West Edmonton Mall - Worlds Largest for 24 years - Edmonton, Alberta
Posted by: 
wildwoodke
N 53° 31.445 W 113° 37.540
12U E 325949 N 5933780
For 24 years West Edmonton Mall held the record as being the world's largest mall. It is located in, you guessed it, west Edmonton, Alberta.
Waymark Code: WM4D2H
Location: Alberta, Canada
Date Posted: 08/07/2008
Views: 122
The West Edmonton Mall (WEM), once promoted as the "Eighth Wonder of the World," is a leading tourist attraction in central Alberta. The WEM covers 49 hectares and encloses 493 000 square metres of space - the equivalent of 104 football fields. For 24 years it was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest shopping centre.
The WEM remains the largest shopping centre in North America. The WEM was among the first shopping centres to offer a wide range of amenities, from water parks to themed streets - attractive at any time of year but particularly during winter. These amenities attracted visitors to walk and gawk, then stop and shop. WEM's massive and essentially anti urban form generated strong opinions from the residents of Edmonton, both positive and negative, about the presence of such a behemoth in their community."
See more in the Canadian Encyclopedia website (http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008530)