A Visit to CityStars Mall

We spent most of yesterday out in the Nasr City area with Moody and Mona. They had invited us to come out and look at some of the furniture stores in the City Stars Mall in nearby Heliopolis. Far more than just a mall, City Stars is a major office, hotel and entertainment development in this area near the Cairo International Airport.

While only about fifteen miles away, it seems like much farther in both space and time. Streets in our neighborhood near the pyramids have the feeling of ancient Egypt. Merchants still sell fruits and vegetables from carts and merchandise in tiny shops directed at neighbors or tourists.

It is quite a contrast to walk into City Stars and find a modern shopping center that equals or exceeds any you would find in the U.S. or Europe.


The two major anchors for the mall are a Virgin Megastore and a huge Spinneys hypermarket. We were headed over to Starbucks so that I could pick up some coffee beans but stopped first at Cinnabon. You would recognize many of the restaurants: Chilis, Fuddruckers, Maccaroni Grill, T.G.I. Fridays Ruby Tuesday and even a Rainforest Cafe. Here's the whole list:

There are reportedly over 500 shops including such giants as Guess, Levi and Nine West. There are plenty of local shops including an area of modern shops carrying the usual local crafts and souvenirs. Before we ever got to Starbucks I found this Lebanese Roastery shop with nuts and coffee beans. I bought a pound of beans custom blended and ground in the shop. Good coffee is very hard to come by in Cairo.

We spent the last hour in the Spinney's hypermarket. As we left Spinney's, I was about to head over to Radio Shack when I spotted a sign that made me feel right at home.

Now I had thought "broasted" chicken was almost exclusive to Wisconsin! As it turns out, though, "Broasting" is a trademaked term of the Broaster Company. They are headquartered in Beloit, Wisconsin. I still think there is a Midwest bias to their locations. Via the company's store locator, I found broasted chicken stores in Gordon, Minong and Barnes Wisconsin. Northeast Portland only features six stores within a thirty mile radius!