Shopping mall

This article is about large, usually enclosed, shopping centers anchored by traditional department stores. For an overview of all types of shopping centers, see Shopping center. For pedestrian malls, see Pedestrian zone.

The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, the largest mall in the United States

The West Edmonton Mall in Calgary, Alberta, the largest mall in Canada

The interior of Garden State Plaza megamall in Paramus, Bergen County, New Jersey, the borough with the world's highest concentration of shopping malls.

The Iran Mall, the world's largest mall in Iran.

A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term mall originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, it began to be used as a generic term for the large enclosed shopping centers that were becoming increasingly commonplace. ^{[1] [2]} In the United Kingdom and other countries, shopping malls may be called shopping centres.

In recent decades, malls have declined considerably in North America, particularly in subprime locations, and some have closed and become so-called "dead malls". ^[3] Successful exceptions have added entertainment and experiential features, added big-box stores as anchors, or converted to other specialized shopping center formats such as power centers, lifestyle centers, factory outlet centers, and festival marketplaces. ^[4] In Canada, shopping centres have frequently been replaced with mixed-use high-rise communities. ^[5] In many European countries and Asian countries, shopping malls continue to grow and thrive. ^[6]

Terminology

The interior structure of Mall of Tripla in Helsinki, Finland

In the United States, Persian Gulf countries, and India, the term shopping mall is usually applied to enclosed retail structures (and is generally abbreviated to simply mall), while shopping center usually refers to open-air retail complexes; both types of facilities usually have large parking lots, face major traffic arterials, and have few pedestrian connections to surrounding neighborhoods. ^[7] Outside of North America, the terms shopping precinct and shopping arcade are also used.

In the UK, such complexes are considered shopping centres though shopping centre covers many more sizes and types of centers than the North American mall. Other countries follow UK usage. In Canadian English, and often in Australia and New Zealand, the term mall may be used informally but shopping center or merely center will feature in the name of the complex (such as Toronto Eaton Centre). The term mall is less-commonly a part of the name of the complex.^{[ original research? ]}

SM Mall of Asia in Pasay, the largest reclaimed mall in the Philippines

Types

Further information: Shopping center § Types

The International Council of Shopping Centers, based in New York City, classifies two types of shopping centers as malls: regional malls and superregional malls. A regional mall, per the International Council of Shopping Centers, is a shopping mall with 400,000 sq ft (37,000 m²) to 800,000 sq ft (74,000 m²) gross leasable area with at least two anchor stores. ^[8] A super-regional mall, per the International Council of Shopping Centers, is a shopping mall with over 800,000 sq ft (74,000 m²) of gross leasable area, three or more anchors, mass merchant, more variety, fashion apparel, and serves as the dominant shopping venue for the region (25 miles or 40 km) in which it is located. ^[8] Not classified as malls are smaller formats such as strip malls and neighborhood shopping centers, and specialized formats such as power centers, festival marketplaces, and outlet centers. ^[4]

History

Forerunners to the shopping mall

The Burlington Arcade in London, with shop fronts inside (pictured), opened in 1819

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II interior in Milan which opened in 1877

Shopping centers in general may have their origins in public markets and, in the Middle East, covered bazaars.

In 1798, the first covered shopping passage was built in Paris, the Passage du Caire. ^[9] The Burlington Arcade in London was opened in 1819. ^[10] The Arcade in Providence, Rhode Island, built in 1828, claims to be the first shopping arcade in the United States. ^[11] Western European cities in particular built many arcade-style shopping centers. The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan, which opened in 1877, was larger than its predecessors, and inspired the use of the term "galleria" for many other shopping arcades and malls. ^{[12] [13]}

In the mid-20th century, with the rise of the suburb and automobile culture in the United States, a new style of shopping center was created away from downtowns. ^[14] Early shopping centers designed for the automobile include Market Square, Lake Forest, Illinois (1916), and Country Club Plaza, Kansas City, Missouri (1924). ^[15]

The suburban shopping center concept evolved further in the United States after World War II, with larger open-air shopping centers anchored by major department stores, such as the 550,000-square-foot (51,000 m²) Broadway-Crenshaw Center in Los Angeles, built in 1947 and anchored by a five-story Broadway and a May Company California. ^[16]

Downtown pedestrian malls and use of term mall

In the late 1950s and into the 1960s, the term "shopping mall" was first used, but in the original sense of the word "mall", meaning a pedestrian promenade in the U.S., or in U.K. usage, a "shopping precinct". Early downtown pedestrianized malls included the Kalamazoo Mall (the first, in 1959), "Shoppers' See-Way" in Toledo, Lincoln Road Mall in Miami Beach, Santa Monica Mall (1965). ^{[17] [18] [19]}

Although Bergen Mall opened in 1957 using the name "mall" and inspired other suburban shopping centers to rebrand themselves as malls, these types of properties were still referred to as "shopping centers" until the late 1960s. ^{[20] [ page needed ]}

Enclosed malls

The original interior of Shopping, built in 1955 and one of the first enclosed malls in the world, in Luleå, Sweden

The enclosed shopping center, which would eventually be known as the shopping mall, did not appear in mainstream until the mid-1950s. One of the earliest examples was the Valley Fair Shopping Center in Appleton, Wisconsin, ^[21] which opened on March 10, 1955. Valley Fair featured a number of modern features including central heating and cooling, a large outdoor parking area, semi-detached anchor stores, and restaurants. Later that year the world's first fully enclosed shopping mall was opened in Luleå, in northern Sweden (architect: Ralph Erskine) and was named Shopping; the region now claims the highest shopping center density in Europe. ^[22]

