South China Mall “A ghost town “
Malls have always been the ideal destination for shopping enthusiasts, And even for weekend dates and hangouts. Especially in our modern times where malls are no longer a destination just for shoppers. with the amusement parks, the cinema theaters, and the other entertainment attractions.
With all the success many malls have achieved throughout the years many real estate developers and other businessmen from all over the world are rushing to build malls in their native nations and abroad. But not every hit is accurate, and not every investment is guaranteed.
in the early 2000s, many malls opened their doors to the public. One of the main ones is “South China Mall”. It’s considered the largest mall in the world by square area (7,099,990 Sq ft ) it was built on farmlands in Dongguan, China, and opened in 2005. the owner “Founder Group” has declared it as an important day in china and promised the mall will be the most visited in the nation.
And despite the expensive construction cost of 1,3 Billion dollars. Unfortunately, the expectations were not met. The mall has been abandoned since its opening. only less than 1% of the mall is occupied and people rarely visit it. The interior of the mall is kind of close to a horror movie scene the way how empty it is. Abandoned escalators, stores, food courts etc…
The mall also have a small rollercoaster and and 7 areasmodeled after international cultures and themes : Amesstrdam, California, The Carribean, Egypt, Paris, Rome and Venice. along with 1.3 mile of water canal.
Despite all the amenities and the huge space the mall is offering many reasons lay behind that made it abandoned one of the main is the area the mall was built on is on a farmland away from the city and residential areas which makes it hard for people to commute. Also the town is known for being economically relying on agriculture which means that the vast majority of residents are in the farming industry therefore lack of financials and other reasons made it second to impossible for the mall to operate successfully, And despite the renovation the mall went through in 2007 it successfully achieved a small pulse where tenants and visitors started to come on in in 2012 and 2013,but eventually it is still far away from the projected expectations of the developer…
Eventually the mall is still abandoned and people only visits the site where the cinema theater is located as a weekend gateway… The developer company still hasn’t give up and is still working on solutions and resolutions to fulfil it and put it to work.
Will the mall become an international shopping destination like the dubai mall or the mall of America in Minneapolis?… this question is harder than answering what was existing pre the big bang.. The coming years will definitely answer it and shows if it’s gonna be a fully working mall or if it’s gonna come out as a failed investment with over a billion dollars wasted..
