A shopping mall or shopping centre is one or more buildings forming a
complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting
walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a
parking area – a modern, indoor version of the traditional marketplace.
Modern “carfriendly” strip malls developed from the 1920s, and
shopping malls corresponded with the rise of suburban living in the
United States after World War II.
In most of the world the term shopping centre is used, especially in
Europe and Australia; however shopping mall is also used,
predominantly in North America. Shopping precinct and shopping
arcade are also used. In North America, the term shopping mall is
usually applied to enclosed retail structures (and may be abbreviated to
simply mall) while shopping center usually refers to openair retail
complexes, both usually have large parking lots, face major traffic arterials and have few pedestrian connections
to surrounding neighborhoods.
History of Malls
Isfahan's Grand Bazaar, which is largely covered, dates from the 10th century. The 10 kilometer long covered
Tehran's Grand Bazaar also has a long history. The Grand Bazaar of Istanbul was built in the 15th century and is
still one of the largest covered markets in the world, with more than 58 streets and 4,000 shops.
Gostiny Dvor in St. Petersburg, which opened in 1785, may be regarded as one of the first purposelybuilt
shopping malls, as it consisted of more than 100 shops covering an area of over 53,000 m2
(570,000 sq ft).
The Oxford Covered Market in Oxford, England opened in 1774 and still runs today
The Burlington Arcade in London was opened in 1819. The Arcade in Providence, Rhode Island introduced the
concept to the United States in 1828, making it the oldest mall in America.[2] The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in
Milan, Italy followed in the 1860s and is closer to large modern malls in spaciousness. Other large cities created
arcades and shopping centres in the late 19th century and early 20th century, including the Cleveland Arcade and
Moscow's GUM in 1890. Early shopping centers designed for the automobile include Market Square, Lake Forest,
Illinois (1916) and Country Club Plaza, Kansas City, Missouri (1924).
n early indoor mall in the United States was the Lake View Store at Morgan Park, Duluth, Minnesota, which was
built in 1915 and held its grand opening on July 20, 1916. The architect was Dean and Dean from Chicago and
the building contractor was George H. Lounsberry from Duluth. The building is twostories with a full basement
and shops were originally located on all three levels. All of the stores were located within the interior of the mall
with some shops being accessible from both inside and out.
