The best mall in Bulgaria is...

Mall Galleria Burgas is the best mall in the country, showed the results of a research concluded on the mystery shoppers principle. This shopping centre got the highest grade for the efforts its management puts in securing ambiance.

Mall Ruse, Galeria Plovdiv and Grand Mall Varna are defined as the shopping centres with good clients parking organization. The level of service in food court units is most appreciated in Mall Sofia, Mall Plovdiv and Mall Varna. Best quality of customer service was experienced in supermarkets in Mall Galleria Burgas, Burgas Plaza Mall and Mall Sofia.

The research was concluded by INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CHECK between 10 Dec 2012 and 5 Jan 2013. Mystery shoppers observed in details the biggest and most popular shopping centres in Bulgaria. Altogether 178 checks in 15 malls were made (8 or 12 checks in each observed mall depending on the number of services offered there).

The research was held in the following shopping centres:

• City Center Sofia;
• The MALL in Sofia;
• Grand Mall Varna;
• Park Mall Stara Zagora;
• Mall Varna;
• Serdika Center in Sofia;
• Sky City Center in Sofia;
• Mall Galleria Burgas;
• Mall Galleria Stara Zagora;
• Bulgaria Mall in Sofia;
• Burgas Plaza Mall;
• Mall Plovdiv;
• Mall Ruse;
• Sofia Mall;
• Galeria Plovdiv.

Mystery shoppers checked organization, functionality and ambiance inside the shopping centres and adjacent areas, as well as car parking organisation. Other factors taken into consideration when evaluating the shopping centres were the malls\' looks, the competence of the employees in some stores and food court units, as well as level of customer service in supermarkets.

The average score of all malls that participated in the mystery shoppers research is 81,6%. Mall Galleria Burgas, as mentioned in the beginning, got the highest score - 95,8%. Next come Burgas Plaza Mall (88,2%) and Mall Plovdiv (86,9%). For comparison the mall with the lowest score was rated 64,4%.