Mall Profile #15: Henderson Place, by Justin McElroy
Henderson Place has a good food court, a good design, a good location, and yet, a third to a quarter of all its storefronts are empty. Why?
Henderson Place Mall
Location: Coquitlam
Opened: 1999
Approximate number of stores: 40
Anchor tenants: New Pacific Supermarket, Lee Garden Seafood Restaurant
To understand Henderson Place Mall, it helps to know about its much more infamous sister mall, International Village Mall.
(Or, as it will always be known in our hearts, Tinseltown)
Both malls opened in 1999 and were built by Henderson Development, a giant Hong Kong-based company whose owner, Lee Shau-kee, was one of the richest men in the world. Both malls were of moderate size, centred around a big atrium in the middle, a food court on the second floor, an adjoining condo development, and the aim of having a global mix of stores.
And both malls became cautionary tales pretty much immediately.
Tinseltown’s story of closed businesses and winding corridors leading to nowhere are legendary by this point, but Henderson suffered a pretty similar fate: there was never a glory period for the mall, because anticipated demand never really materialized. Like Tinseltown, the central atrium is filled by performances and holiday events 4-6 times a year, and otherwise sits empty. Like Tinseltown, part of the voidy upper area got filled by unique one-off offerings (a Cat Cafe and Escape Room complex in Tinseltown, a K-Pop dance studio and karaoke spot in Henderson).
And like Tinseltown, nobody has ever really publicly argued Henderson is a good mall.
It’s at this point that our comparison ends though, because while Tinseltown is now objectively Not Great for reasons we’ll discuss when we arrive at that point in our series, Henderson still has a decent amount to recommend once you accept that a third to a quarter of all its storefronts are empty.
The New Pacific Supermarket grocery store, dollar store and pub on the ground floor mean there’s a consistent if moderate stream of foot traffic, the Maxim's Bakery and Refresh Vintage store are legitimately good, and the massive central dome provides both a dominant architectural feature and plenty of natural light for the atrium.
On the upper floor, that food court is a low-key delight. The new Cha Don Hong Kong outlet gets the most buzz, but with southern Indian, Korean, Uyghur and Filipino cuisines, it has an argument for being the most diverse mid-sized court in Metro Vancouver, and all three of us reviewing the mall enjoyed both the quality and quantity of the food we got.
At the same time, the public has long made its verdict: while folks might visit it for specific reasons, Henderson Place as a mall, as a place where people linger and wander and hang out, as a place with a distinct heartbeat and a community…well, it’s not that.
Which is a shame! There’s a good food court, a good design, a good location, and yet, it has never really clicked. Why?
You could make a lot of theories. I want to look back right to the very beginning, to its original and somewhat curious intent, as explained in a 1997 Vancouver Sun article before the mall was even built:
“It will have Asian shops, Asian clients, and Asian money backing it. But the Henderson Centre Mall, now under construction in Coquitlam, will take pains to welcome non-Asians as warmly as it welcomes Asians.
‘We watched what is happening in Richmond, with Aberdeen Place and other malls that cater so much to the Asian community and alienate the main group,’” says Henderson Development Canada president Allen Lai, who has been working on the $130 million project for five years.”
“We want to make sure that we don’t make the same mistake.”
Henderson commercial lease manager Michael Flanagan tells prospective tenants they’re expected to provide good service to all cultural groups — encouraging English language skills for employees and ensuring the display signs won’t alienate the non-Asian majority in the Coquitlam area.”
Boy howdy there’s a lot to unpack there! The first and most obvious rejoinder is that Aberdeen Centre is a pretty darn good mall, for a lot of reasons, but one of the biggest is that it has a clear focus and a clear community that loves it.
(In fact, a few years after Henderson slagged it, Aberdeen owner Thomas Fung did a massive renovation and expansion of Aberdeen, doubling down on its Asian-oriented focus, to general acclaim.)
Henderson doesn’t have a clear focus, and this origin story might help explain why: when you try to appeal to everyone, you run the risk of appealing to nobody, especially when the much bigger and much more established Coquitlam Centre across the street was always going to have a monopoly on the buzzier retail outlets.
However, I think the more salient point might be that Henderson Place didn’t want to “alienate the main group”.
I’ve been studying malls for nine months as a hobby and local politics for nine years as a job, but there’s one thing that’s very similar about both: if you’re going to get people to like you, you have to actually stand for something.
You can position yourself based on what you’re not trying to be, or what you’re against, but that doesn’t tell anyone why you matter, where your strengths are, or why anyone should be passionate about what you’re offering. If you champion what you’re about, you’ll have a base that appreciates you and an energy that might catch on with the general public.
And if you act from a position of defensiveness, you might get a shrug that lasts for 27 years and counting.
TOTAL SCORE
Small Stores: 6.2/10 (It’s an eclectic mix of options, from the K-Pop Dance Academy to the vintage thrift store to a bar and a spa, along your general mix of nail salons, dentists, barbers and other service-based stores. At the same time, there’s also swaths of empty stores and is on the small side, so your mileage may vary)
Anchor Tenants: 2.3/10 (A grocery and a big restaurant are helpful things for a mall to have, but neither generates a buzz outside the city, and the much bigger Coquitlam Centre across the road sucks up all the destination outlets)
Food Court: 7.8/10 (While not the largest, with only about 12 outlets, it might be a top five food court in Metro Vancouver when it comes to quality and diversity of different cuisines, from Uyghur to Korean to southern Indian, all in a well-lit food court hanging over the main atrium)
Design/Accessibility: 7.1/10 (The dome in the centre and large atrium with a presentation stage over a water display is genuinely inspired, it’s compact and well-lit, and being right beside a Millennium Line station is certainly helpful…even if it mostly goes for naught because of a lack of foot traffic)
X-Factor: 6.7/10 (On one hand, it definitely has a bit of purgatory feel when you explore the half-empty upper floor. On the other hand, it’s an objectively interesting place to wander, with a food court that may qualify for the dreaded moniker of a “hidden gem”)
OVERALL: 30.1/50 (But is the mall good? This placement would seem to indicate so in a qualified way. It’s certainly thought-provoking and more worth taking someone to than, say, Central City or Capilano Mall. Still, we’ve already talked about an adjustment of this score before our final ranking next year. Stay tuned.)