The idea of a regionally-sized, fully enclosed shopping complex was pioneered in 1956 by the Austrian-born architect and American immigrant Victor Gruen. ^{[23] [24] [25]} This new generation of regional-size shopping centers began with the Gruen-designed Southdale Center, which opened in the Twin Cities suburb of Edina, Minnesota, United States in October 1956. ^{[24] [25]} For pioneering the soon-to-be enormously popular mall concept in this form, Gruen has been called the "most influential architect of the twentieth century" by Malcolm Gladwell. ^[26]

The first retail complex to be promoted as a "mall" was Paramus, New Jersey's Bergen Mall, which opened with an open-air format on November 14, 1957, ^[27] and was later enclosed in 1973. Aside from Southdale Center, significant early enclosed shopping malls were Harundale Mall (1958) in Glen Burnie, Maryland, ^[28] Big Town Mall (1959) in Mesquite, Texas, Chris-Town Mall (1961) in Phoenix, Arizona, and Randhurst Center (1962) in Mount Prospect, Illinois.

Other early malls moved retailing away from the dense, commercial downtowns into the largely residential suburbs. This formula (enclosed space with stores attached, away from downtown, and accessible only by automobile) became a popular way to build retail across the world. Gruen himself came to abhor this effect of his new design; he decried the creation of enormous "land wasting seas of parking" and the spread of suburban sprawl. ^{[29] [30]}

Even though malls mostly appeared in suburban areas in the U.S., some U.S. cities facilitated the construction of enclosed malls downtown as an effort to revive city centers and allow them to compete effectively with suburban malls. Examples included Main Place Mall in Buffalo (1969) and The Gallery (1977, now Fashion District Philadelphia) in Philadelphia. Other cities created open-air pedestrian malls.

In the United States, developers such as A. Alfred Taubman of Taubman Centers extended the concept further in 1980, with terrazzo tiles at the Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey, indoor fountains, and two levels allowing a shopper to make a circuit of all the stores. Taubman believed carpeting increased friction, slowing down customers, so it was removed. Fading daylight through glass panels was supplemented by gradually increased electric lighting, making it seem like the afternoon was lasting longer, which encouraged shoppers to linger. ^{[31] [32]}

Decline of shopping malls in the United States

See also: Retail apocalypse and Dead mall

Belz Factory Outlet Mall, an abandoned shopping mall in Allen, Texas, United States

In the United States, in the mid-1990s, malls were still being constructed at a rate of 140 a year. ^[33] But in 2001, a PricewaterhouseCoopers study found that underperforming and vacant malls, known as "greyfield" and "dead mall" estates, were an emerging problem. In 2007, a year before the Great Recession, no new malls were built in America, for the first time in 50 years. ^[34] City Creek Center Mall in Salt Lake City, which opened in March 2012, was the first to be built since the recession. ^[15]

Malls began to lose consumers to open-air power centers and lifestyle centers during the 1990s, as consumers preferred to park right in front of and walk directly into big-box stores with lower prices and without the overhead of traditional malls (i.e., long enclosed corridors). ^{[35] [36] [37] [38]}

Another issue was that the growth-crazed American commercial real estate industry had simply built too many nice places to shop—far more than could be reasonably justified by the actual growth of the American population, retail sales, or any other economic indicator. The number of American shopping centers exploded from 4,500 in 1960 to 70,000 by 1986 to just under 108,000 by 2010. ^[39]

Thus, the number of dead malls increased significantly in the early 21st century. The economic health of malls across the United States has been in decline, as revealed by high vacancy rates. From 2006 to 2010, the percentage of malls that are considered to be "dying" by real estate experts (have a vacancy rate of at least 40%), unhealthy (20–40%), or in trouble (10–20%) all increased greatly, and these high vacancy rates only partially decreased from 2010 to 2014. ^[40] In 2014, nearly 3% of all malls in the United States were considered to be "dying" (40% or higher vacancy rates) and nearly one-fifth of all malls had vacancy rates considered "troubling" (10% or higher). Some real estate experts say the "fundamental problem" is a glut of malls in many parts of the country creating a market that is "extremely over-retailed". ^[40] By the time shopping mall operator Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield decided to exit the American market in 2022, the United States had an average of 24.5 square feet of retail space per capita (in contrast to 4.5 square feet per capita in Europe). ^[41]

In 2019, The Shops & Restaurants at Hudson Yards opened as an upscale mall in New York City with "a 'Fifth Avenue' mix of shops", such as H&M, Zara, and Sephora below them. This is one of the first two malls built recently, along with American Dream in which both opened in 2019 since City Creek Center. ^[42]

Online shopping has also emerged as a major competitor to shopping malls. In the United States, online shopping has accounted for an increasing share of total retail sales. ^[43] In 2013, roughly 200 out of 1,300 malls across the United States were going out of business. ^[44] To combat this trend, developers have converted malls into other uses including attractions such as parks, movie theaters, gyms, and even fishing lakes. ^[45] In the United States, the 600,000 square foot Highland Mall will be a campus for Austin Community College. ^[46] In France, the So Ouest mall outside of Paris was designed to resemble elegant, Louis XV-style apartments and includes 17,000 square metres (180,000 sq ft) of green space. ^[47] The Australian mall company Westfield launched an online mall (and later a mobile app) with 150 stores, 3,000 brands and over 1 million products. ^[48]

The COVID-19 pandemic also significantly impacted the retail industry. Government regulations temporarily closed malls, increased entrance controls, and imposed strict public sanitation requirements. ^[49]

Design

Indoor amusement park at the center of the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, the largest shopping mall in the United States

The 31 story ISQUARE vertical mall in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong in 2010

Vertical malls

High land prices in populous cities have led to the concept of the "vertical mall", in which space allocated to retail is configured over a number of stories accessible by elevators and/or escalators (usually both) linking the different levels of the mall. The challenge of this type of mall is to overcome the natural tendency of shoppers to move horizontally and encourage shoppers to move upwards and downwards. ^[50] The concept of a vertical mall was originally conceived in the late 1960s by the Mafco Company, former shopping center development division of Marshall Field & Co. The Water Tower Place skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois was built in 1975 by Urban Retail Properties. It contains a hotel, luxury condominiums, and office space and sits atop a block-long base containing an eight-level atrium-style retail mall that fronts on the Magnificent Mile.^{[ citation needed ]}

Vertical malls are common in densely populated conurbations in East and Southeast Asia. Hong Kong in particular has numerous examples such as Times Square, Dragon Centre, Apm, Langham Place, ^[50] ISQUARE, Hysan Place and The One.

