North America biggest mall
At first glance, it seemed like any other large shopping center. Then I saw giant the roller coaster.Edmonton, the provincial capital of Alberta, Canada, doesn't seem like the sort of place that would be home to North America's largest mall, but here it is. In a city of less than a million people, this huge surbuban complex has become the city's best-known landmark.
West Edmonton Mall is, to some degree, just like Australia's mammoth shopping centres - endless lanes of chain stores selling electronics, homewares and clothes, clothes, clothes - but there are a few factors that set it apart, such as the indoor amusement park (complete with rollercoaster), the enormous water park and the resident sea lions (seriously).
These extra features mean the mall has more in common with some of the mega-casino complexes in Las Vegas than with your typical shopping centre (and, yes, there's a casino here too). But first and foremost, my girlfriend and I are here to shop. We're nearing the end of our Canadian trip and it's time to start picking up souvenirs and gifts (mainly for ourselves). In fact, every time I had been dragged into a store elsewhere in Canada I'd used the Edmonton visit as a get-out clause.
"Don't buy that now! Wait until we get to the mall," I'd say, and it worked a treat.
On the negative side, I was now paying for it by being dragged into many of the mall's 800 stores to look at handbags, dresses and boots. For the most part, the mall's fashion stores tend to be well-known chains, some available in Australia (Espirit, French Connection, Hugo Boss) some not (Gap, Banana Republic and the seemingly much sought-after Zara). If you're looking for unique or local fashions, the mall's probably not the best place to find them. Edmonton also boasts the very funky Whyte Avenue, which is populated by an endless parade of hip young things and is home to a multitude of cool stores, bars and restaurants.
Back at the mall, I was beginning to discover what sets it apart from Chadstone. The first thing I saw was the ice-skating rink. A huge space in the centre of the mall, it's where young Edmontonians come to show off their skills on the ice. They leap, spin and occasionally fall over, but for the most part they're exceptionally good. You probably have to be, because the rink is open to the rest of the mall, meaning shoppers can stop and watch while they sip their Tim Horton's coffee.
More unusual than the skating rink was the life-sized replica of Christopher Columbus's ship, the Santa Maria, sitting in an indoor lake that's reportedly the biggest in the world. Next to this was the sea lion pool, where a pair of Californian sea lions and their trainers perform free shows twice a day. The pool is next to an enclosure featuring several lemurs and a three-toed sloth. I began to realise why the mall was accredited as a zoo.
Originally opened in 1981 by the Ghermezian family (patriarch Jacob moved to Edmonton from New York and his decendents, including 30-odd grandchildren, still reportedly live in the city) the mall started with 220 stores, but within two years this had grown to 460. Over the next 16 years, at an overall cost of $C1.2 billion ($1.3 billion), it continued to grow and hold the record as the world's largest mall.
It lost that status in 2004, as Asian and Middle Eastern construction booms saw it overtaken (it now ranks as the world's fifth largest).
These extra features mean the mall has more in common with some of the mega-casino complexes in Las Vegas than with your typical shopping centre (and, yes, there's a casino here too). But first and foremost, my girlfriend and I are here to shop. We're nearing the end of our Canadian trip and it's time to start picking up souvenirs and gifts (mainly for ourselves). In fact, every time I had been dragged into a store elsewhere in Canada I'd used the Edmonton visit as a get-out clause.
"Don't buy that now! Wait until we get to the mall," I'd say, and it worked a treat.
On the negative side, I was now paying for it by being dragged into many of the mall's 800 stores to look at handbags, dresses and boots. For the most part, the mall's fashion stores tend to be well-known chains, some available in Australia (Espirit, French Connection, Hugo Boss) some not (Gap, Banana Republic and the seemingly much sought-after Zara). If you're looking for unique or local fashions, the mall's probably not the best place to find them. Edmonton also boasts the very funky Whyte Avenue, which is populated by an endless parade of hip young things and is home to a multitude of cool stores, bars and restaurants.
Back at the mall, I was beginning to discover what sets it apart from Chadstone. The first thing I saw was the ice-skating rink. A huge space in the centre of the mall, it's where young Edmontonians come to show off their skills on the ice. They leap, spin and occasionally fall over, but for the most part they're exceptionally good. You probably have to be, because the rink is open to the rest of the mall, meaning shoppers can stop and watch while they sip their Tim Horton's coffee.
More unusual than the skating rink was the life-sized replica of Christopher Columbus's ship, the Santa Maria, sitting in an indoor lake that's reportedly the biggest in the world. Next to this was the sea lion pool, where a pair of Californian sea lions and their trainers perform free shows twice a day. The pool is next to an enclosure featuring several lemurs and a three-toed sloth. I began to realise why the mall was accredited as a zoo.
Originally opened in 1981 by the Ghermezian family (patriarch Jacob moved to Edmonton from New York and his decendents, including 30-odd grandchildren, still reportedly live in the city) the mall started with 220 stores, but within two years this had grown to 460. Over the next 16 years, at an overall cost of $C1.2 billion ($1.3 billion), it continued to grow and hold the record as the world's largest mall.
It lost that status in 2004, as Asian and Middle Eastern construction booms saw it overtaken (it now ranks as the world's fifth largest).
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Comments (6)
Warren Day7
Oh yeah, Nice Blog Piyush. I've never been there though I knew that it's HUGE!
Warren Day7
I think the combination is partly due to "Bigger is Better" and partly due to "The coldest temperature ever recorded at city centre was −40.6 ?C (−41.1 ?F)"
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
Yeah it tends to snow a lot in Dallas South too! That's why I stay down here in SA. We may see that white stuff but it normally melts before hitting the ground!
We keep our amusement parks and malls separate down here in San Antonio. Go to six flags or go to North Star mall. Decisions decisions.
Warren Day7
Also Texas 2nd language = spanish
Alberta 2nd language = Newfie
Warren Day7
@Cheryl
You can think of Alberta as Canada's Texas
So Edmonton is Dallas north (extreme north)
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
Nice information on a landmark I did not even know existed and I love the photos added to the blog!