Pacific Mall facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Pacific Mall

Main entrance to Pacific Mall
Location	Markham, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates	43°49′35″N 79°18′23″W / 43.82639°N 79.30639°W / 43.82639; -79.30639
Opening date	1996 or 1997
Developer	The Torgan Group
Owner	Pacific Mall Condominium Corporation
No. of stores and services	450
Total retail floor area	270,000 sq ft (25,084 m2)
No. of floors	3
Public transit access	43A   53   953  Route 8 Kennedy
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	太古廣場
Simplified Chinese	太古广场
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Tàigǔ Guǎngchǎng Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization taai3 gu2 gwong2 cheung4

Pacific Mall is a huge Asian shopping mall in Markham, Ontario, Canada. It's known as the biggest indoor Asian shopping mall in North America. Some even say it's the largest Asian shopping mall in the entire Western world. You can find it at the corner of Steeles Avenue and Kennedy Road, right where Markham meets Toronto.

The mall first opened in the mid-1990s. This was a time when many people from China were moving to Canada. Pacific Mall is special because it's set up like a condo building. This means its 450 shops are owned individually, not by one big company. Inside the mall, there's a cool area called Heritage Town. It has a food court and a market. This spot is a popular place for tourists visiting the Greater Toronto Area.

Next to Pacific Mall, there used to be another mall called Market Village. Now, a new project called the Remington Centre is planned for that spot. This new mall would connect to Pacific Mall. Together, they would be super big, covering about 1,000,000 square feet. However, this project has been delayed many times. Pacific Mall has also faced challenges with some stores selling unauthorized copies of goods. Police have visited the mall several times because of this. In 2018, it was even listed as a "notorious market" by a U.S. trade office.

History of Pacific Mall

Before the Mall Was Built

Pacific Mall stands where Cullen Country Barns used to be. This was a farm-themed place that opened in 1983. It had shops, a theater, and restaurants. Len Cullen, who also started Cullen Gardens in Whitby, Ontario, created it. The complex looked like two barns with special roofs and a tall concrete silo. These weren't old farm buildings. Instead, Len Cullen bought them and moved them from Pickering, Ontario, to Markham in the 1970s. A fire damaged part of the complex in 1988. It was then taken down in 1994. Some parts of the nearby Market Village used to look similar to the old Cullen complex.

Opening and How It Grew

Emperor's chair at Heritage Town in Pacific Mall

Pacific Mall opened either in 1996 or 1997. Its Chinese name, "太古廣場," sounds like "Tai Gu Gwong Cheung." This name comes from a famous place called Pacific Place in Hong Kong. When Pacific Mall first opened, it was the only mall of its size in the Markham and Scarborough areas.

By 1993, all 715 of the mall's shop units were sold. They cost between $59,800 and $249,800 each. Many buyers were from Hong Kong. The mall's units were advertised a lot there. Many people bought units to meet a special investment rule for moving to Canada.

At first, business was slow. So, in 1999, half of the unused second floor was changed into Heritage Town. This new area became a food court and market with about 100 vendors. The goal was to attract tourists and people who weren't Chinese. The mall owners hired artists from China to make special decorations for Heritage Town. These included a big dragon carving, 300 lanterns, an emperor's chair, a wooden bridge, and terracotta soldiers.

Heritage Town was a big success and brought in more visitors. Because of this, Pacific Mall was named a Canadian Tourist Attraction. This means it can stay open all year, even on holidays, unlike many other stores.

Today, Pacific Mall is still a major spot for tourism in Canada. It promotes itself with flyers at airports and tourist centers across North America. Over time, more Chinese immigrants from mainland China have come to Canada. So, many shops at Pacific Mall now hire staff who can speak Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. While shops in the mall change often, many are still run by their first owners from Hong Kong.

What You'll Find at Pacific Mall

The Stores Inside

A store at Pacific Mall. The glass exterior walls and small interior square footage are defining features of the mall's condo-style units.

Pacific Mall is the largest indoor Asian shopping mall in North America. It's also said to be the biggest Asian shopping mall in the Western world. The mall is surrounded by other shops, including parts of the old Market Village. Together, they have over 500 stores and 1,500 parking spots.

The shops inside Pacific Mall are usually between 300 and 800 square feet. They sell all sorts of things! You can find traditional Chinese clothes, modern fashion, jewelry, herbal medicine, tea, electronics, phones, decorations, and Chinese books or magazines. In the past, some stores sold both real and copied CDs and DVDs. But this has become less common because of regular police checks and because people can find these things online now.

Since the mall is a condo corporation, the shop owners choose people to be on a management board. This board helps run the mall.

How the Mall is Designed

Inside the mall on a Sunday afternoon

Hallway signage at Pacific Mall

Pacific Mall was designed by Wallman Clewes Bergman Architects. They built it using red brick, steel, and glass. They wanted to create a clear, open building that looked different from its surroundings. Instead of looking like traditional Chinese buildings, they aimed for a style that fit Markham's suburban look. The inside of the mall looks like a market. You can see the roof beams, pipes, and roof decks. This style is good for making things quickly and affordably.

The mall has two main floors and a basement that leads to an underground parking lot. The main floor hallways are set up like a grid. The hallways that run north-south are named after streets in Hong Kong. For example, you'll find Hennessy Avenue, Hollywood Avenue, Pacific Avenue, Queen's Avenue, and Nathan Avenue. The hallways that run east-west have numbers. These numbers, like 218th Street and 188th Street, are often seen as lucky in Cantonese culture.

In the middle of the mall, there's an indoor courtyard with a high, dome-shaped ceiling. It has a stage where cultural shows and trade fairs take place. The second floor has a food court, an entertainment center, medical offices, more shops, and Heritage Town.

Future Plans for Expansion

Exterior of Pacific Mall

In 2005, there was an exciting announcement. Pacific Mall and Market Village planned a big expansion. This would add 400,000 square feet of new shops, a fancy hotel, condos, and a multi-level parking garage. This would make the two malls together about 1,000,000 square feet!

Later, in 2009, the developers decided to tear down Market Village. They would build a new mall called the Remington Centre right next to Pacific Mall. This project has faced many delays. Even though Markham City Council approved the plan in 2011, it still needs more approvals. It needs permission from the municipal government of Toronto and from most of the individual shop owners at Pacific Mall.

Getting to Pacific Mall

Pacific Mall is located at the corner of Steeles Avenue and Kennedy Road in Markham. This is right on the border with Toronto. You can get there by public transit. The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) buses, routes 43 Kennedy and 53 Steeles East, serve the mall. York Region Transit (YRT) Route 8 Kennedy also stops nearby. The mall is also a short walk from the Milliken GO Station, which is on the Stouffville line. The two main entrances for cars are on Redlea Avenue and Clayton Drive.

Images for kids

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  Entrance to Heritage Town, a renovated portion of the mall that was opened in 1999.

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  A store at Pacific Mall. The glass exterior walls and small interior square footage are defining features of the mall's condo-style units.

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  Pacific Mall in 2005.