Aberdeen Centre

infobox shopping mall
shopping_mall_name = Aberdeen Centre


caption = Present logo, with Chinese name
location = Richmond, British Columbia, Canada
opening_date = 1989 (original building)
2003 (current building)
developer= Fairchild Development
manager= Fairchild Group
owner= Fairchild Group
number_of_stores = 150
number_of_anchors =
floor_area = convert|380000|sqft|m2|abbr=on
parking = Yes, covered
floors = 3
website = http://www.aberdeencentre.com

Aberdeen Centre is a shopping mall in Richmond, British Columbia. It is located in the Golden Village district on Hazelbridge Way, bordered by Cambie Road to the north. It primarily serves the Asian-Canadian population in the Greater Vancouver area, but is striving towards an appeal to Western customers as well. It was named after the famous Aberdeen Harbour of Hong Kong. Aberdeen Centre is also in the process of constructing a condominium complex attached to the mall itself.

The mall is owned by the Fairchild Group, a company that also owns and operates many of the Chinese-language television channels and radio stations in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto.

Free wireless internet access is available in the mall primarily in the 3rd floor food court. [cite web |url=http://isp.lynx.net/whatsnew/wireless/ |title=FREE Wireless Internet Connection @ Aberdeen Centre |accessdate=2008-08-03 |work=Lynx Communications |publisher=Lynx Communications |date=Last modified August 2004]

History

The original Aberdeen Centre was built in 1989 and was one of the first Asian malls in Canada. It contained about 50 to 75 stores, including a bowling alley and a movie theatre that showed Chinese films. At that time, the Chinese name of the mall was also borrowed from the Aberdeen Harbour in Hong Kong: which literally means "Little Hong Kong". The mall was called "Little Hong Kong Centre" in Chinese.

As new Asian malls such as Yaohan Centre and President Plaza opened, it soon became apparent that the original Aberdeen was too small to compete. It was demolished in 2001, and it was rebuilt for approximately $130 million. Architect Bing Thom was hired to design the building.

The current Aberdeen Centre, opened in 2003, is about three times the original mall's size and has around 100 stores, making it one of the largest malls in Richmond. While the English name remains Aberdeen Centre, the Chinese name of mall was changed to "Era Street". The new mall's primary anchor store is Daiso, which is the company's first store outside of Asia. Other notable stores include a Ferrari- but smaller in scale, was built at the centre of the mall and performs shows every hour. [ [http://www.aberdeencentre.com/en/fountain.php Aberdeen Centre ] ]

In 2006, the mall became home to the operations of Fairchild Group's Chinese-language TV and radio operations in Vancouver. Fairchild Radio (CJVB AM1470 and CHKG FM96.1) now has studios on the second floor, while Fairchild TV and Talentvision have their news studios on the third floor. [cite web | title = Fairchild Media Group| publisher = Popular Lifestyle Entertainment Magazine | url = http://www.plem.com/archive/0604/city.php | language = Chinese | accessdate = 2008-03-27]

On August 8, 2008, the largest viewing party in the Vancouver area for the 2008 Summer Olympics took place at the mall, with thousands of spectators, some of whom had lined up since 3:30 in the morning. [cite web | title = Thousands flock to Olympic party | publisher = Richmond Review | url = http://www.bclocalnews.com/richmond_southdelta/richmondreview/news/26434014.html | language = English | accessdate = 2008-08-08] It marks the last Olympics before Vancouver plays host to the Winter Olympics in 2010, which includes events in Richmond.

Transportation

Public transit buses, serviced by TransLink, have connections to the mall, with additional routes to downtown Vancouver and New Westminster. It is also served by the 98 B-Line, a bus rapid transit line to Vancouver International Airport and downtown Vancouver; the Aberdeen Centre stop is called Aberdeen. The future Aberdeen Station of the Canada Line, taking its name from the mall, is slated to be built beside it.

Incidents

On February 9, 2006, a knife battle between four men occurred in the upper food court area of the mall. One man was fatally stabbed in the heart and died at the scene. Another was seriously injured, suffering a knife wound at the back. The two other men fled the scene amid horrified shoppers. It was the first homicide of the year for the City of Richmond. [ [http://www.cknw.com/news/news_local.cfm?cat=74281635912&rem=30268&red=801163523aPBIny&wids=410&gi=1&gm=news_local.cfm CKNW News Talk 980 - CKNWAM - 2 ] ]

Gallery

ee also

*Golden Village (Richmond, British Columbia)
*Parker Place
*President Plaza
*Yaohan Centre

References

External links

* [http://www.aberdeencentre.com/en/index.php Official site]