A vertical mall may also be built where the geography prevents building outward or there are other restrictions on construction, such as historic buildings or significant archeology. The Darwin Shopping Centre and associated malls in Shrewsbury, UK, are built on the side of a steep hill, around the former town walls; ^[51] consequently the shopping center is split over seven floors vertically – two locations horizontally – connected by elevators, escalators and bridge walkways. Some establishments incorporate such designs into their layout, such as Shrewsbury's former McDonald's, split into four stories with multiple mezzanines which featured medieval castle vaults – complete with arrowslits  – in the basement dining rooms.

Components

Food court

Main article: Food court

A common feature of shopping malls is a food court: this typically consists of a number of fast food vendors of various types, surrounding a shared seating area.

Department stores

Main articles: Department store and Anchor store

When the shopping mall format was developed by Victor Gruen in the mid-1950s, signing larger department stores was necessary for the financial stability of the projects, and to draw retail traffic that would result in visits to the smaller stores in the mall as well. These larger stores are termed anchor stores or draw tenants. In physical configuration, anchor stores are normally located as far from each other as possible to maximize the amount of traffic from one anchor to another.^{[ citation needed ]}

Regional differences

Express Avenue Chennai, India

Shopping arcade in Tokyo, Japan

Europe

There are a reported 222 malls in Europe. In 2014, these malls had combined sales of US$12.47 billion. ^[52] This represented a 10% bump in revenues from the prior year. ^[52]

U.K. and Ireland

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, both open-air and enclosed centers are commonly referred to as shopping centres. Mall primarily refers to either a shopping mall – a place where a collection of shops all adjoin a pedestrian area – or an exclusively pedestrianized street that allows shoppers to walk without interference from vehicle traffic.

The majority of British enclosed shopping centres, the equivalent of a U.S. mall, are located in city centres, usually found in old and historic shopping districts and surrounded by subsidiary open air shopping streets. Large examples include Westquay in Southampton; Manchester Arndale; Bullring Birmingham; Liverpool One; Trinity Leeds; Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow; St James Quarter in Edinburgh; and Eldon Square in Newcastle upon Tyne. In addition to the inner city shopping centres, large UK conurbations will also have large out-of-town "regional malls" such as the Metrocentre in Gateshead; Meadowhall Centre, Sheffield serving South Yorkshire; the Trafford Centre in Greater Manchester; White Rose Centre in Leeds; the Merry Hill Centre near Dudley; and Bluewater in Kent. These centres were built in the 1980s and 1990s, but planning regulations prohibit the construction of any more. Out-of-town shopping developments in the UK are now focused on retail parks, which consist of groups of warehouse style shops with individual entrances from outdoors. Planning policy prioritizes the development of existing town centres, although with patchy success. ^[53] Westfield London (White City) is the largest shopping centre in Europe.^{[ citation needed ]}

Russia

In Russia, on the other hand, as of 2013 ^[update] a large number of new malls had been built near major cities, notably the MEGA malls such as Mega Belaya Dacha mall near Moscow. In large part they were financed by international investors and were popular with shoppers from the emerging middle class. ^[54]

Management and legal issues

Shopping property management firms

A shopping property management firm is a company that specializes in owning and managing shopping malls. Most shopping property management firms own at least 20 malls. Some firms use a similar naming scheme for most of their malls; for example, Mills Corporation puts "Mills" in most of its mall names and SM Prime Holdings of the Philippines puts "SM" in all of its malls, as well as anchor stores such as The SM Store, SM Appliance Center, SM Hypermarket, SM Cinema, and SM Supermarket. In the UK, The Mall Fund changes the name of any center it buys to "The Mall (location)", using its pink-M logo; when it sells a mall the center reverts to its own name and branding, such as the Ashley Centre in Epsom. ^[55] Similarly, following its rebranding from Capital Shopping Centres, intu Properties renamed many of its centres to "intu (name/location)" (such as intu Lakeside); again, malls removed from the network revert to their own brand (see for instance The Glades in Bromley).

Legal issues

One controversial aspect of malls has been their effective displacement of traditional main streets or high streets. Some consumers prefer malls, with their parking garages, controlled environments, and private security guards, over central business districts (CBD) or downtowns, which frequently have limited parking, poor maintenance, outdoor weather, and limited police coverage. ^{[56] [57]}

In response, a few jurisdictions, notably California, have expanded the right of freedom of speech to ensure that speakers will be able to reach consumers who prefer to shop, eat, and socialize within the boundaries of privately owned malls. ^{[35] [58]} The Supreme Court decision Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins was issued on 9 June 1980 which affirmed the decision of the California Supreme Court in a case that arose out of a free speech dispute between the Pruneyard Shopping Center in Campbell, California, and several local high school students.

World's largest malls

This is a list of the world's largest shopping malls based on their gross leasable area (GLA), with a GLA of at least 250,000 m² (2,700,000 sq ft).

