New South China Mall located in Dongguan, China has the title of the largest shopping mall in the world based on gross leasable area but it might also be the world's emptiest one. Today, out of its 659,612 square metres (7,100,000 sq ft) of leasable space -and 892,000 square metres (9,600,000 sq ft) of total area- only about 1% of it is occupied, leaving the areas away of the building's entrance deserted.
The mall has seven zones modeled on international cities, nations and regions, including Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Venice, Egypt, the Caribbean, and California. Features include a 25 metres (82 ft) replica of the Arc de Triomphe, a replica of Venice's St Mark's bell tower, a 2.1 kilometres (1.3 mi) canal with gondolas, and a 553-meter indoor-outdoor roller coaster. While the mall has 2350 leasable spaces, only 47 are occupied.
The low occupancy of the world's largest mall is blamed on its location, away from the city's center, and the difficult access as there is no highway close to the mall and it's only accessible by car or bus.
