The biggest mall in the world is the South China Mall in Dongguan, China at 890,000 square meters total and 600,000 square meters of leasable space. It has 7 theme zones dedicated to different parts of the world including Amsterdam, Paris, Caribbean, California, Rome, Venice and Egypt. It has the capacity for 1500 stores, but much of its space goes empty because it is located in the suburbs of Dongguan and is only accessible by car.

The next largest mall is also in China; the Golden Resources Mall in Beijing. It is 680,000 square meters total with 560,000 meters of leasable space. Like the South China Mall, it has been experiencing a limited success for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it is located near the Fourth Ring Road in Beijing, an area that most tourists don’t frequent. Secondly, even if a tourist were to make their way to the mall, many of the stores don’t accept foreign credit cards. Lastly, many of the things sold in the mall are outside the disposable income bracket of many Chinese citizens. Clearly, China is trying to cater to a growing middle class; the infrastructure is coming into place, now it just needs the people to catch up.

Some of the biggest malls in the United States include the King of Prussia Mall near Philadelphia which ranks 15th on the list of the world’s largest malls at 259,000 square meters of leasable space, the Mall of America in Minnesota with 257,000 square meters of leasable space and the South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, California at 250,000 square meters of leasable space.