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Been to the largest malls in the world?

Joe Iliff

Joe Iliff

Reformed City Planner
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Mall of America wants biggest mall title http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20070322/ap_tr_ge/travel_brief_mall_of_america_expansion;_ylt=AlVt6vDOCuKV0YwixaBIBCus0NUE

So, apparently, the Mall of America in Minnesota wants to regain the title of largest mall in the country. It's currently third compared to The Eastwood Mall Complex in Ohio and King of Prussia Mall in Pennsylvania. The 1.1 million sqft expansion to the 2.5 million they already have would still place it second in North America to the West Edmonton Mall at 5.3 million sqft.

Looking at the listing for the whole world, most malls over 3 million sqft are in Asia. Also Dubai, UAE has two malls under construction, one 10 million sqft, the other 12.1 million sqft, which would be #1 & #2 in the world when they open.

Has anyone ever been to one of these things? What did you think?
 
I went to the Mall of America once. It was not to long after it opened. It was plenty big then.... But more power to them if they can get it done.
 
Been to the Mall of America a few times. Not impressed. Some stores have multiple locations throughout the mall, and there weren't many shoppers there at the times that I have gone. And the architecture and styling sucked, to put it lightly. Very uninspired places. I've only bought a few items there, and they were all things I could have found at the 50-store, one-story mall in my hometown. I would prefer to shop at a smaller mall, with more interesting shops, anyday. The only reason I went to the Mall of America more than once was to accompany different people who had never been there.
 
I stopped there once on my way to a wedding. I was a bit nervous that I was going to spontaneously combust if I step foot out of the parking garage.

Yea, it’s big, it’s a mall, it has stores that are often charging more than the mall down the street... I was not impressed. Although snoopy land was kind of cool.
 
West Edmonton Mall is a mile from my house. While at first I was very anti-WEM, living here for a few years has changed my mind a little. While I'm still not a fan of malls, when it's -40 out and you get cabin fever, it is nice to be able to walk a few miles in a climate controlled environment. That being said, I avoid the mall most weekends and holidays since it's totally insane.

I would think it would be popular in Dubai as well, for the same reason: weather extremes. When it's 120F out, it's probably nice to spend a few hours walking around in air conditioning.
 
Wem

I spent almost every weekend at West Edmonton Mall as a kid, hanging out at the waterpark, galaxyland, or skating on the ice rink. I even remember being stuck on the submarine for a few hours and watching the dolphin shows. The dolphins and subs are gone now and I avoid the mall at all costs. Never shop there on boxing day or the month leading up to Christmas. Yikes!

It's cool if you've never been, but its just a mall, there are better ways to spend your day in Edmonton. Trust me.
 
I went to the Mall of America about five to ten years ago. It didn't seem as big as I expected, but probably because it's multiple stories. Yeah, it's kind of ridiculous to have four American Eagles. Can't they get some other tenants? And only four anchor department stores?...seemed kind of odd. Snoopy Land didn't really seem all that big or worthwhile. But it was cool, it was busy, it has its moments. It has some unique stores you can't find most places. It has the Lego store, the Discovery Channel store and everything. I also got Aerosmith's Just Push Play like the day it went on sale at the Sam Goody here back in 2001, so that always brings back memories. :)

Closer to home is Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, IL which ranks in the Top 10 largest malls in North America. I've always enjoyed this mall, and it has just about everything either inside the mall or just outside of it. Two stories I believe, and quite sprawling, which makes it somewhat difficult to go back and forth in the mall, but nonethless, I've always enjoyed it. I also like how the food places are more spread out, instead of in just one big court.
 
Was at the Mall of America yesterday. The thing about it is...after all the buzz and hype and the terrible symbolism of massive consumerism, etc, it's just a mall that happens to be bigger than other malls. Same stores, same annoying music, just more of it. What amazes me is how there will be entire stores devoted to incredibly specific products, e.g. bath salts or peanut butter.

One cool thing about the MoA is that it has no heating system. A combination of skylights and body heat do the trick. (Which I thought was a pretty neat way to make the giant place a bit more green, until I read on Wikipedia that it has to run the air conditioning in the winter to offset the effect of skylights and body heat. yikes!)
 
I've been to a few of these big old malls. They are pretty much all alike and getting more alike everyday with consoldation.

I grew up by Fairlane Town Center, a huge Taubman mall with three stories, five anchors, an ice rink, movie theatres, and a people mover system that was never completed. It just connected the mall to a Hyatt Hotel and Convention Center. The people mover was eventually knocked down instead of expanded to include the Ford HQ, office buildings, and nearby college campuses. Fairlane pretty much killed shopping in both Downtown Detroit and Dearborn when it opened. It was only a few miles from each. It even took Detroit's Saks Fifth Avenue Store from across the street from the General Motors Building. The mall is still there and active, but its only a fraction of what it once was. Somerset has replaced it as Detroit's largest upscale mall.

In 1985 I went to Eaton Center in Toronto.

In 1987 I was at the Woodfield in Schaumburg. It was a saturday night about 7 and all the stores were closed or closing! I never saw that before. Other places I'd been to that was considered a prime shopping time. IP, back in the 70's they did not have things like food courts in Taubman Malls.

In the early 90's I went to Gurnee Mills. I had never seen such a big mall that was only on one floor. Seemed really odd in terms of size and layout.. almost like a big Z. Its layout was improved for other big one floor outlet malls such as Great Lakes Mall (another Taubman Mall) with the innovation of the track layout. I don't know if Great Lakes is the first track layout, but it was the first I saw.