Rank	Mall	Country	City (metropolitan area)	Year opened	Gross leasable area (GLA)	Shops	Remarks
1	Iran Mall	Iran	Tehran	2018	1,950,000 m2 (21,000,000 sq ft) [59]	2,500+	Largest mall in Iran
2	The Avenues Mall	Kuwait	Al Rai	2007	1,200,000 m2 (13,000,000 sq ft)	1400+ [60]	Largest mall in Kuwait
3	IOI City Mall	Malaysia	Putrajaya	2014	821,000 m2 (8,840,000 sq ft)	650+	Largest mall in Malaysia
4	Isfahan City Center	Iran	Isfahan	2012	776,000 m2 (8,350,000 sq ft) [61] [62] [63] [64]	700+	Contains the biggest indoor amusement park in the Middle East at 776,000 m2 (8,350,000 sq ft). Built in two phases in 2012 and 2019.
5	South China Mall	China	Dongguan	2005	659,612 m2 (7,100,000 sq ft) [65] [61]	2,350	Until at least 2014 most of the stores were empty, with occupancy rates of only 10%. [61]
6	SM Mall of Asia	Philippines	Pasay (Metro Manila)	2006	589,891 m2 (6,349,530 sq ft) [66]	3,500+	The largest mall in the Philippines with IT parks, MoA Arena, hotels, university, an IKEA building, [67] bay-area resorts, and amusement parks; a total reclamation of 1,047 hectares (2,590 acres) is anticipated upon completion
7	SM Tianjin	China	Tianjin	2016	565,000 m2 (6,080,000 sq ft) [46] [68] [69]	1,000+	The largest SM mall outside of the Philippines
8	Golden Resources Mall	China	Beijing	2004	557,419 m2 (6,000,010 sq ft) [65] [61]	750+
9	Central WestGate	Thailand	Nonthaburi (Bangkok Metropolitan Region)	2015	550,278 m2 (5,923,140 sq ft)	500+	The gross floor area of the mall includes the floor area of the mall building with various shops which is 500,000 square meters and the floor area of the IKEA store which is 50,278 square meters. [70] [71]
10	CentralWorld	Thailand	Bangkok	1989	550,000 m2 (5,900,000 sq ft) [72]	600	Area of the full complex is 1,024,000 m2 (11,020,000 sq ft) including two skyscrapers.
11	ICONSIAM	Thailand	Bangkok	2018	525,000 m2 (5,650,000 sq ft) [73]	550+
12	Mall of America	United States	Bloomington, MN (Minneapolis–Saint Paul)	1992	520,257 m2 (5,600,000 sq ft) [74]	520	The ranking area does not include Nickelodeon Universe, a large indoor amusement park at the center of the mall with an area of 28,000 m2 (300,000 sq ft). Largest mall in the United States and the Americas.
13	1 Utama	Malaysia	Petaling Jaya	1995	519,328 m2 (5,590,000 sq ft) [75] [76]	503 [76]	The 2nd largest shopping mall in Malaysia. Built in three phases in 1995, [77] 2003 [78] and 2018. [79]
14	SM City North EDSA	Philippines	Quezon City (Metro Manila)	1985	497,213 m2 (5,351,960 sq ft) [61] [66] [80]	1,000+	Formerly the largest mall in the Philippines (2008–2011, 201?–2014, and 2015–2021), until IKEA opened in SM Mall of Asia on November 25, 2021.
15	Global Harbor	China	Shanghai	2013	480,000 m2 (5,200,000 sq ft) [81] [82]	450+
16	SM Megamall	Philippines	Mandaluyong (Metro Manila)	1991	474,000 m2 (5,100,000 sq ft) [66] [83] [81] [82]	1,000+	Has the most cinema screens (14) in the Philippines. [84] [85]
17	SM Seaside City Cebu	Philippines	Cebu City	2015	470,486 m2 (5,064,270 sq ft) [86]	700+	Largest shopping mall in the Philippines outside Metro Manila.
18	Persian Gulf Complex	Iran	Shiraz	2011	450,000 m2 (4,800,000 sq ft) [87] [88] [89] [90]	355 [91] [92]	Second largest shopping mall by number of stores after Iran Mall. [91]
19 (tie)	Blockbuster Mall	Ukraine	Kyiv	2019, 2021	400,000 m2 (4,300,000 sq ft) [93]	400+	The largest shopping mall in Ukraine [94]
19 (tie)	Sunway Pyramid	Malaysia	Subang Jaya	1997	400,000 m2 (4,300,000 sq ft) [95]	1000+	Third largest shopping mall in Malaysia behind 1 Utama. Built in three phases in 1997, 2007 and 2016.
19 (tie)	New Century Global Center	China	Chengdu	2013	400,000 m2 (4,300,000 sq ft)	2,300
19 (tie)	Dream Mall	Taiwan	Kaohsiung	2007	400,000 m2 (4,300,000 sq ft)	250	Largest mall in Taiwan.
19 (tie)	Siam Paragon	Thailand	Bangkok	2005	400,000 m2 (4,300,000 sq ft) [61]	200+	[96]
19 (tie)	Central Phuket	Thailand	Phuket	2004	400,000 m2 (4,300,000 sq ft) [97] [98] [99]	250+	Major expansion ("Floresta" building) in 2018.
19 (tie)	Festival Alabang	Philippines	Muntinlupa (Metro Manila)	1998	400,000 m2 (4,300,000 sq ft) [100]	250+
25	Lotte World Mall	South Korea	Seoul	2014	383,470 m2 (4,127,600 sq ft) [101]	200+	Largest shopping mall in South Korea.
26 (tie)	Jamuna Future Park	Bangladesh	Dhaka	2013	380,000 m2 (4,100,000 sq ft) [102]	510 [102]	Largest shopping mall in South Asia. [103]
