West Edmonton Mall (WEM), located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada is one of the largest shopping malls in the world and is the largest in North America, and as such is Alberta's number one tourist attraction.
West Edmonton Mall is located at [53°31′17.07″N, 113°37′04.56″W], in a suburban part of the city, covers a gross area of 500,000 m² (5.4 million ft²) and cost C$1.2 billion to build. There are over 800 stores and services, over 100 eating establishments plus nine world class tourist attractions (see below), and parking for more than 20,000 vehicles in the world's largest parking lot. More than 23,000 people are employed at the property. The mall receives 22 million visits per year, and sometimes refers to itself as "the eighth wonder of the world".
Galaxyland is an indoor amusement park located on the north side of the mall. There are more than 20 rides and attractions including the triple loop Mindbender roller coaster.
World Waterpark
The World Waterpark is North America's largest indoor waterpark with a size of over 20,000 m2 (5 acres). The park is known for its high-speed waterslide called the Sky Screamer, which is often mistaken as the park's tallest slide at 78 ft (23.8 m). The highest slide in the park is the Twister, which is 83 ft (25.3 m) high.
It recently closed in late January for renovations, but has since reopened in late February. The renovations brought new signage, a complete resurfacing of the wave pool, and change room upgrades. Also, outside food or beverage is no longer allowed.
World Waterpark, West Edmonton Mall
Blue Thunder Wave Pool - 1500 HP Hydraulic/Mech Wave Generators
Deep Sea Adventure
The Deep Sea Adventure is an indoor lake which contains a salt-water habitat with performing sea lions and a replica of Christopher Columbus' Santa María, built during the 1986 World Exposition in Vancouver. The Santa María has been used for an annual fundraiser for Christmas, raising toys for underprivileged children. Also, the submarines, a long time favorite, have been replaced with the Deep-Sea Derby, a bumper boat ride with squirt guns.
Professor WEM's Adventure Golf
Professor WEM's Adventure Golf, an 18-hole miniature golf course, and the Ice Palace, an NHL-size skating rink, are some of the mall's other attractions (see below). Although the dolphins and other sea life animals were a big attraction, they have been since removed from the Mall.
History
West Edmonton Mall first opened its doors to the public on September 15, 1981. The mall has been expanded three times since its opening in 1981, with these additions completed in 1983 (Phase II), 1985 (Phase III) and 1999 (Phase IV).
The mall's amusement park was originally called Fantasyland, until the Walt Disney Company took the mall to court, claiming ownership of the name, which is used in its theme parks such as Disneyland. WEM lost and was forced to rename the attraction Galaxyland. However, the mall was allowed to retain the name Fantasyland Hotel for its on-site hotel.
On June 14, 1986, an accident involving the "Mindbender" roller coaster at Fantasyland killed three people and seriously injured a fourth. The accident occurred when a truck disengaged from a rear car causing it to fishtail and eject its four occupants. As a result, the ride was closed for seven months for upgrades.
In the early 1990s, the Woodward's department store chain, one of WEM's anchors, went bankrupt, and its locations were purchased by the Hudson's Bay Company. As a result, WEM boasted two full Bay department stores until the late 1990s when one of the locations was closed, leading to a renovation that added a Famous Players multiplex, a two-floor HMV location, a 12.5 million dollar Playdium entertainment complex (now closed) as well as a Chapters book store.
The closure in the early 1990s of Canadian Tire left a vacancy that sat unfilled for nearly a decade until it was converted into a "Chinatown"-themed area in 2002, which includes an Asian grocery store, T & T Supermarket.
Throughout the 1990s, the actual store and restaurant count gradually declined to around 600, a result of store expansions, renovations and increasing footprints of today's popular chains. Mall advertising, however, still trumpets the "Over 800 Stores" tagline.
The mall suffered millions of dollars in damage on July 11, 2004 when a severe storm of hail and rain caused roofs to fail and drains to overflow. The Ice Palace and surrounding sections were the most damaged, the World Waterpark saw a sewage overflow. The damage was promptly repaired.
Celebrities
Numerous celebrities have been attracted to West Edmonton Mall over the years, either for pleasure or for business. The celebrity-owned Planet Hollywood had a location in WEM for several years, and Arnold Schwarzenegger considered shooting a movie there.
In September 2005, the mall was mentioned in gossip columns around the world when Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt visited while Pitt was filming a movie in various sites throughout Western Canada, including Fort Edmonton Park. At the time rumours were correct regarding the two actors' relationship, and two WEM employees subsequently became causes célèbres when they managed to photograph the two together...
Future developments
Permission from the City of Edmonton was recently granted for an expansion. This will include additional retail space, a facility for sports, trade shows and conventions, a 12-story office building, and a 600-unit apartment building, along with more parking.
Currently, a number of large shopping malls, all larger than the West Edmonton Mall, are under construction in China, and the retail centre in Beijing has already displaced the West Edmonton Mall as the world's largest. The Dubai Mall, to be located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with a total area of 9 million sq. ft., including more than 1000 stores, claims to be the largest mall in the world, when completed.
