World's Largest Malls according Forbes

[bunge]

Maybe it's in the number of people. Looking at Wikipedia, Metro Manila has an area of 636 sq km and a population of 11.3M. The density per sq km is 17.8K people

Compare that to say, Tucson AZ which has a city area of 505 sq km and a population of 516K. The density per sq km is 2.7K people.

That's the city itself. Outside the city spread out all over at an area maybe 4x-5x the size of Tucson itself are another 930k people.

At its most crowded, Tucson's population density is still much less than Manila's. I'm not sure if that's a criteria for mall-building. But, if I was building a mall, I'd consider it.

We have 2 major malls plus several smaller ones, one at the north, the other at the south, all within city limits. Most homeowners outside the city limits are against malls in their area because they tend to lower property value.

It's the opposite here. Malls are a welcome sight because they tend to increase the value of the area.

[j_avonni]

SM - from a small stall in Quiapo to among the biggest malls in the world. Ang galing!

[zman]

Ang pinoy naghihirap? he he. Pansin nyo ba that on a workday in the US konti lang ang tao sa mall pero dito sa atin, comparatively, marami pa rin even though it's a workday?

[Isuzoom]

maraming namamasyal...

[BoEinG_747]

kaya madami namamasyal sa mall kahit weekdays

kasi mainit sa loob ng bahay ..mga nag papalamig lang ang mga iyon ...

[Jun aka Pekto]

It's the opposite here. Malls are a welcome sight because they tend to increase the value of the area.

I guess people here tend to value privacy a lot more in expense of convenience.

[Syuryuken]

kaya madami namamasyal sa mall kahit weekdays

kasi mainit sa loob ng bahay ..mga nag papalamig lang ang mga iyon ...

Kabarangay pano mo masasabing nagpapalamig lang mga yun eh lagi namang puno mga sinehan, kainan, beauty parlor etc....

[Jun aka Pekto]

Ang pinoy naghihirap? he he. Pansin nyo ba that on a workday in the US konti lang ang tao sa mall pero dito sa atin, comparatively, marami pa rin even though it's a workday?

People with homes and material things that go with owning one tend to stay home during weekdays. Going to malls is more of a weekend or "after-Mass" occasion.

Still, the malls here are relatively empty during weekdays except after 3:30pm when HS kids are released and they head for the mall. That's the first wind.

Around 4:30pm, just about everyone who works go home and changes. Around 5:30pm, the second wind starts when many of them head back to town, including the malls.

The patterns are reliable enough that we use it to time our commutes when the least traffic is likely except Friday nights. Anything goes Friday nights.

[ssaloon]

+1 kay boybi.

[empy]

#17 lang ang Sawgrass Mills? it takes me at least 10 minutes to circle the perimeter of that mall by car (it's a circle).

but note that the list is by gross leasable area. i've been to South Coast Plaza, Del Amo and Sawgrass, and while they are absolutely huge, most of their area is parking lots (i.e. hindi leasable). Megamall on the other hand, which is the only RP mall on the list that i've been to, uses its space quite efficiently, with parking being more stacked, and most of its area packed solid with leasable shops and kiosk areas.

also, i think boybi and ghosthunter have it right on - developed countries have more malls but smaller ones, while countries like the RP and India tend to build super malls, because of population density - but also because of less competition (isn't the Philippines more of an oligopoly between Sy and Gokongwei?), and the need for economies of scale in mall building (only the big boys can put up malls, while in the US any midsize developer with decent capital can put up a decent community mall)