26 (tie)	Albrook Mall	Panama	Panama City	2002	380,000 m2 (4,100,000 sq ft) [61]	200+	Second largest shopping mall in the Americas; the largest until 2013.
28	Mal Taman Anggrek	Indonesia	Jakarta	1996	360,000 m2 (3,900,000 sq ft) [61]	150	Hosts the world's largest LED display. [104]
29 (tie)	Fashion Island (Thailand)	Thailand	Bangkok	1995	350,000 m2 (3,800,000 sq ft)	150
29 (tie)	West Edmonton Mall	Canada	Edmonton, Alberta	1981	350,000 m2 (3,800,000 sq ft) [105]	800+	Largest shopping mall in Canada. The gross leasable area does not include Galaxyland, a large indoor amusement park with an area of 70,160 m2 (755,200 sq ft).
29 (tie)	The Dubai Mall	United Arab Emirates	Dubai	2008	350,000 m2 (3,800,000 sq ft)	400+	The second largest mall in the world by total land area. [106] [107] [108]
32 (tie)	Big City	Taiwan	Hsinchu	2012	340,000 m2 (3,700,000 sq ft)	300
32 (tie)	Lucky One Mall	Pakistan	Karachi	2017	340,000 m2 (3,700,000 sq ft) [109] [110]	200+	Largest mall in Pakistan.
33	Gandaria City	Indonesia	Jakarta	2010	336,279 m2 (3,619,680 sq ft) [111]	250
34 (tie)	Limketkai Center	Philippines	Cagayan de Oro	1992	320,000 m2 (3,400,000 sq ft) [112] [113]	250
34 (tie)	Berjaya Times Square	Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur	2003	320,000 m2 (3,400,000 sq ft)	200+	The largest shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur and 4th largest shopping mall in Malaysia behind IOI City Mall, 1 Utama and Sunway Pyramid. [114]
36	SM City Fairview	Philippines	Quezon City (Metro Manila)	1997	312,749 m2 (3,366,400 sq ft)	350
37	The Grand Central Mall	Pakistan	Faisalabad	Under-Construction	310,000 m2 (3,300,000 sq ft)		2nd-largest mall in Pakistan
38 (tie)	Zhengjia Plaza (Grandview Mall)	China	Guangzhou	2005	280,000 m2 (3,000,000 sq ft)	180+[ citation needed ]
38 (tie)	American Dream Meadowlands	United States	East Rutherford, NJ (New York City area)	2019	280,000 m2 (3,000,000 sq ft) [115]	200	Includes Nickelodeon Universe, DreamWorks Water Park, and Big Snow American Dream
38 (tie)	Haikou International Duty Free City	China	Haikou, Hainan	2022	280,000 m2 (3,000,000 sq ft) [116]		Largest duty-free shopping mall in the world [117]
41	SM City Cebu	Philippines	Cebu City	1993	273,804 m2 (2,947,200 sq ft) [66]	680
42	The Avenues, Bahrain	Bahrain	Bahrain Bay	2017	273,000 m2 (2,940,000 sq ft)
43 (tie)	Sarath City Mall	India	Hyderabad	2019	270,000 m2 (2,900,000 sq ft)2 [118]	400+	The biggest shopping mall in India.
43 (tie)	Medan Centre Point	Indonesia	Medan	2013	270,000 m2 (2,900,000 sq ft)2 [119]
43 (tie)	Mal Artha Gading	Indonesia	Jakarta	2004	270,000 m2 (2,900,000 sq ft)	330 [120]
46	Mall of Arabia	Saudi Arabia	Jeddah	2010	261,000 m2 (2,810,000 sq ft)	187 [121]
47	King of Prussia	United States	King of Prussia (Philadelphia metropolitan area)	1963	259,500 m2 (2,793,000 sq ft) [122]	200+	Originally built as two buildings, a 2016 renovation made it one continuous building, larger than Mall of America by 1,300 m2 (14,000 sq ft). [123]
48	Greenwich Mall	Russia	Ekaterinburg	2006	258,673 m2 (2,784,330 sq ft) [124]	250	the largest shopping center in Russia
49	Centro Comercial Aricanduva	Brazil	São Paulo	1991	257,047 m2 (2,766,830 sq ft) [125]	545+	The largest shopping center in South America. It is the 5th largest shopping center in the world (2019) [125]
50	T.S. Mall	Taiwan	Tainan	2015	254,000 m2 (2,730,000 sq ft)	200+
51	Tunjungan Plaza	Indonesia	Surabaya	1986	253,187 m2 (2,725,280 sq ft) [126]	250	The biggest mall in East Java
52 (tie)	Emporium Mall	Pakistan	Lahore	2016	250,000 m2 (2,700,000 sq ft) [127]	200+	3rd largest mall in Pakistan
52 (tie)	Centro Sambil	Venezuela	Caracas	1998	250,000 m2 (2,700,000 sq ft)	300
53 (tie)	Aventura Mall	United States	Aventura (Miami area)	1983	250,000 m2 (2,700,000 sq ft)	300+	Largest shopping mall in Florida.
52 (tie)	Glorietta	Philippines	Makati (Metro Manila)	1991	250,000 m2 (2,700,000 sq ft)	300+	Glorietta is integrated with Greenbelt, both of which are owned by the Ayala Corporation.
52 (tie)	Greenbelt	Philippines	Makati (Metro Manila)	1991	250,000 m2 (2,700,000 sq ft)	300+	Greenbelt is integrated with Glorietta, both of which are owned by the Ayala Corporation.
52 (tie)	South Coast Plaza	United States	Costa Mesa (Greater Los Angeles)	1967	250,000 m2 (2,700,000 sq ft) [128]	286	The largest shopping mall in California besides Del Amo.
52 (tie)	Centro Comercial Santafé	Colombia	Bogota	2006	250,000 m2 (2,700,000 sq ft)	150

