Aberdeen Centre

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Mall facts and statistics
Aberdeen Centre (時代坊)
Present logo, with Chinese name

Location	Richmond, British Columbia, Canada
Opening date	1989 (original building) 2003 (current building)
Developer	Fairchild Development
Management	Fairchild Group
Owner	Fairchild Group
No. of stores and services	150
Total retail floor area	380,000 sq ft
Parking	Yes, covered
No. of floors	3
Website	http://www.aberdeencentre.com

Aberdeen Centre (時代坊) 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.

1 History
2 Transportation
3 2006 murder
4 Gallery
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

The original Aberdeen Centre (香港仔中心) 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: 香港仔, 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 CAD. 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 時代坊 ("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 Starbucks Coffee 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 build at the centre of the mall and performs shows every 30 minutes.[1]

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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 2006 murder

On February 9th, 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. [2]

[edit] Gallery

Exterior view of Aberdeen Centre	Exterior view of Aberdeen Centre, at night	Aberdeen Centre's entrance, at night	Interior view of Aberdeen Centre
Aberdeen Centre's exteriors	The old Aberdeen Centre logo (with Chinese name)	Image of the original Aberdeen Centre