Vala Centrum
Väla Centrum is a shopping mall located in southern Sweden just outside of Helsingborg. Been planing on writing about it for a long time now but have not been able to find anything useful - until now. This is the mall I grew up with. Many many Friday evenings and Saturdays were spent here when I traveled there going shopping with my family as a kid back in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Väla Centrum was built in 1974 and was at its opening the largest shopping center in southern Sweden with 20 stores, two large "anchor stores" (Wessels and Obs!), a restaurant and a cafe. The three photos below were found on a postcard dating back the late 1970s. Pay attention to the cool interior and color scheme, not forgetting the birdcage and "fountain" under it! This mall truly took its inspiration from the American malls that was built in the 1960s. I have never seen any other mall in Sweden which has or have had a birdcage. I actually remembering seeing canaries in it too until the late 1980s when they for one reason or another decided to remove them. The bird sculpture is namned "Fågeln" (The bird) and was created by artist Bertil Valliens. It still stands there today, but at another location (see bottom of the post for a photograph).
However a large addition was added in 1997 making the mall almost unrecognizable and a few years later they decided to remove the anchor stores and convert the space into store space for smaller shops. The only things that remind us now of its past are the groovy orange light fixtures seen below, although now in a different color scheme and with other lamps, and the bird cage. On the outside you can still see the brown 1970s brick walls, although now mostly covered with signs and added glass walls. There are also rumors that they are going to extend the mall with another 41.000 squaremeters of new store space, removing the old courtyard with its fountains and thus making the mall truly unrecognizable.
If you have any memories or comments about this mall, let them be heard in the comments section please.
The now gone "fontain" with the birdcage in its original location.
The "square". Pay attention to the groovy light fixtures and the color scheme.
One of the original Anchor stores "Wessels". Later turned into B&W (Bra & Wessels)
The birdcage as it looks today. New location, but very boring looking.
Väla Centrum was built in 1974 and was at its opening the largest shopping center in southern Sweden with 20 stores, two large "anchor stores" (Wessels and Obs!), a restaurant and a cafe. The three photos below were found on a postcard dating back the late 1970s. Pay attention to the cool interior and color scheme, not forgetting the birdcage and "fountain" under it! This mall truly took its inspiration from the American malls that was built in the 1960s. I have never seen any other mall in Sweden which has or have had a birdcage. I actually remembering seeing canaries in it too until the late 1980s when they for one reason or another decided to remove them. The bird sculpture is namned "Fågeln" (The bird) and was created by artist Bertil Valliens. It still stands there today, but at another location (see bottom of the post for a photograph).
However a large addition was added in 1997 making the mall almost unrecognizable and a few years later they decided to remove the anchor stores and convert the space into store space for smaller shops. The only things that remind us now of its past are the groovy orange light fixtures seen below, although now in a different color scheme and with other lamps, and the bird cage. On the outside you can still see the brown 1970s brick walls, although now mostly covered with signs and added glass walls. There are also rumors that they are going to extend the mall with another 41.000 squaremeters of new store space, removing the old courtyard with its fountains and thus making the mall truly unrecognizable.
If you have any memories or comments about this mall, let them be heard in the comments section please.
The now gone "fontain" with the birdcage in its original location.
The "square". Pay attention to the groovy light fixtures and the color scheme.
One of the original Anchor stores "Wessels". Later turned into B&W (Bra & Wessels)
The birdcage as it looks today. New location, but very boring looking.
Posted at 9:51 PM | 10 comments | links to this post 
My name is Chris and I live in Sweden. I love the 50s and 60s lifestyle and design. I am very fascinated by the architecture of the period too, for instance googie, modernism, the work of Joseph Eichler, John Lautner and Arne Jacobsen's international style. I have a large archive with space-age, library, bossa, cocktail, retro soundtracks and exotica music. I also believe that things were better in the old days.
