West Edmonton Mall, The “Greatest Indoor Show on Earth”
alberta, edmonton, recreation, shopping, west edmonton mall,
It is quite possible that you could actually shop ’til you drop at the West Edmonton Mall.
The retail and entertainment showplace covers 48 city blocks, which makes it the size of a small city. The average yearly visitation to the mall is 22 million people, making WEM the No. 1 tourist attraction in all of Alberta – and most of western Canada.
It is home to more than 800 stores and services, nine entertainment attractions, a spacious hotel and 100 dining venues. West Edmonton Mall is zoned as a shopping centre and is also accredited as a zoo.
The mall opened in September 1981 with Phase I consisting of 1.1 million square feet with 220 stores.
Nobody then could have imagined what a Phase II might look like. It was just as impressive, opening in 1983 and increasing the overall size by another 1.1 million square feet.
Phase III opened in 1985 with attractions such as World Waterpark, Deep Sea Adventure and Sea Life Caverns, and 1986 saw the addition of a 12-story Fantasyland Hotel. During the 1990s, WEM worked at raising fun factor to the max, and in order to accommodate the ever-increasing number of tourists, a second hotel was added across the street in 1999.
“I enjoy the IMAX movie theatre at the mall as well as watching the sea lion shows on the weekends when I’m there,” says Kara Reed, an employment outreach consultant with the City of Edmonton. “My husband and I also like to take in a live show every once in awhile at Jubilations Dinner Theatre.”
Reed says her favourite stores at West Edmonton Mall are H&M, lululemon athletica and Old Navy, and her favourite restaurant is Old Spaghetti Factory.
“I’m lucky that the mall is close to where I live, and I shop there on a weekly basis,” she says. “It’s nice that I’m able to make one stop to get everything I need, instead of driving from store to store somewhere else.”
Today, the mall that bills itself as The Greatest Indoor Show on Earth is home to the world’s largest indoor amusement park, the world’s largest indoor lake complete with a replica of Christopher Columbus’ Santa Maria, and the world’s largest indoor wave pool. It also features a casino and themed streets such as Europa Boulevard, Chinatown and Bourbon Street. Meanwhile, outdoors is the world’s largest parking lot with room for 20,000 vehicles.
“West Edmonton Mall is great for me because it has many specialty boutiques and mainstream stores that are unique to Edmonton,” says Amal Jamal, who is also an employment outreach consultant with the City of Edmonton.
Jamal says she doesn’t live close to WEM, but makes a point of visiting it at least once a month.
“My fiancé and I can’t leave West Edmonton Mall without visiting stores such as Bebe, Sephora, BCBG Max Azria, Nine West and Femme de Carriere,” she says. “We also visit Bourbon Street for some good food at Moxies between all the shopping madness. It’s an all-in-one mall that works for me. It is amazing.”
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Story by Kevin Litwin
Photo by Jeff Adkins
