West Edmonton Mall

The moment I was told that my family and I were going to Edmonton for our summer vacation, all I kept thinking was West Edmonton Mall. I was told by my cousins who have been there already that it's a mall with everything in it such as an indoor pool, skating rink, amusement park and so much clothing stores. The moment I made my first step at WEM, I gotta say I was a bit surprised because it wasn't as new as the malls in the Philippines (Interior Wise). Anyway, I went straight to Abercrombie and Fitch, one of my favourite clothing brands of all times, and bought myself a pair of pants, a couple of shirts and a cologne, because I only get to buy Abercrombie and Fitch whenever I was in North America only. Only to find out that my family has decided to stay in Canada for now because my dad was offered a job by Don Ghermezian, the succeeding owner of West Edmonton Mall and the Triple Five Company who manages West Edmonton Mall and The Mall of America in Minnesota and Las Vegas. I was surprised about the decision of staying in Canada and leaving almost everything I have in the Philippines but at the same time I was happy because we were given an opportunity not just by an ordinary person but by the owner of the mall himself. So my journey begins... West Edmonton Mall is the largest shopping mall across North America and the fifth largest mall in the world. The mall has 800 stores and attracts 60,000 to 150,000 shoppers daily. The mall posses The Galaxy land, an amusement park inside the mall to attract kids and teenagers. Along with that are following: Waterpark the indoor swimming pool complex that is open despite the winter season, Skating Rink, Fantasyland Hotel, Casino Palace and The Empire Night Club. All of those attractions are owned by the Triple Five Company. On Pesakh, the passover celebration of Jewish people, I was helping out at the Ghermezian residence and got the opportunity to chat with Raphael Ghermezian, one of the four brothers who started the mall venture. In our conversation, I was inspired to work hard and sacrifice for now because he said to me when he first got here in Canada, he was a dishwasher then 10 years after, he bought the mall..in those exact words. Now that I'm in the stage of entering the business world, I could use this inspiration to bring me far more from my wildest dreams. As I end, I've learned to love the mall not by its attractions but by how the family strived to built such venture that turned into a big success. And also, I've got quite some experiences with the mall as I had my first date in Canada in that mall, it was definitely a date to remember because I never ran out of things to do there.