopping and leisure centres in Southeastern Europe. The Mall Athens is located close to the Athens Olympic Stadium in the suburb of Maroussi and was opened to the public on November 25th, 2005. It has approximately 200 outlets for commercial and entertainment use, spread over four levels, and covers about 58.500 square meters with 90.000 square meters of underground space. Built under the pretext of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, its construction and operation have evolved into one of the biggest Greek scandals of the last decade involving real-estate, construction and commercial corporations, heads of government, ministers, mayors and the media. Its main competitors in the region of Attica are the Golden Hall,the Avenue,the Athens Heart,the River West and mainly the Athens Metro Mall. Visitor information The Mall provides access for handicapped persons and has a play area for children, along with a babysitting service and a special children’s care area. It also has a first-aid area. Automated teller machines are available. Opening hours are Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Restaurants, cafes and cinemas are open Monday to Sunday until the early hours, while parking areas operate from 9 a.m. to 3 a.m. The Mall’s Third Level houses a Village Cinema multiplex, an amusement park and a restaurant/food court area, which is open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Help desk, which can be found on the entrance, is open from 8.30 a.m. until 2 p.m. Access The Mall can be accessed by metro and suburban railway networks (Nerantziotissa station), as well as by the Attiki Odos highway. The Mall Athens controversy The Olympic Games pretext A sign outside The Mall reads: “Olympic Media Village”. That’s because The Mall is an Olympic project that was, nevertheless, inaugurated a full year after the Games (the Media Village was meant to provide accommodation to foreign journalists). Before the Olympics, the site currently occupied by the shopping center was grazing land for sheep. However, major road and rail infrastructure projects turned it into a prime piece of real-estate. The site belonged to the state and was meant for social housing. Instead, it was sold at a discount to Lamda Development, the Latsis Group subsidiary which