What Is the Largest Shopping Mall in the World?
Although the numbers change often, particularly with the retail building boom taking place in Asia, the title of largest in the world currently goes to the Golden Resources Shopping Mall in Beijing, China. Opened in 2004, Golden Resources has 6 million square feet of leasable area and hosts more than 1,000 stores.
History
The interesting thing about Golden Resources is that up until July, it ranked as the second largest mall in the world. The South China Mall in Dongguan, China, held that title from 2005, when it opened, until it closed this year. The 7-million-square-foot South China Mall, with enough space for 1,500 stores, never got the retailers or the customers it needed to stay open. That has been the case for many of the larger retail establishments that have cropped up in China over the past few years--the growth of the country has been ahead of demand. And even though malls in China are hoping to attract tourists, the South China Mall was located outside of major cities, making it difficult to access. Only five years ago, just a few dozen malls existed in China. But the country is now home to a reported 400 malls built at a cost of $24 to $36 billion. Although the Golden Resources Mall initially estimated that it would be visited by 50,000 shoppers a day, the real number is far lower than that.
Features
The Golden Resources Mall has 200 escalators and 90 flagship stores, selling products that range from designer clothing to entertainment. You can find furniture, DVD stores, children's playgrounds and restaurants featuring food from all over the world. You will see plenty of familiar store brands at Golden Resources--names like Ralph Lauren and Papa John's Pizza--but international and Asian stores as well. The mall has more than 10,000 parking spots for its shoppers.
You can also stay at the neighboring Golden Resources Hotel, an attractive hotel that offers shopping and a nightlife all in one place. An underground Las Vegas-style entertainment plaza offers visitors a nightclub, spa, gym, disco, supermarket and other shops. Rates are incredibly cheap by U.S. standards, at about $65 to $80 a night. Travelers say that English is limited here and that Internet access in the hotel can be painfully slow.
Considerations
Because of the location of the Golden Resources Mall, in northwestern Beijing outside of Third Ring Road, it reportedly does not get many foreign visitors, except for those staying at the adjacent hotel. In addition, some visitors say that many of the mall's stores do not accept foreign credit cards. In contrast, central Beijing is home to malls including the Oriental Plaza and China World, where you tend to see more foreign visitors and tourists and where stores accept credit cards from foreign banks.
Size
Following the Golden Resources Mall in size is the SM Mall of Asia, located in Pasay City, Philippines, with 4.2 million square feet, an Olympic-sized swimming pool and even a tram for traveling throughout the mall. Next on the list is the Cevahir Istanbul mall, located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Cevahir has 3.8 million square feet and is Europe's largest mall, with an indoor roller coaster, a wave pool and IMAX theaters. The West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, is the largest mall in North America at 3.8 million square feet, a water park, casino and amusement park rides. Although the King of Prussia Mall in Philadelphia and the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, were once at the top of the list of the world's largest malls, they are now down at the 12th and 13th spots. King of Prussia has about 2.8 million square feet and 320 stores, and the Mall of America has 2.5 million square feet and about 500 stores.
Expert Insight
Because the Internet is heavily censored in China, it's difficult to get the latest information about the country's large malls, including Golden Resources, which has a website that's entirely in Chinese. Your best bet is to check with U.S. travel agents who specialize in China and to check websites about international travel and shopping for updates. Because the explosion of malls in China also means that the businesses are having a tough time staying afloat, it's best to check ahead or with locals when you arrive in the country.
