Mall facts for kids

View of the Mall of the Emirates, in Dubai.

The central walking area of the Toronto Eaton Centre in Toronto, Canada.

A mall or shopping centre is a large building that is full of many smaller shops and stores. It is different from earlier markets or bazaars because most of the shops are not little booths or stalls in one big open area. Each store has its own space with walls. Most of their entrances face a central walking area inside the building.

Name

"Mall" is the most common name for these buildings in American English, and "shopping centre" is the most common name for them in British English. Americans also talk about "shopping centers", but they use their spelling for the word "center". Malls are also sometimes called plazas.

Overview

People visit the stores in the mall to shop. Most malls have parking lots (places to park cars). Most malls also have roofs so people can shop inside. Most malls have a food court. Food courts are areas where people buy food. Some malls have movie theatres.

Famous malls

• West Edmonton Mall, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, is one of the largest malls in the world.
• The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota is one of the largest malls in the world.