Blix Mall

The Blix Mall is a massive shopping centre situated in Appalachio in Blix. It is the largest shopping centre on the Island of Blix, and the third largest shopping centre on Earth. It is owned and operated by Blixium. The Blix Mall includes the Luxing'hier Tower which was the first man-made structure of any kind to reach a kilometer in height, standing 1000m off the roof of the main Blix Mall, about 1075m to street-level. The main mall component of the complex contains an gross leasable area of over 1,150,000m^2. It contains over 1700 stores and services. The mall was sold to Bloomingdale Properties in November 2017.

The Blix Mall was originally opened in 1966 when Appalachio was in the midst of a serious economic depression and land was extraordinarily inexpensive. It was a mammoth megaproject, reaching four stories high and taking up half of the block bordered by Nockley to the west, Soleil to the south, Lake to the north, and Indian Brook Ave. (now Rowling) to the east. The mall was built partially inside and above of the underground VIA Rail Soleil Station (located on Blix Regional Railway (BRR) trackage), which had been the busiest train station in South Blix until VIA-Blix received large budget cuts and traffic moved south towards the Grand Appalachionic Station (CN trackage) in the 1990s. Thus, Blix Mall was able to connect to the major Soleil/Nockley SBU station, and profited greatly from the large amount of foot traffic as the largest transfer station in the network.

In the 1960s, Blixium bought all of the land between Soleil and Lake streets, bordered to the west by Ésthetique, and to the east by Nicholas Grey Avenue. This is the largest property in all of Marci Square. The land contains the Manor Auditorium, the Blix Mall, the Blixium Global Headquarters, the Soleil Ice Stadium, the bTECK Global Headquarters, Metropolitan Centre, and more. In 2004, Blixium sold one of its most valuable pieces of land, at the corner of Soleil and Interruption, to the Delongo Ministry for $100,000 (a steal as the land was valued in the hundreds of millions). The land was once known as the "Lake Trust," and at one point included most of Appalachio, but an anti-trust court ruling forced Blixium to sell 90% of the trust to at least 15 other groups. At it's peak, the Trust stretched from Blix Gardens Avenue to Portobello, and from Paddington to Park Ave. In fact, the street called Lake was originally paved to follow the extent of the Trust and to better connect the trust without the traffic of Soleil.

The mall was expanded and renovated in 1986 to celebrate twenty years. It then grew to take up the entire block. In 1996 it was again expanded to the neighbouring block to the east. In 2003, after being named Oprah Winfrey's favourite shopping centre, the mall grew to spread over four blocks. At the same time, an express station was built using many of the tunnels once used by the VIA Soleil Station, but re-equiped for high-speed rail. The station was named Blix Mall - Appalachio.

In 2006 it was announced by Blixium that the entirety of the Blix Mall would be undergoing extensive renovations, including the construction of a kilometer-tall mega-skyscraper. After an extensive review by the municipal and federal governments, the project was approved in 2008. These renovations were completed in 2016. On 1 July 2016, Oprah Winfrey returned to the Blix Mall to proclaim it open, and she again declared it to be her favourite shopping mall. Blixium President Eliza Grey said, "while it may no longer be possible to expand left or right, we'll go up higher than eyes can see! We'll build the tallest structures this planet will ever see! Taller than mountains will these pillars for Blixium be-- and to heck with President Lee!" Her statement was widely ridiculed as an out-of-touch way to connect with the public, and became a popular internet meme.

In 2010, the SBU likewise announced that it would be re-configuring the entire Soleil/Nockley station to better serve the influx of passengers heading to the express station. Blix Mall generously donated the famous VIA Soleil Train Station's facades, which were used throughout the new station. By 2016, the SBU had opened a tremendously voluminous and efficient transfer station. It became one of the largest metro stations in the world by far.

In January 2016, Blix Mall announced intentions to create a rooftop village of mega-tall skyscrapers, maximizing some of their real estate, which is the most valuable real estate on the planet. On 8 May 2017 the Delongo Ministry demanded that Blixium halt all non-repair projects of the Blix Mall after a proposal to create a 5km tower, the first to exceed 4km.

The Soleil/Nockley SBU station was renamed Soleil/Nockley - Blix Mall in 2002. In June 2017, by order of President Lee, the station became Soleil/Nockley once again. However, all SBU announcements for the station say "Next station, Soleil and Nockley. Serving Appa, including the Blix Mall; with access to Lake, Ohtahlay, Wallace, Lokonah, Alexa Way, Rowling, La Rambla, and Zhou Dahsee streets. With correspondence to B, C, F, S, W, Strait Crosser, 4, 17, 24, 141, 280, and the AIRPORT service. Connection to the Express service. Extended connection to Grand Appalachionic Station via the Nockley Pedestrian Tunnel."

Similarly, President Lee also demanded that the Blix Mall - Appalachio express station be renamed to Appalachio station.

In 2014, the West Blix Mall was built at the RKBIA, which surpassed the gross leasable area of the Blix Mall substantially. The newly-renovated Matewood Shopping Centre MSC opened in 2016 surpassing both of these.

Since 2004, the mall has mostly served tourists. It is estimated that 60% of the malls daily visitors are tourists. The Blix Mall is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Blix and the world.