If you are visiting Panama City and want to see where Panama's modern, wealthy, international side meets the slightly chaotic reality of shopping in Panama, there is an interesting place to visit: Soho Mall on Calle 50.
Soho Mall, now commonly referred to as Soho City Center, sits in one of the most recognizable commercial parts of Panama City, surrounded by skyscrapers, hotels, banks, restaurants and some of the city's busiest streets. It is not the enormous, sprawling shopping experience of Albrook Mall, and it isn't really trying to be. Soho was conceived as something considerably more upscale, with luxury shopping, restaurants, entertainment and a very modern city center atmosphere.
And if you've heard stories about Soho Mall over the years, you may have noticed something strange.
Its story is considerably more complicated than simply being another shopping mall.
A Mall Built to Be Luxurious
Soho Mall opened in the middle of the 2010s as part of a major development in the Calle 50 area. Contemporary descriptions positioned it as an upscale shopping destination, with international luxury brands, restaurants, entertainment and a large modern complex.
At one point, the mall was associated with names such as Prada, Burberry and Louis Vuitton, and it was intended to compete at the high end of Panama City's increasingly sophisticated shopping market.
This makes sense when you look around Calle 50.
This isn't Panama's old colonial quarter.
It isn't the traditional neighborhood shopping street.
This is the Panama of glass towers, international companies, expensive apartments, banks, luxury hotels and people who can spend a surprisingly large amount of money on things they absolutely did not need five minutes earlier.
Soho fits that environment perfectly.
But Then Things Got Complicated
The history of Soho Mall took a dramatic turn shortly after it opened.
In 2016, businessman Abdul Waked became the subject of US sanctions, creating enormous complications for businesses connected with him. The resulting restrictions had a major effect on Soho Mall's operations, with numerous stores leaving and the shopping center experiencing a significant decline in activity. By 2017, La Prensa reported that only around 25 businesses remained open, compared with 68 a year earlier.
Eventually, the complex was sold to new owners.
One of those owners was Mexican cinema operator Cinépolis, which already operated a cinema inside the complex.
And that period became an important chapter in Soho's history.
For a visitor today, you would never necessarily know the entire story simply by walking through the building.
But it explains why Soho has had such a strange reputation over the years.
It was built with very big ambitions.
Then it went through a very difficult period.
And it has spent years evolving.
Soho Today Is Different
One thing worth understanding about Soho is that you shouldn't necessarily believe an old blog post from 2017, 2019 or even 2023 telling you exactly what stores you will find there.
Mall tenants change.
Businesses close.
New restaurants arrive.
Stores move.
And Panama's retail landscape changes surprisingly quickly.
Current listings show Soho City Center operating as a shopping and lifestyle complex with fashion, restaurants, services, technology, beauty, jewelry and other businesses. Current restaurant listings also show a surprisingly broad collection of places to eat inside the complex.
So if you are specifically going to Soho because you want one particular store, check before you go.
But if you're simply looking for somewhere to wander around, eat something and experience another side of Panama City, that becomes much less important.
It's in a Fantastic Part of Panama City
One of Soho's biggest advantages is its location.
It is on Calle 50 in Bella Vista, right in the middle of one of Panama City's major commercial areas.
That means you aren't making a special expedition to some distant suburban shopping complex.
You're already surrounded by Panama City.
You have the skyscrapers.
The hotels.
The offices.
The restaurants.
The banks.
The traffic.
The enormous apartment towers.
And the general feeling that Panama City has decided it wants to be a major international business center and isn't particularly interested in asking permission.
You can combine a visit to Soho with exploring the surrounding neighborhoods, grabbing lunch or coffee, visiting other parts of the city, or simply seeing what modern Panama City looks like away from Casco Viejo.
It Is Not Albrook Mall
This is important.
If you're expecting something like Albrook Mall, you're going to have a very different experience.
Albrook is enormous.
It feels like a city inside a building.
You can walk for what seems like several geological eras and still discover another corridor.
Soho is much more about the upscale urban shopping experience.
It is more compact.
It feels more polished.
And its location makes it particularly convenient if you're staying in central Panama City.
Think less "I need to buy absolutely everything I will ever need in my lifetime" and more "Let's see what's happening in this part of the city."
There Is Plenty of Food
One of the more interesting aspects of Soho today is its collection of restaurants and food businesses.
Current listings include restaurants such as Nacion Sushi, Foster's, Ciao Bella, La Rotisserie, Brazzeiro, Saquella, Ladurée, Calaca Chula, Tim Hortons and others.
That gives you quite a ridiculous range of possibilities.
You could have sushi.
You could have Italian food.
You could have Brazilian food.
You could have Mexican.
You could have coffee.
You could have dessert.
