Aberdeen Centre - interesting Asian Shopping Mall in Richmond , easy access by Skytrain

The original Aberdeen Centre was built in 1989. It contained about 50 to 75 stores. The original Chinese name was "香港仔中心", which refers to the Chinese name of Aberdeen, Hong Kong. Envisioned as an "Asian mall" in anticipation of the coming wave of migration from Hong Kong due to the impending 1997 Handover of Hong Kong, Aberdeen Centre's developer Thomas Fung had trouble finding tenants initially since there had been no Asian malls in North America in the 1980s. Fung offered to buy a 50 percent equity stake in any store setting up in Aberdeen with an option for tenants to buy back the shares with no interest if business flourished. Almost 95 percent successfully bought back the shares within a year of the mall's opening.