Buchanan Galleries is a shopping centre

Shopping mall

A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...

 located in the central area of Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, the largest city in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. Construction began in 1996 and the building opened to the public on 31 March 1999. Costing £250 million, it is one of the largest city centre shopping developments in the United Kingdom, boasting an internal retail space of nearly 56,000 m². The building adjoins onto the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall is an arts venue, in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is operated by Glasgow Life, an agency of Glasgow City Council, which also runs Glasgow’s City Halls and Old Fruitmarket venue...

, and could be classified as the first urban megastructure

Megastructures (architecture)

Megastructures are an architectural concept popularized in the 1960s where a city could be encased in a single building, or a relatively small number of buildings interconnected together....

 to be built in Glasgow city centre since the infamous Anderston Centre

Anderston Centre

The Anderston Centre is a mixed-use commercial and residential complex, and former bus station located in the Anderston area of Glasgow, Scotland...

 of the early 1970s.

The complex's anchor tenant is John Lewis

John Lewis Partnership

The John Lewis Partnership is an employee-owned UK partnership which operates John Lewis department stores, Waitrose supermarkets and a number of other services...

 which occupies all of the northern side of the complex, including part of the car park area which it uses as a customer collections point.

The Galleries is located on the junction between the famous Glaswegian shopping streets of Buchanan Street

Buchanan Street

Buchanan Street is one of the main shopping thoroughfares in Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland. It forms the central stretch of Glasgow's famous shopping district with a generally more upmarket range of shops than the neighbouring streets: Argyle Street, and Sauchiehall Street.-History:...

 and Sauchiehall Street

Sauchiehall Street

Sauchiehall Street is one of the main shopping/business streets in the city centre of Glasgow, Scotland. Along with Buchanan Street and Argyle Street, it forms the main shopping area of Glasgow, containing the majority of Glasgow's high street and chain stores.Although commonly associated with the...

, a previously run down area full of derelict buildings (the site was once the home to the Glasgow branch of the NAAFI

Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes

The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes is an organisation created by the British government in 1921 to run recreational establishments needed by the British Armed Forces, and to sell goods to servicemen and their families...

), and half-abandoned stores.