American Studies at Eastern Connecticut State University
Shopping Mall Studies

 
World's Largest Shopping Malls
A partially completed section of the South China Mall in Dongguan.
[Nelson Ching/New York Times]
Asian Shopping Mall Boom
     The shopping mall construction boom in Asia has attracted a good deal of international media attention during the past few years. Eight of the ten largest malls in the world were in Asia by early 2007 and several more mega-malls in China and the United Arab Emirates are under construction.

     Mall watchers have predicted that within the next few years, seven of the ten largest shopping malls in the world will be in China alone. Typically, Chinese mega-malls are only parts of a much larger residential, office, and entertainment complexes.  An informative discussion of this phenomenon is an article by David Barboza, "China Builds Malls on Gigantic Scale, " New York Times, May 25, 2005. 

     This phenomenon is also surveyed in a  short article, with images of the ten largest malls, by Tom Van Riper in "World's Largest Malls," Forbes.com, January 9, 2007.

   
World's Largest Shopping Malls Compared
      
This table is compiled from data reported by various mall management companies on official web pages and in press releases. Data may not be consistent or entirely reliable. This is esepcially true of claimed gross leasable area (GLA), the criterion upon which the ranking is based.  For further discussion, see The Largest Malls on this site.
Shopping Mall Year
Opened		 GLA*           
Square feet
(Square meters)
 Total Area Square feet
(Square meters)		 Stores Comments
South China Mall Dongguan, China
 2005
 7.1-million
(660,000)
 9.6-million
(892,000)
 1,500
 The world's largest shopping mall in early 2006, but  it may soon be eclipsed by at least two other Chinese malls.
Official site.
Jin Yuan
(Golden Resources Shopping Mall)
Beijing, China
 2004
 6.0-million
(560,000)
  7.3-million
(680,000) 		1,000+ Also known as the "Great Mall of China," this mega-mall has 6 floors and is located near the Fourth Ring Road, west of Beijing. 
SM Mall of Asia
Pasay City, Philippines
 2006
 4.2-million
(386,000)
600
 GLA uncertain.   Official site.
West Edmonton Mall
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada		 1981 3.8-million
(350,000)
 5.3-million
(570,000)
 800 Largest shopping mall in North America; includes indoor wave pool, amusement areas, hotel, restaurants; 20,000 parking spaces. Official site. 
SM Megamall
Mandaluyong City,  Philippines
 1991
 3.6-million
(332,000)
550
 GLA uncertain. Official site.   
Berjaya Times Square
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
3.4-million
(320,000)
 7.5-million
(700,,000)
 1,000+
 Includes 45 restaurants, a theme park, and 3D Digi IMAX theater.  Official site.
Beijing Mall
Beijing, China
 2005
 3.4-million
(320,000)
 4.7-million
(440,000)
 600 Has 4 levels of shopping with interior residences; located near Fifth Ring Road, southeast of Beijing.
Zhengjia Plaza
(Grandview Mall)
Guangzhou, China
 2005
 3.0-million
(280,000)
 4.5-million
(420,000)
Enclosed in a complex that includes a 48-story hotel and 30-story office building. Official site seems to have been removed in mid-September 2006.
SM City North Edsa
Quezon City, Philippines
 1985
 3.0-million
(275,000)

GLA uncertain.  Official site. 
King of Prussia Mall
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA 		1962
2,800,000
(260,000)


Created by connecting together three adjacent malls, managed by a single company.  Official site.  
South Coast Plaza
Costa Mesa, California, USA
 1967
 2.7-million
(250,000)
280 Official site.
Central World Plaza
Bangkok, Thailand
 2006
 2.6-million
(244,000)
500+
 21-screen cinemas, bowling lanes, and restaurants; also a convention center (not included in the GLA). Official site. 
Aricanduva Mall
Sao Paulo, Brazil
 1991
 2.6-million
(242,000)
 3.7-million
(342,000)
 535
 Largest mall in Brazil; part of a complex of 3 shopping malls with a total area of 11.8-million sq ft.  Official site. 
Chia Tai Square
Shanghai, Jiangsu, China
 2005
 2.6-million
(240,000)