Combination retail and wholesale shopping malls

Some wholesale market complexes also function as shopping malls in that they contain retail space which operate as stores in normal malls do but also act as producer vendor outlets that can take large orders for export.

	Name	Country	City	Year opened	Gross leasable area	Shops	Remarks
	Yiwu International luTrade City	China	Yiwu	2002	5,500,000 m2 (59,000,000 sq ft) [129]	75,000+	Much of the retail area is divided into small booths, hence the disproportionately greater number of shops than other malls listed.

See also

• Business portal
• Companies portal

• Arcade
• Bazaar
• List of largest shopping malls in the United States
• Lists of shopping malls
• Mall kiosk
• Pedestrian zone
• Retail#Types of retail outlets

References

1. Longstreth, Richard (1997). City Center to Regional Mall. MIT Press. pp. 296–304. ISBN   0262122006. "the essential framework for the regional mall", and other references in this page range and elsewhere to malls as a type of shopping center
2. Rielly, Edward J. (2003). The 1960s. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. p. 62. ISBN   0-313-31261-3 . Retrieved 28 July 2020.
3. "American Malls That Have Fallen Into Ruin". GOBankingRates. 10 June 2019. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
4. "U.S. Shopping-Center Classification and Characteristics" (PDF). International Council of Shopping Centers. 1999. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 8, 2014. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
5. "Mixed use becomes crucial for big retail projects". Victoria Times Colonist. 6 March 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
6. "Research: Shopping Centres Continue To Dominate European Retail Space, But Significant Variations Exist Between Countries". European Council of Shopping Places. 11 April 2023.
7. Urban Geography: A Global Perspective Michael Pacione, (Routledge, Informa UK Ltd. 2001) ISBN   978-0-415-19195-1.
8. "US Shopping-Center Classification and Characteristics" (PDF). International Council of Shopping Centers. August 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
9. "Passage du Caire". Insecula.com. Archived from the original on 26 October 2004. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
10. "Meet the Beadles: The centuries-old private police force at Burlington Arcade, the world's swishest shopping mall". Country Life . Retrieved 13 August 2023.
11. "The Arcade, Providence RI". Brightridge.com. Archived from the original on 27 August 2009. Retrieved 17 July 2009.
12. "Galleria". Collins English Dictionary. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
13. Massey, Anne; Arnold, Dana (2019). A Companion to Contemporary Design Since 1945. Wiley. p. 125.
14. Icons of Cleveland: The Arcade. Cleveland Magazine , August 2009.
15. Moore, Robbie. "The Death of the American Mall and the Rebirth of Public Space". The International. Archived from the original on 13 March 2013. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
16. "Broadway's New Crenshaw Store to Open Today". Los Angeles Times. 21 November 1947.
17. Raktis, Ted (9 September 1961). "Shopping Mall Is Beautifier of Cities". Deseret News.
18. "Ottawa Trying Out Shopping Mall Idea". Nanaimo Daily News. 26 May 1960.
19. "Shopping Mall Scheme Gaining Favor in U.S." Calgary Herald. 26 August 1959. p. 1.
20. Howard, Vicki (2008). The Routledge Companion to the History of Retailing. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   978-1-138-67508-7.
21. "Appleton's Valley Fair Center". Mall Hall of Fame. November 1, 2006. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
22. "Basic facts – NCSC". NCSC. Nordic Council of Shopping Centers. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
23. Bathroom Reader's Institute (1 November 2010). "The Mall: A History". Uncle John's Heavy Duty Bathroom Reader. Bathroom Reader's Press. pp.  99–101. ISBN   978-1-60710-183-3.
24. Hardwick, M. Jeffrey (2015). Mall Maker: Victor Gruen, Architect of an American Dream. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 144. ISBN   9780812292992 . Retrieved 14 July 2020.
25. Newton, Matthew (2017). Shopping Mall. New York: Bloomsbury. p. 5. ISBN   9781501314827 . Retrieved 14 July 2020.
26. Gladwell, Malcolm (March 15, 2004). "The Terrazzo Jungle". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on July 9, 2014.
27. "Bergen Mall to Open; Shopping Center on Route 4 Starts Business Tomorrow" . The New York Times. 13 November 1957. p. 1. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
28. Walker, Andrea K. (13 September 2007). "Malls no more, centers looking to sell lifestyle". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
29. Dery, Mark (11 November 2009). "Essay – Dawn of the Dead Mall". The Design Observer Group. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2010.
30. Bathroom Reader's Institute (1 November 2010). "A History of the Shopping Mall, Part III". Uncle John's Heavy Duty Bathroom Reader. Bathroom Reader's Press. p.  401. ISBN   978-1-60710-183-3.
31. Johnson, Caitlin A. (15 April 2007). "For Billionaire There's Life After Jail". CBS News . Archived from the original on 4 December 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2009.
32. Peterson, Thane (April 30, 2007). "From Slammer Back To Glamour". Business Week . Archived from the original on April 25, 2010. Retrieved December 29, 2009.
33. Millar, Lisa (20 January 2015). "Dead malls: Half of America's shopping centres predicted to close by 2030". Australian Broadcasting Corporation News. Archived from the original on 24 October 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
34. "The death of the US shopping mall". BBC News . 4 November 2014. Archived from the original on 28 April 2014.
35. Rybczynski, Witold (May 1993). "The New Downtowns" (PDF). The Atlantic Monthly. 271 (5): 98–106. Available via ProQuest.
36. Neuborne, Ellen (13 June 1995). "Power centers muscle in: Stores siphon shoppers from regional malls". USA Today. p. 1B. Available via ProQuest.
37. Laird, Gordon (2009). The Price of a Bargain: The Quest for Cheap and the Death of Globalization. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. p. 69. ISBN   9781551993287 . Retrieved 28 October 2019.
38. Donnellan, John (2014). Merchandise Buying and Management (4th ed.). New York: Fairchild Books. p. 63. ISBN   9781609014902 . Retrieved 27 February 2023.
39. Donnellan, John (2014). Merchandise Buying and Management (4th ed.). New York: Fairchild Books. p. 64. ISBN   9781609014902 . Retrieved 27 February 2023.
40. Schwartz, Nelson D. (3 January 2015). "The Economics (and Nostalgia) of Dead Malls". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 23 October 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
