Bonola Shopping Center Milan, Italy

Bonola is the first shopping center ‘born’ in the town of Milan, while the other previous shopping centers were all out of the borders of the town.

THE QUARTER
Bonola lies in a quarter of the outskirts of the town, at the north west of Milan, not far from the soccer stadium.
You can easily find it, because Bonola is also a stop of the red line, the oldest line, of the underground.
The center lies quite in the ...
...entrance of the center.
Bonola exists since 1988, and I saw its development from the beginning, because I live at approximately one hundred meters from it.

So, if you want, you should came with me to visit this shopping center: I’m sure it is something quite different from the shopping centers in your country.

THE SHOPPING CENTER
The shopping center is composed from a great number of shops and offices (200 ... more

Bonola is the first shopping center ‘born’ in the town of Milan, while the other previous shopping centers were all out of the borders of the town.

THE QUARTER
Bonola lies in a quarter of the outskirts of the town, at the north west of Milan, not far from the soccer stadium.
You can easily find it, because Bonola is also a stop of the red line, the oldest line, of the underground.
The center lies quite in the middle between two underground stops, Bonola and Uruguay, but it due its name to Bonola, because this stop is a little nearer to the main entrance of the center.
Bonola exists since 1988, and I saw its development from the beginning, because I live at approximately one hundred meters from it.

So, if you want, you should came with me to visit this shopping center: I’m sure it is something quite different from the shopping centers in your country.

THE SHOPPING CENTER
The shopping center is composed from a great number of shops and offices (200 or more), and an hypermarket called Coop.
Aesthetically the building is very modern, all made from big panel of steel, that look like great mirrors.
The building has two floors, and it is linked with social service offices, and a library.
On the second floor there are offices, a medical center, a dentist’s surgery and two banks, while at the first floor there is the core of the center, with the shops, the hypermarket, the restaurants and two department stores.
Entering the center coming from the directions of Bonola’s underground stop, you’ll find a moving staircase that will take you into the center in itself.

THE SHOPS
Now, turning your head on your left, you can see a greengrocer that sells only early vegetables and early fruits, good product, but at a really exaggerate prices.

Just at its side there is a Chinese take away, and if you want we should have a break there, to eat something. The proprietor is a friend of mine, as I frequent this take away since its opening, and I’m completely satisfied from prices, variety and quality. The only thing that you can’t eat here are soups, but that’s quite obvious!

Then there is an Omnitel/Wind handy shop. It isn’t a big shop, but it has a wide choice of cellular phones of various prices and brands: we should stop to look to the articles shown in the window, but I can0t tell you to buy something in this shop, do you know? The proprietor is really impolite.

The third shop is an herbalist one: the appearance is really catching, but I must advice you: in the past a lot of people have had problems with wrong, when not unsafe, remedies prepared in this shop….

The fourth shop at your left is a wonderful bakery, always crowded, that offers a wide choice of pizzas, buns, salt cakes, sweet cakes, cookies and, of course, bread. They prepare all by themselves, and I can assure you that cookies and pizzas deliver to be tested!

Now, if you look at your right you’ll see a craftsman shop, where you can repair the soles and the hells of your shoes, or have a copy of a key in a real time.

Just after it you’ll find ‘Paolino’ a fried food shop that sells fried chickens (please, don’t buy them: they have a wonderful appearance, but they are completely tasteless) and chips, and a small variety of sandwiches.

Near Paolino there is a delicatessen seller, where you can find a wide choice of fresh hand made pasta (they sell also ready to eat dishes, like lasagnas and ravioli) and a wide choice of typical Italian cheeses, liquors and wines. The shop is really pretty, and it sells really a good quality range of products, but their prices aren’t so affordable.

At the end of this part of the center there is a bar: Would you like a drink? We should sit just in front of the panoramic window…

Along the central corridor of the shopping center you can find at your left the hypermarket, and at your right the other shops.

Just at the beginning of the corridor there is a crystal shop, but it really is nothing special: high prices and a wide choice of knick-knacks, but no quality products at all.

The shop just after this one is ‘MelaVerde’ that’s, in my opinion, a really bad shop, with articles that have absolutely no quality at all. I visited it and I found that the majority of clothes were faulty, with broken seams or failed zippers. The clothes are really awful, also from the aesthetical way, and made with materials of bad quality. Of course the prices are really cheap.

