The new $50 million TappooCity building in central Suva will revive tourism shopping in the capital, says group chief executive officer and executive director Madhu Tappoo.

Tappoo said the “iconic” concept was thought of five years ago and was meant to create a flagship Tappoo store in the heart of Suva.

“Suva is ready for a new dimension in shopping facilities and we thought we should continue the role of being the trendsetters in retailing in Fiji,” Tappoo told Fijilive.

“Shopping has always been an integral part of destination attractiveness for visitors to any country. People are much more familiar with international standards both in merchandise mix as well as facilities. We wanted our tourists to feel right at home when it came to shopping facilities and environment. We believe this building will give added impetus for tourists to visit Suva. Also the passengers from many cruise liners now visiting Suva will be pleasantly surprised with the shopping facilities in Suva,” he said.

The first three levels, which opened yesterday, house the Tappoo department store while the fourth “specialty” level, due to open in March 2010, will have a food court.

“There will be an extraordinarily high level of seating at the food court and the view from the seating area is simply breathtaking,” Tappoo said.

The top two office floors will be ready towards the end of April.

“The two top floors of office space command glorious views of Suva harbour. The entire building is centrally air-conditioned and has standby generator and water storage facilities, water sprinklers and modern fire protection facilities, glass lifts, widest and largest escalators in Fiji and special service lifts.”

Providing approximately 20,000 sq ft of space per floor, the retailing and entertainment complex has a takia sail-design and has been designed by international retail design specialists.

“We are confident that the design, layout and merchandising within the store will take Fiji to a level that will match up with the finest international department stores around the world. We are certain that it will create a new benchmark in retailing in Fiji and the region” Tappoo said.

The project will also create well over 200 jobs, taking overall employee levels within the group to well over 1200.

Tappoo said tourist shopping in Fiji had received an added boost in the 2010 Budget through the zero rating of duty on popular tourist items such as watches, jewelry, perfumes and cosmetics.

He said the introduction of the Value Added Tax refund scheme in February 2010 on tourism shopping would prove to be “yet another significant incentive for tourism shopping”.