You could even wander in for something familiar from home at Tim Hortons.
And this is one of the things I like about Panama City generally.
You can go from a traditional Panamanian lunch to sushi to an international coffee chain to a fancy cocktail without traveling very far.
The city is incredibly international.
And Yes, There Is a Canadian Moment
If you're Canadian and you suddenly see a Tim Hortons inside Soho Mall, you may experience a brief moment of confusion.
You are thousands of kilometers from Canada.
You have been eating tropical fruit, arroz con pollo and ceviche.
You've been sweating for three days.
You walk into Soho.
And there it is.
Tim Hortons.
It's almost like seeing a moose standing beside the Panama Canal.
The current Soho location is listed as operating daily, although individual business hours can change.
For Canadians traveling through Panama, it is one of those little pieces of familiarity that can be oddly entertaining.
The Mall Is Part of a Much Bigger Development
Another interesting thing about Soho is that it isn't simply a standalone shopping building.
The complex is part of a large mixed use development with major towers, offices, commercial space and hotel components. The tallest tower rises more than 200 meters and has more than 40 floors.
This is another reason Soho feels different from many traditional Latin American shopping centers.
It is part of the vertical Panama City.
Look around while you're there.
You aren't just looking at stores.
You're looking at the architecture of a city that has transformed itself dramatically over the past few decades.
Panama City is full of these enormous towers that seem to have appeared almost overnight from the perspective of someone visiting for the first time.
Why Tourists Might Actually Want to Visit
You might be wondering why someone traveling around Panama would bother visiting a shopping mall.
Fair question.
You're in Panama.
There are beaches.
Jungles.
Waterfalls.
Islands.
Mountains.
Wildlife.
Volcanoes.
Why go shopping?
The answer is that sometimes seeing a city's shopping malls tells you something about the city itself.
Soho isn't primarily a tourist attraction in the traditional sense.
You don't go there because it contains some ancient Panamanian monument.
You go because it gives you a glimpse of another Panama.
The Panama of luxury brands.
The Panama of international business.
The Panama of expensive apartments and high rise offices.
The Panama of people meeting for lunch at restaurants rather than eating from a roadside fonda.
And that is a real part of Panama too.
The Contrast Is What Makes It Interesting
This is one of my favorite things about Panama City.
You can spend the morning wandering around Casco Viejo, looking at centuries old buildings.
Then you can take a taxi or Uber and suddenly you're surrounded by skyscrapers.
Then you can go shopping at a modern mall.
Then you can eat something completely international.
Then you can drive a relatively short distance and find yourself looking at rainforest.
Panama has an almost ridiculous range of environments and lifestyles packed into a relatively small country.
Soho is one little piece of that puzzle.
What Are the Hours?
Current listings generally show Soho City Center operating around 10 AM to 8 PM Monday through Saturday, with Sunday hours around 11 AM to 7 PM, although individual businesses inside the complex can have different schedules.
Restaurants and cafés may open earlier or stay open later than the general mall hours, so don't assume the entire complex follows exactly the same schedule.
If you're going specifically for one shop or restaurant, checking that business before making the trip is sensible.
Is Soho Worth Seeing?
That depends entirely on what you're looking for.
If you're spending two days in Panama City and haven't seen Casco Viejo, the Canal, the old city, the waterfront or the city's other major attractions, I wouldn't make a shopping mall your number one priority.
But if you're staying in Panama City for several days, need to do some shopping, want somewhere comfortable to eat, or simply want to see the modern side of the city, Soho is an interesting stop.
And if you're staying around Calle 50, Obarrio or Bella Vista, it's particularly convenient.
It is also a useful reminder that Panama isn't simply a tropical destination filled with beaches and jungle.
It is a major commercial hub.
The Strange Story of Soho
Perhaps the most fascinating thing about Soho Mall isn't the shopping.
It's the story.
It was built to become one of Panama City's premier luxury shopping destinations.
It attracted international brands.
It became caught up in an extraordinary financial and political situation involving US sanctions.
Stores disappeared.
The mall's fortunes changed dramatically.
It was sold.
New owners took over.
And the complex continued evolving.
Today, it remains a functioning shopping and dining center in one of Panama City's most important commercial districts.
That makes Soho a surprisingly good example of Panama itself.
Modern.
International.
Ambitious.
A little chaotic.
Always changing.
And sometimes much more complicated underneath the surface than it first appears.
So if you're walking down Calle 50 and see the big SOHO sign, you don't have to spend your entire day shopping.
Walk inside.
Have a coffee.
Grab some food.
Look around.
Check out the architecture.
And take a few minutes to watch Panama City doing what Panama City does best: mixing tropical Latin America with an increasingly global, modern and slightly crazy urban lifestyle.