Than you can find ‘Libri e cose’: a wonderful bookshop were you can find both Italian and foreign books, a good choice of stationery articles and a wide number of table and solitaire games. They also sell a great number of articles that fit well for a gift, like uncommon t-shirts, plushes, agendas, calendars, and other uncommon articles.

Just after the bookshop there is a shop of the Computer discount’ chain, (they don’t deserve a visit: they sell quite only Play Station’s Games, a very small choice of PC games and programs but they have dear prices and they aren’t able to offer the service), that chain is well known in Italy for it’s… very bad reputation.

At the side of the PC shop there is an optician: a small shop with a quite wide choice of the most common glasses brands. In this shop you can find some bargain prices and good offers, especially for sun glasses. The salesmen are very qualified and polite.

Now you are at the center of the building, and you have a junction just beyond you: if you go straight ahead you’ll find (always at your left) a wonderful, small shop that sells men and women underwear, and sexy lingerie. The price aren’t cheap, but the articles, especially for women, are of an upper quality!

Just after this small lingerie shop you’ll find two world known franchisers: Footlocker and Benetton, that certainly need no presentation at all!

After these two shops, you’ll find a smaller sport wear retailer: a shop I dislike completely. They have only a small choice of brands of a medium and low quality, and the prices are too high.

Now, if you keep going straight ahead, you’ll find Moede, a stylist shop that sells only women garments: they have very modern articles, that fits especially for young and very sophisticated ladies. The prices are, of course, very high, like those of all the stylists!

If you cross the corridor you’ll find, just in front of Moede another women clothes shops, but this one has only articles especially teenagers for, at reasonable prices. It is specialized in jeans and casual clothes and, if you like this style, you’ll find that models are really pretty.

Now you are arrived at the end of the corridor, that opens in a sort of small square: just in front of you, you can see the other entrance and besides it a big shop of the ‘Media world’ chain, that sells electrical household appliances.

In front of Media world there is a little pizzeria, that I never frequented, because the prices are a little exaggerate.

Turning back, you’ll have on your right a shopping moll of the Upim chain, where you can find clothes, underwear, body care products and fragrances. Upim sells clothes and underwears of medium/low quality, while among the body care products and the fragrances, you can also find some valuable brands. The prices are a little too dear in comparison with the quality of the items.

Just at the side of Upim you’ll find a self service restaurant that offers a small choice of dishes, but always different from day to day, and of a good quality. You can eat there with approx. 7.00/10,00 Euros, and it’s good value for money.

Beside the self service there is a MacDonald, …a chain I think you know as well as me!

You are now in the center of the little internal square, and if you turn back you’ll see a pet shop specialized in fishes.

At the right side of MacDonald you’ll find Gusella, one of the most important brand in the Italian shoe market. They are specialized in children shoes, from newborns on. They have only leather shoes of an upper quality (also hand made shoes), but I must admit that the prices are something fool: you pay the quality of the item, but above all you pay the name of the brand.

Near Gusella you’ll find the second department store: the Brico. This chain of department stores is specialized in bricolage, and you can find all you need to do small and more important work in a house. They also have a good choice of gardening products. In a Brico you can find also furniture, but remember that you must assemble them personally!

Now, if you want to buy a men or women fragrance at a bargain price, you can enter this big perfumery shop, situated just after the Brico, where you can find both the most fine fragrances and the most common ones. This in really an imposing shop, but it is also the newest shop of the center, and I have never visited it.

Our tour is fairly finished, we have just another shop to visit…. It is a men clothes shop of the chain called ‘Celio’ (Do you have this chain in the UK? I know that Celio is present on the German market…), they sell shirts, pulls, jackets, T-shirts and trousers; all the items are casual style, but they are, in my opinion, really pretty. I sometimes buy shirts here, because they are suitable both for men and women, as they have pasted colors. The prices are reasonable and the quality is O.K.

Now we are in front of the entrance of the Coop hypermarket: our tour is finished… if you want to visit the hypermarket tell it to me, and we will find the time to visit it on the occasion!

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Of course in the Bonola commercial center there are also other shops, like two more bars, a chemistry, another cellular shop, a photo shop, a CD shop, a tobacconist, a bank, a Vendoro shop, a hand made pasta shop, a kiosk... and much more, but what I tried to do is just to give you an overall idea of this place and of its most important shops.

I hope this virtual tour wasn’t too boring for you.
In any case, I promise that, if you'll have the possibility to come here and you need a 'touristic guide' for this shopping center, I'm at your disposal!
 

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