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Shopping Center Studies at Eastern Connecticut
State University
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in the United States This table is intended as a general guide to the largest US shopping malls, as information may not be complete or up-to-date. All the listed malls are enclosed unless otherwise noted. Listed in order of gross feasible areas (GLA), which are largely self-reported by mall managers. Source: Directory of Major Malls: 2008. |
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The largest shopping malls seem to hold the same fascination as the tallest skyscrapers, the longest bridge spans, and a host of similar extreme achievements in architecture and engineering. Some large malls actively promote their size with pride, implying that they offer a greater variety of merchandise or a richer consumer experience in comparison with their smaller competitors. Tables 1 and 3 on this site are based on simple criteria: (1) a shopping mall is an integrated commercial space, usually a single enclosed building, devoted predominantly to retail sales and services and (2) it is managed by a single entity, such as the owner or a management company. Size is based on gross leasable area (GLA), that is the total area of floor space leased for retail shops, consumer services, and entertainment, including restaurants. The total floor area of any shopping center or mall is inevitably larger than the gross leaseable area. The difference can be accounted for by mall offices, utility areas, storage, rest rooms, interior plazas, and other non-revenue producing spaces. Areas that are not let on long-term leases, such as assembly halls, exhibition space, public meeting rooms, and the like are usually not included in GLA figures, though they may produce some rental revenue. The Mall of America, for example, uses a substantial portion of its interior space of 4.2-million square feet for non-retail functions, including an interior amusement park. The Directory of Major Malls and most other sources of shopping center data do not include all this considerable space when reporting the GLA. Nevertheless, with 2,768,399 square feet of GLA, it is still the largest mall in the United States. The sizes of other shopping malls have become more muddled with the proliferation of mixed-use developments, such as lifestyle centers and festival marketplaces, that combine consumer activities with sites of historic interest, entertainment, leisure activities, and residential areas, often scattered among several buildings. Retail space in such settings may take on forms that are nearly identical to stand-alone shopping malls, but increasingly retail space is shared with other activities. In other cases, promoters have touted the large size of shopping centers by including other distinct entities, such as separate big-box stores, restaurants, and even adjacent shopping centers. That may be the case at the Eastwood Mall complex outside of Youngstown, Ohio, and at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. The mall complex at King of Prussia has sought to establish its place among the largest in the United States as a result of the merger of three adjacent malls. King of Prussia comprises half-a-dozen stand-alone stores plus three malls that have been connected by a crosswalk and operated by a single management company. They are the the Plaza (formerly Plaza King Mall, opened in 1962) the Pavilion (formerly the Court Pavilion of King of Prussia, opened in 1976), and the Court (formerly the Court Pavilion at King of Prussia). Thus the total GLA at King of Prussia appears to be nearly 2.8-million square feet, according to the Directory of Major Malls, which otherwise would make it eligible for a place among the largest malls in the United States. The core of the Eastwood Mall Complex is a single enclosed shopping center, but the management claims a number of separate strip malls, big box stores, and restaurants adjacent to the parking lot or on neighboring streets as part of the mall complex. This mall sprawl exceeds the criteria of a shopping center as a single distinct entity. Ordering the largest malls in the world by size is even more problematic because of uncertainties about just what malls outside the United States are reporting as their gross leaseable areas. Some mall managers may be reporting gross floor area for their entire malls, which could include walkways, offices, or areas occupied by non-retail activities, such as exhibit areas, public meeting rooms, and educational attractions. Some malls may use other unspecified criteria for reporting their size. Malls that report such figures are not directly comparable with those that report size in terms of strict gross leasable area. |