In the late '90's I made it to King of Prussia, Huge mall then, must be even bigger now to be bigger than the next big mall I was at:

In 2003 I went to the Mall of America. Like Mike I liked Snoopyland, the rest of it was just a big mall; it has a modified track layout. I did like the fact that it had lots of destinations (amusement park, movies, aquarium) mixed in with the stores, but I had to keep reminding myself it was also a tourist draw.

I recently was surfing and came accross the West Edmonton web site, the mall really does not look that huge anymore. I'm sure it has to be, but it is tough to judge from the Website. The closest mall I've been to was the Eaton's Center (at least I think thats what it was called) in Calgary. I was impressed by the wintergarden there. A few years later I saw it copied for Navy Pier in Chicago.
 
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I hate malls. My idea of hell would be to go to a mega mall for a day. Unfortunately, I have a teenager who thinks the mall is great :r:
 
King of Prussia Mall in Pennsylvania
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Where the blazes did they think that name up from?! Were they on crack?

Our malls are teeny compared to yours. Meadowhall - 270+ stores (Sheffield), Trafford Centre - 230+ stores (Manchester), Bluewater - 330+ stores (Essex), MetroCentre - 320+ stores(Gateshead) are probably the most 'famous' (infamous?!).

Expansion of these is now fiercely opposed by local authorities in an effort to protect the viability and vitality of town centres.
 
HarryFossettsHat said:
Where the blazes did they think that name up from?! Were they on crack?
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Probably a strong mead.

The name may go to that bloody little dust-up yours and mine had oh so many years ago: an innkeeper apparently thought to lure Prussians serving in the Continental Army to linger in the area, renaming Berry's Inn to King of Prussia. The name stuck as a placename as well.

Ah, commerce.:)

I've been to the KoP mall, but it was many, many years ago and didn't think anything much of it. But then I'm a buyer, not a shopper.
 
Big malls creep me out. I rarely go... I haven't been to the big mall near me (Palisades Mall) in about 4 years.

Give me Manhattan....or any big city. I need open air.
 
Since I live not that far away from MOA, I'm pretty familiar with it. I don't go very often because I'm somewhat anti-mall, and the MOA can be super busy. It does have direct LRT access, which is nice.

I think at the time it was created, as far as malls go, it was pretty cool. The architecture was a lot better than other malls in the area and the place was filled with a lot more unique shops along with the big names. But alot of those stores didn't make it...not sure if it were the rents, sales, or what.

But something needs to happen there, as it feels a bit dated for being such a tourist destination. I'm not a fan of their expansions, especially given that they're seeking some $200+ million in subsidy. I can think of some transit lines that would do more for the state.

I'd go crazy if I were in one of those Dubai malls. MOA is big enough. But 4x the size? Jeeeezzzzz
 
donk said:
1.2 million square feet - www.vaughanmills.com - 200 stores
1.6 million sq feet http://www.shopsquareone.com/01ab_hist.html - 360 stores
http://www.torontoeatoncentre.com - 285 stores

Not that impressed with Vaughan Mills or Square 1, the eaton centre has tonnes of memories from childhood, plus it is a much nicer design than the other two.
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Donk, thanks for answering the question that was brewing as I was reading this thread. I was wondering which of the three was actually the biggest.

I would have thought that the Vaughan Mills was bigger than the Square One in size. And, I find it intriguing that the Vaughan Mills have fewer stores than the Eaton Centre.

Do you know just how many square feet the Eaton Centre has?

And, how does the Yorkdale Mall fit in terms of size and number of stores? It has certainly grown in recent times.
 
donk said:
1.6 million sq feet http://www.shopsquareone.com/01ab_hist.html - 360 stores
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Those must be some tiny stores! The Walden Galleria in Buffalo ("Dat der Waltengellerymall der, where da Leonard Post used to be der") has about 200 stores, and is pushing 1.8 million square feet GLA, with an expansion under construction.

The Galleria is the punchline to a joke about Torontonians.

Q: How many Torontonians does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: Just one, but they leave all of their old light bulbs in the Walden Galleria parking ramp.

Nonetheless, I prefer the Eaton Centre to all of them.

No superregional malls like Square One of the Walden Galleria in Cleveland. I'm near Beachwood Place; 955,000 square feet GLA. Predominantly upscale tenants, though; Nordstroms, Saks and a ton of smaller tenants where I can barely afford to just peek through the window.
 
Hceux said:
Donk,
Do you know just how many square feet the Eaton Centre has?

And, how does the Yorkdale Mall fit in terms of size and number of stores? It has certainly grown in recent times.
Click to expand...

Could not find Eaton Centre stats.

For yorkdale
http://www.yorkdale.com/history.asp - 1.6 million sw ft and 240 stores.

"The structural glass roof which hangs from an exterior support structure, is the first of its kind in Canada and the largest in North America."
 
BIggest mall is in China. Best architecture mall in Colombia?

I haven't been to the Edmonton Mall or Minnesota mall -- but I can say that some of the best malls from an architecture standpoint are here in the NATION of Colombia. Lots of open air malls due to the weather. But then...this is about biggest, not coolest.

Largest mall is in China though last time I checked. The bigger is better phenom...is soon to be passe.
 
donk said:
Could not find Eaton Centre stats.

For yorkdale
http://www.yorkdale.com/history.asp - 1.6 million sw ft and 240 stores.

"The structural glass roof which hangs from an exterior support structure, is the first of its kind in Canada and the largest in North America."
Click to expand...

According to wikipedia, the Eaton Centre has 1,624,000 square feet and 330 stores for anyone else who is curious now that Donk and I have satisfied my curiousity.
 
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