41. Pimentel, Joseph (11 April 2022). "Owner of Westfield malls plans to sell all of their U.S. shopping centers". Spectrum News 1. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
42. Walker, Ameena; Plitt, Amy (4 April 2018). "Tracking the biggest buildings taking shape at Hudson Yards". Curbed NY. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
43. Pleven, Liam (24 November 2015). "Shrinking U.S. Shopping Malls Get Makeovers" . Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660. Archived from the original on 30 November 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
44. "Online Sales Threat to American Malls". Financial Times . 4 February 2013. Archived from the original on 6 July 2015.
45. Evans, Peter (20 February 2013). "Malls' New Spin on Leisure". The Wall Street Journal . Archived from the original on 15 August 2017.
46. "SM City Tianjin: SM Prime's 7th mall in China | SM Investments". sminvestments.com. Archived from the original on 8 February 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
47. "So Ouest lance l'offensive anti-e-shopping". Challenges . 18 October 2012.
48. "Westfield launches new 'online mall' with 100,000 products". The Australian Financial Review . 19 November 2013. Archived from the original on 14 September 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
49. "Playbook to Safely Reopen Shopping Malls". Aislelabs. 26 May 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
50. Chung, Danny (December 9, 2005). "Reach for the sky". The Standard . Archived from the original on January 2, 2008.
51. "Discovering Shropshire's History: Shrewsbury Town Walls". Discovershropshire.org.uk. October 26, 1987. Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
52. Agovino, Theresa. "Investors Find Bargains at Europe's Outlet Malls". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660. Archived from the original on December 3, 2015. Retrieved December 3, 2015.
53. "ICnetwork.co.uk". Icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk. 4 September 2003. Archived from the original on 11 February 2009. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
54. Kramer, Andrew E. (January 1, 2013). "Malls Blossom in Russia, With a Middle Class". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 2, 2013. Retrieved January 2, 2013. I feel like I'm in Disneyland
55. This is Surrey (May 22, 2009). "Moka, Ashley Centre, Epsom". Surrey Mirror. Archived from the original on July 19, 2013. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
56. O'Donahue, Tony (May 1, 2005). The Tale of a City: Re-Engineering the Urban Environment . Toronto: Dundurn Press Ltd. p.  43. ISBN   978-1550025569.
57. Frieden, Bernard J.; Sagalyn, Lynne B. (1989). Downtown, Inc.: How America Rebuilds Cities. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. p. 233. ISBN   978-0262560597 . Retrieved 21 October 2015.
58. Judd, Dennis R. (1991). "The Rise of the New Walled Cities". Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University.
59. "15 Biggest Malls In The World | 2022 Edition". RankRed. 1 January 2022. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
60. "About The Avenues Shopping Mall" . Retrieved 16 December 2022.
61. Jevtic, Aleksandar (26 August 2015). "15 Biggest Malls in the World – Insider Monkey". InsiderMonkey.com. Archived from the original on 2 December 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
62. "Shopaholics Rejoice: The 12 Biggest Malls in the World". Archived from the original on 29 August 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
63. "15 Biggest Shopping Mall In The World". The World Atlas. 2 October 2023.
64. "The Biggest Shopping Malls". Insiders Monkey. 2 October 2023.
65. Fich, Naima (5 May 2012). "Emporis: February 7, 2012 – List of the Top 10 World's Largest Shopping Mall" (PDF). Archived from the original on 13 November 2013.
66. "Securities and Exchange Commission SRC Form 17-A" (PDF). SM Prime. 31 December 2018. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
67. Almendral, Aurora (25 November 2021). "Ikea is opening in a very different Philippines than it planned for". Quartz. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
68. "SM Prime opens 7th mall in China". ABS-CBN News. 19 December 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
69. "SM City Tianjin Opened In China". Malls.Com. 19 December 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
70. "WestGate mall opens to major crowds". Nikkei Inc. 30 August 2015. Archived from the original on 15 March 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
71. "Ikea building SE Asia presence". Bangkok Post. 16 March 2018. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
72. "Central World".
73. Pitsinee, Jitpleecheep (23 March 2016). "Iconsiam adds retail area for keen investors". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
74. "Mall of American Fact Sheet 2016" (PDF). Mall of America. mallofamerica.com. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
75. "About Us". 1 Utama. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
76. Ng, Shawn (26 April 2019). "A mall that embraces change for growth". EdgeProp.my. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
77. Chai, Yee Hoong (4 November 2017). "Keeping up with changing trends". The Edge Markets. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
78. Ang, Elaine (22 December 2003). "Shoppers' haven at 1 Utama". The Star. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
79. "1 Utama opens phase one of 1 Utama E". The Edge Markets. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
80. "SM Prime plans to continue developing SM North Edsa". BusinessMirror. Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
81. "SM Prime opens the Mega Fashion; Transforms SM Megamall into the Philippines' Largest Mall". SM Investments Corporation. Archived from the original on 11 March 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
82. "Biggest mall in Vis-Min, SM Seaside City Cebu, opens November 27". Interaksyon. Archived from the original on 4 November 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
83. "SM Megamall now PH's largest mall". Inquirer Business. 28 January 2014. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
84. "SM Megamall undergoing P1.5 B expansion". Rappler. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
85. ClickTheCity (6 July 2018). "SM MegaMall Cinema Movie Schedule – Mandaluyong, Metro Manila @ ClickTheCity Movies". Clickthecity.com. Archived from the original on 3 September 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
86. "Biggest mall in Vis-Min, SM Seaside City Cebu, opens November 27". Interaksyon. Archived from the original on 4 November 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
