Pacific Mall
Encyclopedia : P : PA : PAC : Pacific Mall
Pacific Mall (Traditional Chinese: 太古廣場, Simplified Chinese: 太古广场, Cantonese (Yale): taai3 gu2 gwong2 coeng4, Pinyin: tai4 gu3 guang3 chang3) is a shopping centre located in Markham, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the northeast side of Steeles Avenue and Kennedy Road, right across the municipal border from the City of Toronto. It is located on the site formerly occupied by Cullen Country Barns.
Pacific Mall is the largest indoor Chinese mall in North America. It is located in Markham, a town in York Region, where around 30% of the population is of Chinese descent.
Pacific Mall is a shopping attraction that incorporates a traditional Pacific-style market. This Chinese shopping centre has over 400 mini-shops selling a large variety of retail goods, as well as specialties such as herbs and ginseng, prepared Chinese foods and entertainment. Along with Chinese fashions, herbs, flowers, accessories, CDs, DVDs, audio hi-fi, cell phones, prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses, housewares and other interesting items, there are many shops that sell Japanese toys and stationery. It is also a well-known place for computer and car enthusiasts alike. Pacific Mall is surrounded by a shopping complex, including Market Village, encompassing over 500 stores and is served by both indoor and outdoor parking areas with over 1,500 parking spaces combined. Pacific Mall is a very popular location for Chinese customers. The mall is crowded on weekends. As an official Canadian Tourist Attraction, the mall is open year-round including statutory holidays. Pacific Mall also hosts festivals and celebrations for the community.
Controversy
Pacific Mall and neighbouring Chinese malls are known for their proliferation of pirated DVDs. In May 2005, over $800,000 worth of pirated DVDs were seized by the RCMP. However, in May 2006, the Toronto Star found that the previous raids had done little to stem the tide of pirated DVDs.On July 13th, 2006, the RCMP once again raided a number of stores in the Pacific Mall and other locations associated to the manufacture of counterfeit software, seizing a large quantity of games and shutting down a major illicit software manufacturing facility.
See also
- Toronto's Chinatowns
- List of Canadian Chinatowns
External links
Footnotes
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