Nikita Arora's Blog

When Thomas Fung, (Chairman and CEO of Fairchild Group),thought of replacing the funeral home located at Cambie and No. 3 road in Richmond by a shopping mall,he was told, “You’ll lose your shirt man ! There’s nothing here”

But who did then know,that this alternative to Chinatown in Vaancouver would rise up to become North America’s largest Asian style retail centre ??!!?

Thomas Fung,definitely didn’t lose his shirt !

Aberdeen Centre first began in 1989 as ashopping mall meant to appeal to Richmond’s growing Asian population.And,with Richmond topping the charts in sheltering the highest proportions of Asians in any Canadian city ( 43.6% -Chinese,7.9%-South Asian,5.5%-Filipino,1.8%-Japanese),the phase 2 of Aberdeen Centre came up in 2003,when the mall tripled in size.Abrdeen Square marks the phase 3 of mall devevlopment,predicting an increase of another 50,000 in the population in the next decade.

Named after Hongkong’s famous tourist harbour – Aberdeen,the Aberdeen Centre is located just about Canada line’s station and is uniquelly positioned to cater to its sophisticated and affluent group of Asian shoppers and enabling them to experience the Asian orient without the expense of an overseas flight.

Although the history and development of Aberdeen Centre is in itself very noteworthy;the recent buzz is its new expansion project- Aberdeen Square.Even though the mall won’t open until 2013,but already 75% of the 1,60,000 sq. ft in new retail and office space has been bought.The sales occured over a three-day period during the last weekend of September (2010),when mostly Metro Vancouver buyers ,and also buyers from China bought space.

Apart from demand for it,another conspicous trend to follow is that majority of the occupants are buying rather than leasing it,unlike other malls.”It is because there is an inclination towards buying property in Asian people.Its a culture thing”, says Thomas Fung.

Developed at a very strategic location,the shopped and employees of Aberdeen square needn’t drive to their destination.And,with the mainstream population going more global,it gives a significant opportunityto retailers to promote an East meets West approach !

(For more information about the Aberdeen Centre,visit www.aberdeencentre.com )