West Edmonton Mall
| West Edmonton Mall | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Europe boulevard | |
| Basic data | |
| Location: |
Edmonton , Alberta , Canada
|
| Opening: | September 15, 1981 |
| Total area: | 492,000m m² |
| Sales area : | 350,000 m² |
| Shops: | 800 |
| Visitors: | 30.8 million per year |
| Turnover : | $ 926 million |
| Owner : | West Edmonton Mall Properties Inc. |
| Website: | West Edmonton Mall |
| Transport links | |
| Parking spaces : | 20,000+ |
| Technical specifications | |
| Construction time : | 1981-1998 |
| Architect : | Maurice Sunderland Architects Inc. |
| Building-costs: | 1.2 billion CAD |
The West Edmonton Mall (short: WEM) is located in Edmonton , Alberta , Canada .
For 23 years, from 1981 to 2004, it was the largest shopping mall in the world. Today, with 350,000 m² of retail space, it is the largest shopping center in North America and number six in the world; however, the total area of the complex is 492,000 m². This makes the mall the largest of its kind, not in terms of sales area, but in terms of its total area.
The mall was built in four phases from 1981 to 1998. After completion of the last construction phase, it now covers a total area of around 500,000 m². The total construction cost was approximately 1.2 billion Canadian dollars .
history
At the end of 1940 the wealthy Persian family Ghermezian left their homeland and emigrated to New York. The father of the family and patriarch Jacob Ghermezian sent his eldest son to Montreal to study at the university and later to take over the family business and the trade in valuable Persian carpets. Between 1960 and 1970 the family decided to immigrate to Canada , whereupon they settled in Edmonton. At the end of the 1970s, the family had the idea of opening a shopping center.
The first part of the shopping center with around 220 stores and a few restaurants opened in September 1981. The second part followed in September 1983; it was significantly larger than the first part and included the ice rink, the Galaxyland amusement park, another 240 shops as well as restaurants and cafes. The third part of the shopping center opened in September 1985 and included the World Waterpark, Deep Sea Adventure, Dolphin Lagoon, Sea Life Caverns, and Professor Wem's Adventure Golf. The completion of the third part increased the area to 570,000 m 2
present
There are nearly 800 stores and other establishments in the mall, including three major department stores, The Bay , Zellers, and Sears . There are 26 movie theaters and an IMAX 3D cinema. Furthermore, there is the amusement park Galaxyland , a water park , an aquarium , an ice hockey rink , an artificial lake (Deep Sea Adventure) and more than 110 restaurants. The fun pool (World Waterpark) has 17 slides, the highest of which is 42 m high and allows a top speed of over 50 km / h for the daring. The tallest indoor bungee tower in the world is also here in the bathroom. The World Waterpark is the largest indoor water park in North America. There is space for 10,000 visitors. The artificial lake houses, among other things, a replica of the Santa Maria . The world's largest car park with 23,000 spaces is available for 22 million visitors a year.
Records of the mall:
- world's largest indoor amusement park
- world's largest triple indoor looping roller coaster
- world's largest indoor river
- world's largest parking area
- The world's largest fixed indoor bungee jumping tower
- world's largest wave pool
Movie
In 2007, most of the film Christmas in Wonderland was shot on the West Edmonton Mall.
See also
Picture gallery
Replica ship of the Santa Maria von Columbus in the shopping center
Leisure pool
The ice rink
Web links
- Internet presence of the mall (English)
- official Youtube Channel of the West Edmonton Mall (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ West Edmonton Mall [1] , viewed June 15, 2011.
- ^ West Edmonton Mall History [2] , viewed June 15, 2011.
- ^ West Edmonton Mall Facts [3] , viewed June 15, 2011.
- ↑ West Edmonton Mall - Alberta: Superlative shopping and fun ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Coordinates: 53 ° 31 ′ 19 ″ N , 113 ° 37 ′ 19 ″ W.