Yumbo Centrum

Yumbo Centrum
	The entrance to the Yumbo Centrum
Location	Maspalomas/Playa Del Ingles, Gran Canaria
Coordinates	27°45′29″N 15°34′38″W / 27.7579668°N 15.5773201°W
Address	Av. Estados Unidos 54, 35100 Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, Spain
Opening date	1982
No. of stores and services	200+
Total retail floor area	20,000 square metres (220,000 sq ft)
No. of floors	4
Website	yumbocentrum.com

The Yumbo Centrum (Spanish: El Centro Comercial Yumbo) is a shopping complex on the island of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. It is situated in the tourist resort of Playa Del Ingles, between Avenida de Tirajana and Avenida de España.

The centre was built 1982-85 by the tourism entrepreneur Estanislao Mañaricúa Belacortu and Alejandro del Castillo.^[1]

Amenities

The shopping centre consists of a series of open-air courtyards and terraces. It has over 200 shops and international restaurants situated over multiple floors ranging from clothes, shoes, perfume and jewelry to electronics. Access is at ground level, with retail floors on several levels below ground.^[2]

The Yumbo is also noted for its busy nightlife and is a popular attraction for LGBTQIA+ visitors, offering a wide range of gay bars, discos, nightclubs and drag cabarets.^[3]^[4] The Cabildo insular de Gran Canaria (the island government) operates a tourist information office within the Yumbo Centre, on the ground level by the entrance on Avenida de España.^[5]

In May and November the events of the annual summer and winter Gran Canaria Gay Pride celebration are usually centred on the Yumbo Centre, attracting thousands of attendees from around the world.^[6]. Yumbo Centre also plays host to various gay kink and fetish events particularly focusing on the rubber, leather and bear communities. In the first week of October each year Maspalomas Fetish Week is primarily based in Yumbo Centre where thousands men dressed in fetish clothing decend on the centre attending various events. This is often viewed as an intriguing spectacle by regular holiday makers visiting the centre at the time.

In popular culture

Yumbo Centre became internationally known following the release of an example of the early work of music teacher and Britain's Got Talent finalist Lorraine Bowen, with her tongue in cheek song titled "Yumbo Centre Gran Caneria". The song takes a humorous look at the amenities offered within the centre and plays on its offering of "tacky shops" and gay visitors.^{[citation needed]}

References

^ Suárez, Gabriel (7 February 2012). "Adiós a un empresario excelente". www.canarias7.es (in European Spanish). Retrieved 5 February 2019.
^ "Yumbo Centre - Maspalomas - Gran Canaria". C.C.Yumbo Centrum (in European Spanish). Retrieved 1 February 2019.
^ Walker, Neville (18 March 2000). "Boy zone". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
^ Travel, D. K. (2017). Top 10 Gran Canaria. Dorling Kindersley Limited. p. 104. ISBN 9780241318812. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
^ "Offices - The Official Gran Canaria Tourist Website". www.grancanaria.com. Cabildo insular de Gran Canaria. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
^ Fimiani, Roberta (2014). "The Role of Gay Spaces for a Gay Destination: Gay Tourism in Gran Canaria" (PDF). Dalarna University, School of Technology and Business Studies, Tourism Studies. Retrieved 6 February 2019.