New South China Mall

New South China Mall

SPAR Hypermarket at New South China Mall
Location Dongguan, China
Opening date 2005
Owner Founder Group formerly Dongguan Sanyuan Yinghui Investment & Development
No. of stores and services 47 (20 planned) (Total spaces: 2350, Unoccupied: 2303)[1]
Total retail floor area 659,611 m2
One of 2000+ empty retail spaces in New South China Mall, January 2009
Empty walkways in the mall, February 2010

New South China Mall (Chinese: 新华南Mall; pinyin: Xīn huá nán; Jyutping: San1 waa4 nam4) in Dongguan, China is the largest shopping mall in the world based on gross leasable area, and ranked second in total area to The Dubai Mall (which has extensive non-shopping space including a zoo, a hotel complex and a theme park).[2] South China Mall opened in 2005 and for over 10 years it had been mostly vacant as very few merchants have ever signed up, leading it to be dubbed a dead mall.[3] In 2015 one CNN story reported that the mall had attracted some tenants after extensive renovations and remodeling of the facility, though large portions remain vacant.[4]

Overview

With over a total area of 892,000 square metres (9,600,000 sq ft),[5] of which approximately 659,612 square metres (7,100,000 sq ft) of leasable space[2] sufficient for as many as 2,350 stores,[6] the mall was built on former farmlands,[7] in the Wanjiang District of the city. The project was spearheaded by Hu Guirong (Alex Hu[7]), who became a billionaire in the instant noodle industry.[3][8]

The mall has seven zones modeled on international cities, nations and regions, including Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Venice, Egypt, the Caribbean, and California.[5] Features include a 25-metre (82 ft) replica of the Arc de Triomphe,[5] a replica of Venice's St Mark's bell tower,[3] a 2.1-kilometre (1.3 mi) canal with gondolas,[5] and a 553-metre (1,814 ft) indoor-outdoor roller coaster.[9]

Since its opening in 2005, the mall has suffered from a severe lack of occupants. Much of the retail space was empty up to 2009, with over 99% of the stores vacant.[3][10] The only occupied areas were near the entrance where several Western fast food chains are located and a parking structure re-purposed as a kart racing track.[11] A planned Shangri-La Hotel has not been realised. Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker Sam Green made a short film about the South China Mall called "Utopia Part 3: the World's Largest Shopping Mall." The film premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and was broadcast on PBS's documentary series POV.

Originally called "South China Mall", the centre was redubbed as "New South China Mall, Living City" in September 2007.[12][13]

The mall was formerly owned by Dongguan Sanyuan Yinghui Investment & Development (东莞市三元盈晖投资发展有限公司),[5] Hu Guirong's company, but a controlling interest in the mall has been sold to Founder Group, a division of Peking University.[3]

The recent makeover was orchestrated by PKU Resources, which took over the property from the original owner Hu Guirong in Dec. 2006.[14]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to New South China Mall.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.southchinamall.com.cn/
  2. 1 2 Van Riper, Tom (2008-01-18). "The World's Largest Malls". Forbes. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Donohue, Michael (2008-06-12). "Mall of misfortune". The National. Abu Dhabi Media Company. Archived from the original on 2011-05-01. Retrieved 2010-01-12. Location: Dongguan, China Year Opened: 2005 Gross Leasable Area: 7.1 million square feet
  4. ↑ Nylander, Johann (28 April 2015). "Chinese 'ghost mall' back from the dead?". CNN. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Matthew Benjamin and Nipa Piboontanasawat (April 17, 2007). "China's mall glut reflects an unbalanced economy". The New York Times. Retrieved February 8, 2010.
  6. ↑ "区域规划". Retrieved 2010-02-16.
  7. 1 2 Utopia, Part 3: The World’s Largest Shopping Mall, August 18, 2009, Retrieved February 9, 2010
  8. ↑ David Barboza (May 25, 2005). "China, New Land of Shoppers, Builds Malls on Gigantic Scale". The New York Times. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
  9. ↑ "The Not-So-Great Mall of China: Welcome to the world's largest (and loneliest) shopping centre". Daily Mail. October 29, 2009. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
  10. ↑ Donohue, Michael (2008-06-12). "Mall of misfortune". The National. Abu Dhabi Media Company. Retrieved 2008-07-17.
  11. ↑ Jo Steele (October 29, 2009). "Welcome to the loneliest shopping mall in the world". Metro. Retrieved February 8, 2010.
  12. ↑ "华南MALL"变脸"突围 昨起变更为新华南MALL·生活城". Nanfang Daily (in Chinese). September 20, 2009. Retrieved February 15, 2010.
  13. ↑ "Upcoming Events at the New South China Mall". Retrieved 2009-01-15.
  14. ↑ "Wan China Times, Taiwan".

Coordinates: 23°2′15″N 113°43′14″E / 23.03750°N 113.72056°E / 23.03750; 113.72056

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