Aberdeen Centre
Encyclopedia
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 Metro 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.
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. In fact, Aberdeen Centre is also a large-scale residential development situated on the shores of Aberdeen Harbour in Hong Kong.
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 Lamborghini
dealership and fashion boutique (replacing the Ferrari
-Maserati
dealership as of May 2010), Starbucks
(closed since 2009) and HSBC
. There are also a notable number of restaurants located on its upper floors. An indoor musical fountain, similar to the one in front of Bellagio Hotel
in Las Vegas
but smaller in scale, was built at the centre of the mall and performs shows every hour.
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.
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.
's Aberdeen Station along the Canada Line
, which opened on August 2009.
On October 26, 2008, a middle aged Asian man committed suicide by jumping down from the third floor food court. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Richmond RCMP ruled out any foul play and believed it was an isolated suicide incident. Similarly to what happened with the murder incident, Fairchild Television and Radio minimized the publicity by only doing a brief report. It is important to note that Fairchild Television and Aberdeen Centre are owned by the same company.
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall 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...
in Richmond, British Columbia
Richmond, British Columbia
Richmond is a coastal city, incorporated in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Part of Metro Vancouver, its neighbouring communities are Vancouver and Burnaby to the north, New Westminster to the east, and Delta to the south, while the Strait of Georgia forms its western border...
. It is located in the Golden Village
Golden Village (Richmond, British Columbia)
Golden Village is a commercial district of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada best known for its high concentration of Asian-themed shopping malls. It is the home to the second-largest Asian community in North America....
district on Hazelbridge Way, bordered by Cambie Road to the north. It primarily serves the Asian Canadian
Asian Canadian
This is a list of Canadians of Asian ancestry. Asian Canadians comprise the largest visible minority in Canada, at 11% of the Canadian population.- Ethnicity :List of Asian Canadian Demographies according to the 2006 Census- Notable Asian Canadians :...
population in the Metro Vancouver area, but is striving towards an appeal to Western customers as well. It was named after the famous Aberdeen Harbour of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. 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
Fairchild Group
The Fairchild Group is a business conglomerate in Canada, with headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Fairchild Group operates various media properties under the Fairchild Media Group name. Fairchild operates Fairchild TV , Fairchild Radio , and Mandarin broadcaster TalentVision...
, a company that also owns and operates many of the Chinese language
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
television channels and radio stations in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
and Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
.
Free wireless internet access is available in the mall primarily in the 3rd floor food court.
History
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It contained about 50 to 75 stores, including a bowling alley and a movie theatre that showed Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
films. At that time, the Chinese name of the mall was also borrowed from the Aberdeen Harbour in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
: which literally means "Little Hong Kong". The mall was called "Little Hong Kong Centre" in Chinese. In fact, Aberdeen Centre is also a large-scale residential development situated on the shores of Aberdeen Harbour in Hong Kong.
Yaohan Centre
Yaohan Centre is a shopping centre in the Golden Village district of Richmond, British Columbia. It caters mainly to Asian people, mainly those of Chinese and Japanese descent...
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 $
Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
130 million. Architect Bing Thom
Bing Thom
Bing Wing Thom, CM is a Canadian architect and urban designer.Born in Hong Kong, he immigrated to Vancouver, Canada with his family in 1950.-Career:...
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
Daiso
is the largest franchise of 100-yen shops in Japan owned by . Daiso has a range of over 100,000 goods, of which over 40 percent are imported goods, many of them from China. Many of these are own-brand goods....
, which is the company's first store outside of Asia. Other notable stores include a Lamborghini
Lamborghini
Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A., commonly referred to as Lamborghini , is an Italian car manufacturer. The company was founded by manufacturing magnate Ferruccio Lamborghini in 1963, with the objective of producing a refined grand touring car to compete with established offerings from marques like...
dealership and fashion boutique (replacing the Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
-Maserati
Maserati
Maserati is an Italian luxury car manufacturer established on December 1, 1914, in Bologna. The company's headquarters is now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. It has been owned by the Italian car giant Fiat S.p.A. since 1993...
dealership as of May 2010), Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
(closed since 2009) and HSBC
HSBC Bank Canada
HSBC Bank Canada, formerly the Hongkong Bank of Canada , is a bank in Canada that is part of British banking giant HSBC - one of the largest banking groups in the world. HSBC Canada is the seventh largest bank in Canada, with offices in every province except Prince Edward Island, and is the...
. There are also a notable number of restaurants located on its upper floors. An indoor musical fountain, similar to the one in front of Bellagio Hotel
Bellagio (hotel and casino)
Bellagio is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in the Paradise area of unincorporated Clark County, Nevada, USA and a member of The Leading Hotels of the World. It is owned by MGM Resorts International and was built on the site of the demolished Dunes hotel and casino.Inspired by the...
in Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
but smaller in scale, was built at the centre of the mall and performs shows every hour.
In 2006, the mall became home to the operations of Fairchild Group's Chinese language TV and radio operations in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
. Fairchild Radio (CJVB AM1470 and CHKG FM96.1) now has studios on the second floor, while Fairchild TV
Fairchild TV
Fairchild TV or FTV is a Canadian Cantonese language Category A specialty channel. It is co-owned by majority owner Fairchild Media Group and Television Broadcasts Limited which owns 20% of the business...
and Talentvision
Talentvision
Talentvision is a Canadian Mandarin Chinese Category A specialty channel. It is owned by the Vancouver based Fairchild Media Group and Television Broadcast Limited. Talentvision's studios are located in Richmond, British Columbia.Talentvision features programming from Mainland China as well as...
have their news studios on the third floor.
On August 8, 2008, the largest viewing party in the Vancouver area for the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
took place at the mall, with thousands of spectators, some of whom had lined up since 3:30 in the morning.
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 SkyTrainSkyTrain (Vancouver)
SkyTrain is a light rapid transit system in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. SkyTrain has of track and uses fully automated trains on grade-separated tracks, running mostly on elevated guideways, which helps SkyTrain to hold consistently high on-time reliability...
's Aberdeen Station along the Canada Line
Canada Line
Canada Line is a rapid transit line in the Metro Vancouver region of British Columbia, Canada. Opened in August 2009, it is the third line in TransLink's SkyTrain metro network, servicing Vancouver, Richmond, and the Vancouver International Airport...
, which opened on August 2009.
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. Mall management kept the mall open, even as the corpse remained on the third floor. Film crews who came to report the incident were harassed and chased away by security guards. It was the first homicide of the year for the City of Richmond.On October 26, 2008, a middle aged Asian man committed suicide by jumping down from the third floor food court. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Richmond RCMP ruled out any foul play and believed it was an isolated suicide incident. Similarly to what happened with the murder incident, Fairchild Television and Radio minimized the publicity by only doing a brief report. It is important to note that Fairchild Television and Aberdeen Centre are owned by the same company.
See also
- Golden Village (Richmond, British Columbia)Golden Village (Richmond, British Columbia)Golden Village is a commercial district of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada best known for its high concentration of Asian-themed shopping malls. It is the home to the second-largest Asian community in North America....
- Parker PlaceParker PlaceParker Place is a shopping mall in Richmond, British Columbia. It is located on No. 3 Road, in the middle of Richmond's Golden Village, the main Asian district...
- President Plaza
- Yaohan CentreYaohan CentreYaohan Centre is a shopping centre in the Golden Village district of Richmond, British Columbia. It caters mainly to Asian people, mainly those of Chinese and Japanese descent...