News releases in late 2005 touted it as "Asia's biggest shopping mall," but  several other Asian malls appear to be considerably larger.
Dongfang Xin Tiandi
(Oriental Plaza)
Foshan, Guangdong, China
2.5-million
(230,000)
 8.6-million
(800,000)
No details available.
Mall of America
Bloomington, Minnesota,
USA
 1992 2.5-million
(230,000)
 4.2-million
(390,000)
 520
 Largest shopping mall in the United States (by total area); includes a theme park, entertainment district on the 4th floor, and aquarium.  Official site. 
Sawgrass Mills 
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA
2.5-million (230,000) 4.2-million
(390,000)
 300
 This sprawling, open-air mall, contains mainly discount outlets, along with restaurants, cinemas and other entertainments.  Official site.
Siam Paragon
Bangkok, Thailand 		2005
 2.5-million
(230,000)
 4.1-million
(377,000)
Official site.  Additional site.
Panda Mall
Chengdu, Sichuan, China
2.5-million
(230,000)
 3.9-million
(360,000)
 Official site.    
Del Amo Fashion Center
Los Angeles, California, USA
 1975
 2.5-million (230,000)
300
 Del Amo straddles several blocks in the city of Torrence, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Official site.
Mall of the Emirates
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
 2005
 2.4-million
(225,000)
 6.5-million
(600,000)
 350 One complex in a vast entertainment and  consumer-oriented district; encloses a 400-meter indoor ski slope.  Official site.
*Gross leaseable area is interior floor space leased for retail shops, services, restaurants, and entertainment, such as night clubs, video arcades, and cinemas.



Golden Resources Shopping Mall
Beijing, China

   The art-deco Golden Resources Mall, located near the Fourth Ring Road on Beijing's west side, opened to great international fanfare October 24, 2004. At 560,000 square meters (6-million square feet) of total floor space, it was briefly the largest shopping mall in the world. The South China Mall eclipsed it in late 2005.
   Two more Chinese malls under construction--the Triple Five Wenzhou Mall and Mall of China (Qingdao), with projected total areas of 930,000 square meters (10-million square feet) each, will be even larger.



Golden Resources Shopping Mall, Beijing, currently the largest mall in the world. It opened in the fall of 2004.   [Xinhuanet]




Aerial view of a portion the West Edmonton Mall, Alberta, Canada, the largest mall in North America.   [West Edmonton Mall photo]
West Edmonton Mall
West Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

     The West Edmonton Mall, completed in 1985 at a cost of $750-million, remains the largest enclosed shopping mall in North America, but several malls open or under construction in China and the United Arab Emirates are larger.
     The mall encompasses 570,000 square meters (5.2-million square feet) of total floor space, 800 stores (including 8 department stores), a 360-room hotel, and 110 restaurants and eating places. Its list of amusement places is also impressively large. There is a full-scale amusement park with 47 different rides, an ocean-wave swimming pool with sand beach, an aquarium, and a miniature golf course.  If all that is too much for you, enjoy some peace and meditation in the chapel--so long as a wedding is not in progress. 

West Edmonton Mall Page
 


The Mall of America
Bloomington, Minnesota, USA

    The Mall of America, with its 390,000 square meters (4.2-million square feet) of floor space, is the largest shopping mall in the United States, as measured by total space. There are three US malls that have larger gross leaseable areas. It was completed in 1992 at a cost of $635-million. 
     The mall contains about 520 stores on three main levels and has 2.3 miles of primary corridors. The fourth floor is an entertainment district, with restaurants, movie theaters, and night clubs. Occupying the center court is Camp Snoopy, a full-scale amusement park with a roller coaster and 20 other rides. The mall attracts more than 40-million shoppers per year, who spend an estimated $1-billion annually. 

Mall of America Home Page

Mall of America Photographs


Interior view of the Mall of America from the third level. The vaulted roof is reminiscent of European arcades, such as the Galleria in Milan. [ep photo]


Shopping Mall Studies Home Page 
   
Largest Malls in the World  |  Largest Malls in the United States 
History  |   Connecticut Shopping Malls
Terminology  |  Etymology  |  Bibliography  |  Periodicals
Fiction  with Shopping Mall Settings   |   Children's Literature Set in Shopping Malls
      
 American Studies at Eastern Connecticut State University  |  Pocock Home
     
 
Created July 2003 by Emil Pocock, pocock@easternct.edu. Last revised  Januaey 10, 2007.
ECSU Home   Disclaimer