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[Paul Voebel]

4: SM Mall of Asia (4.2 million sq ft)



The SM Mall of Asia in Metro Manila, opened in 2006, consists of four buildings interconnected by walkways. It features a 20-seater tram which takes shoppers around the mall grounds.

One of the mall’s main attractions is an IMAX theater with one of the world’s biggest 3D screens. The mall also features an Olympic-sized ice skating rink. It can accommodate both recreational and competitive figure skating, as well as ice hockey.

[Paul Voebel]

3: Central World (4.62 million sq ft)



Opened in 1990, the eight-story CentralWorld is the largest shopping mall in Thailand. It marketed itself as a middle class shopping center, opposed to the upper class-marketed Siam Paragon.

On 19th May of this year, CentralWorld was one of the many properties set on fire by antigovernment protestors. The fire raged for two days and the Zen department store collapsed in the fire.

After months of repair works, the shopping complex reopened on 28th September with 80% of its retail space open for business.

[Paul Voebel]

2: Golden Resources Mall (6.0 million sq ft)



At 1.5 times the size of the Mall of America, Golden Resources Mall was the world’s largest shopping mall from 2004 to 2005. Although the developer of the mall initially estimated that the mall would have 50,000 shoppers a day, as of 2004 the actual number was far smaller, as few as 20 in an hour.

One problem was that prices of most items sold were far beyond the purchasing ability of most ordinary Chinese. Another barrier was the inaccessibility of Golden Resources Shopping Mall to foreign consumers due to its location outside the heart of Beijing.

[Paul Voebel]

1: New South China Mall (6.46 million sq ft)



New South China Mall in Dongguan is the largest mall in the world based on gross leasable area. The mall features seven zones modeled on international cities including a replica of the Arc de Triomphe and a canal with gondolas.

It also has an indoor-outdoor roller coaster. What is doesn’t have is customers. Since its opening in 2005, the mall has suffered from a severe lack of occupants.