São Paulo’s Cidade Jardim is a new kind of high end mall experience. Many of the international high end brands housed there may already have flagships in the streets of Oscar Freire, but the retail mecca has a credibility of its own.

Arriving at Cidade Jardim feels like stepping into a luxurious hotel, with a doorman to receive you, a concierge at your service and personal shoppers to help you choose from 120 luxury stores, among them Daslu, Chanel, Armani, Hermés and Rolex. Designed by architects Julio Neves and Pablo Slemenson, the mall was created to give an outdoor shopping sensation, featuring a huge open air green area filled with gardens and fruit trees along with an impressive view of São Paulo itself.

No detail of the shopping space was left untouched. Espaço Família, for example, is a space especially developed for babies and toddlers. Children can have a deluxe diaper changing, while their siblings and friends wait in mini vintage chairs, watching videos and being pampered with free try outs from Johnson’s Baby line. Meanwhile, movie theater chain Cinemark recently launched a high end movie theater featuring a posh popcorn bar and special lounge rooms decorated in clean and chic lines.

Although it feels a little off beat to talk about luxurious consumption right now, the creation of Cidade Jardim and its residential skyscrapers illustrates that São Paulo’s high end market is a safe ground for investment.

Address: Avenida Magalhães de Castro, 12.000, São Paulo

—Flávia Mendonça