Total commercial area of approximately 220,000sq m, diverse range of 565 specialists shops and service providers all in one place! AEON Laketown is being opened as the commercial hub of a new town called Koshigaya Laketown being created by the Urban Renaissance Agency in Koshigaya City.
Koshigaya Laketown is located on the shores of a 400,000 square meter lake (Chosetsuchi) and will be home to around 22,400 people (approx. 7,000 homes) and will include detached houses, condominiums, pedestrian paths and parks. Through its innovative combination of lakeside living and an urban lifestyle the Koshigaya Laketown will be unique in Japan. The AEON Laketown shopping center is located alongside an arterial road, the East Saitama Road...
On my first visit, it took us, me and my wife, around 2 hours to "fastly" scan the place. This mall is huge and has its own JR station, only two stations away from where I live (5 minutes by train). The mall is divided into two main sections called KAZE and MORI. To only go around KAZE section, while checking out "some" of the shops, it took us more than three hours. We did not even dare to check the shops of MORI by then!
Ofcourse, needless to say that its always packed with hundreds of shoppers. But since the place is actually not-Japanese-style-shopping-mall, you do not notice or feel the crowd. This American style (or Jordanian style?) mall reminded me alot with Mecca mall in Amman, but ofcourse at least four times the size. Restaurants are all scattered on the third floor with the cenima, while other shops and brands like Zara, adidas, Gap lie on lower floors. The shops are big and, to my surprise, are not packed with items everywhere, and they do not make full use of the space as I got used to in Japan. They have items I could not find throughout Tokyo so far! For example, I could not believe it when I saw a shoe that could fit my feet, or a tux that doesnt make me feel like a giant!
As for the prices, yeah everything is a little bit more expensive inside. But its worth the while since the mall is standing on a river (lake) and just sitting there enjoying the view from the glassy walls of the mall while drinking your favourite coffee is more than enough.
Here is a video for some parts of the mall (watch in youtube for high quality):
