West Edmonton Mall

West Edmonton Mall is a super-regional enclosed shopping mall in Edmonton, Alberta. The mall features 2 different amusement parks: Galaxyland and World Waterpark, among other attractions. The mall is the largest in Canada and the second largest in North America. The malls current anchors are Simons, Winners/HomeSense, Hudson's Bay, The Brick, T&T Supermarket, Marshalls, Structube, Sport Chek, and Indigo, this is among the 100s of other shops and services that are within the mall. There is also a Toyota dealership, which is one of the largest Toyota dealerships in the world. 
== History ==
The mall originally opened on September 15th, 1981. This was only the first phase of the mall, construction was split into four phases which would be complete by 1999. The original anchors of the property were Eaton's, Sears, Hudson's Bay and Safeway. There were around 200 stores with the first phase. 
In 1983, the second phase was completed which added the Fantasyland amusement park and Zellers as a new anchor. 
In 1985, phase 3 was completed. This expansion added the new anchors of Woodward's, IKEA and Canadian Tire. A new attraction was also added, Marine Life. Which was an attraction where you could view marine life from submarines. A new food court and Fantasyland Hotel opened as well. A year after, Safeway permanently closed and moved down the road. Soon after, Bretton's, an upscale department store chain, moved into the space. 
In 1993, Woodward's permanently closed all of their locations after being bought out by the Hudson's Bay Company. The store turned into a second Hudson's Bay location. 
In 1995, IKEA closed their location at the West Edmonton Mall and moved to a larger location. The former IKEA space was replaced with Red's Arcade about a year later. In the same year, Fantasyland changed their name to Galaxyland because of a dispute with Walt Disney. 
In 1998, the fourth phase of the West Edmonton Mall was completed. This added a new IMAX movie theatre. To make this expansion, the Woodward's/Hudson's Bay secondary store was demolished. 
A year later, Eaton's ended operations and closed all stores. Zellers moved into the space in 2000 while the old one closed and was turned into various stores. In the same year, Canadian Tire closed and relocated. T&T Supermarket later moved into the space. A new Famous Players SilverCity theatres opened on May 3rd, 1999. This resulted in the old Famous Players that was in the mall to close. 
In 2002 and 2008, the two other movie theatres in the mall closed, as the SilverCity theatres was the biggest, the others no longer needed to operate. 
In 2002, phase 5 was announced. This would of added a sports stadium, an office tower, and residential towers. This plan continues to be on hiatus. 
In 2012, $100 million renovations started on the mall. This completely redid the interior of the mall and the entrances. A new logo was also introduced.
On October 31st, 2012, La Maison Simons opened their new location at the West Edmonton Mall. Some other upscale retailers were opened in this time such as Williams Sonoma and Burberry. In the summer of 2012, Zellers permanently closed. In May of the next year, Target Canada opened in the former Zellers. 
In April of 2015. Target left the Canadian market. In 2019, Winners, HomeSense, and Buy Buy Baby moved into the space. Buy Buy Baby permanently closed in 2023 and was replaced with Babies "R" Us.
In January of 2018, Sears Canada permanently closed their WEM location. In September 2019, The Brick moved into part of the space. In April of 2021, a Toyota dealership moved into the lower level, which is the largest Toyota dealership in the world. 
== See also ==
* Galaxyland - One of the theme parks in WEM
Category:Shopping Malls
Category:Malls in Canada
Category:Triple Five Group Malls
Category:Malls that opened in 1981
Category:Malls in Alberta
Category:North America
Category:Structube Locations
Category:HomeSense Locations
Category:Winners Locations
Category:Zellers-anchored Malls
Category:Hudson's Bay-anchored Malls
Category:T&T Locations
Category:Eaton’s Locations
Category:Former-Sears anchored Malls