87. "Setareh CO Officia Website". Archived from the original on 17 October 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
88. "12 LARGEST SHOPPING CENTERS WORLDWIDE". Archived from the original on 28 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
89. "Persian Gulf Complex Introduction". 19 January 2017. Archived from the original on 28 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
90. "Persian Gulf Complex Introduction From Official Site". Archived from the original on 27 August 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
91. "Persian Gulf Complex Introduction". 19 January 2017.
92. "Persian Gulf Complex Introduction From Official Site". Archived from the original on 27 August 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
93. "ТРЦ Блокбастер, Київ". novobudovy.com (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 27 June 2024.
94. MALL, BLOCKBUSTER. "BLOCKBUSTER MALL | shopping and entertainment centre in Kyiv". blockbustermall.com.ua. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
95. Andy Ling (28 May 2017). "Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall". Sunway REIT. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
96. "Siam Paragon". Bangkok.com. Archived from the original on 4 July 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
97. "Central Festival Phuket – new building construction", Phuket9
98. "Central Phuket Festival", Central Pattana site
99. "B20bn Central Phuket to open Sept 10", The Phuket News, 15 August 2018
100. "Filinvest Land, Incorporated 2017 Annual Report" (PDF). filinvestland.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
101. "Seoul". Archived from the original on 1 September 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
102. "Asia's 'biggest' mall in Dhaka". The Daily Star. Dhaka. 10 April 2008. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
103. "5th Floor Is Open Now". Jamuna Future Park. Archived from the original on 20 September 2013.
104. "Mal Taman Anggrek Cetak Rekor "The World Largest LED Illuminated Facade"". Archived from the original on 2 November 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
105. "World's Largest Shopping Malls". 5 March 2012. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
106. "Dubai Mall". Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2008.
107. "Zawya – The Dubai Mall". Archived from the original on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 6 December 2008.
108. "Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum formally opens the Dubai Mall". Archived from the original on 15 May 2009. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
109. Ijaz, Zaid (1 February 2018). "Lucky One Mall". Pakpedia. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
110. Khan, Haris (4 June 2017). "21 Amazing Photos and Facts About Lucky One Mall Karachi – The Biggest Shopping Mall in Pakistan". Paki Holic. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
111. "Gandaria City Mall in Jakarta – Shopping in Jakarta, Indonesia – Justgola". Justgola. Archived from the original on 21 July 2018. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
112. "Trivia: CDO Did You Know?". CDOpedia. 7 August 2012. Archived from the original on 21 July 2018.
113. "Limketkai Mall – biggest in Mindanao". CDO Dev. 6 November 2012. Archived from the original on 21 July 2018.
114. "Berjaya Times Square info page". Archived from the original on 7 February 2008. Retrieved 14 February 2008.
115. Holman, Jordyn (7 January 2020). "American Dream Mall Bucks Retail Nightmare, Nears 90% Lease Rate". Bloomberg. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
116. Team, Dao (3 October 2022). "World's largest duty-free shop to open in Haikou, China". Dao Insights. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
117. Rozario, Kevin. "Hainan Has Another Duty-Free Mall—It Is The Biggest In The World". Forbes. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
118. "Sarath City Capital Mall". www.sarathcitycapitalmall.com. Archived from the original on 14 March 2023. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
119. "PTI Architects". www.pti-architects.com. Archived from the original on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
120. "Tenant List". MAl Artha Gading. Archived from the original on 24 March 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
121. "Shop List". Mall of Arabia. Archived from the original on 24 March 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
122. "International Council of Shopping Centers". ICSC. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
123. "International Council of Shopping Centers: King of Prussia Mall". Archived from the original on 21 October 2007. Retrieved 14 February 2008. The Mall of America once again surpassed it when it built an addition to the mall that included a J.W. Marriot Hotel
124. "Топ-20 самых больших торговых центров РФ". marketmedia.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 28 August 2021.
125. "SÃO PAULO - Cushman & Wakefield | Global Cities Retail Guide" (PDF). Cushman & Wakefield . Retrieved 16 May 2024.
126. Pakuwon Indonesia. "Properties". Pakuwon.com. Archived from the original on 22 July 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
127. Samrashabir (24 April 2017). "Emporium Mall Lahore". Pakpedia. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
128. "ICSC DMM Display". Icsc.org. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
129. Roxburgh, Helen (23 March 2017). "Welcome to Yiwu: China's testing ground for a multicultural city". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 March 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2017.

Further reading

• Hardwick, M. Jeffrey (2004). Mall Maker: Victor Gruen, Architect of an American Dream. Excerpt and text search.
• Howard, Vicki (2015). From Main Street to Mall: The Rise and Fall of the American Department Store.
• Lange, Alexandra (15 February 2018). "Malls and the future of American retail: In a post-mall era, why are starchitects building more retail?". Curbed. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
• Lange, Alexandra (2022). Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN   9781635576023. OCLC   1325579853.
• Ngo-Viet, Nam-Son (2002). The Integration of the Suburban Shopping Center with its Surroundings: Redmond Town Center. PhD dissertation. University of Washington.
• Scharoun, Lisa (2012). America at the Mall: The Cultural Role of a Retail Utopia. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.

External links

• International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
• American Institute of Architects Retail and Entertainment Committee Knowledge Community