The second biggest shopping mall in Richmond after Richmond Centre, Lansdowne Centre is an older mall with the largest parking lot in all of Vancouver.
This article includes information about the following topics:
Mall Location & Hours | Events at the Mall | Chinese New Year | Spring Carnival | Starlight Theatre Movies | Other Information
Click on any of the above links to jump to a specific topic, or continue reading to learn all about the shopping centre and its various seasonal events.
Lansdowne Centre Shopping Mall
Lansdowne Centre is a pretty typical large-scale 1970s mall. It has big box anchor stores at each corner and 100-plus stores in between.
Built in the late 1970s, the mall has over 130 stores including a Winners, Toys R Us, Home Outfitters, Best Buy and a T&T (Asian-style) Supermarket.
What makes the mall of special interest is the fact that it hosts a number of special events each year. That includes summer drive-in movie nights which run on Wednesdays between August and September most years.
Mall Location and Hours
Located at 5300 No.3 Road, close to the Lansdowne SkyTrain Station, Lansdowne Centre is bordered by Alderbridge Road to the north and Lansdowne Road to the south.
The mall’s regular weekday hours are Sundays to Thursdays from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm and Fridays and Saturdays from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm.
Events at the Mall
Most years, in either January or February, Lansdowne Centre offers Lunar New Year entertainment on a weekend. January 22nd in 2023 marks the Year of the Rabbit and celebrations at the mall took place on Saturday, January 28th.
Over the school Spring Break holidays each year, the mall’s giant parking lot is sometimes taken over by a chalk art festival with a carousel and train that children can ride. In the summer, the parking lot becomes home to free weekly outdoor movies.
See below for details about each of these seasonal special events.
Chinese New Year at Lansdowne Centre
Lansdowne Centre celebrates the Lunar New Year in January or February with a traditional Lion Dance and afternoon of live entertainment.
Due to COVID-19, the usual celebrations didn’t happen in 2021 or 2022. In 2023, Chinese New Year’s Day was on Sunday, January 22nd, and the mall’s main celebrations returned on the following Saturday. On January 28th, the Lunar New Year festivities ran from 12:00 pm until 4:30 pm.
The event is hosted by the Richmond Chinese Community Society. Activities include visits from the Money God, lion dancing and Chinese opera performances. There are stations for candy photos, Korean pottery and more.
Chinese New Year Event Schedule
As of mid-January, the exact entertainment schedule for 2023 is to be confirmed. For an idea of what to expect, below was the performance schedule from 2020.
- 12:30 pm – Opening Ceremonies and dotting of the lion’s eyes
- 1:30 pm – Rod Boss Stage Magic Show
- 2:00 pm – Korean Taekwondo Performance
- 2:30 pm – Chinese Opera
- 3:00 pm – Chinese Folk Dance Performance
- 3:30 pm – Irish Folk Dance
- 4:00 pm – Okinawa Style Drumming and Dancing
In 2023 there is lion dancing, a traditional eye dotting ceremony and Money God visits. There are also performances with Chinese opera and folk dancing, a Cheongshan fashion show and taekwondo demonstrations.
Click Chinese New Year for information about all the many Lunar New Year celebrations that take place in Metro Vancouver most years, including at Lansdowne Centre.
Spring Carnival at the Mall
Most years during Spring Break in March West Coast Amusements (WCA) sets up its rides and carnival midway in the parking lot of Lansdowne Centre. However in 2020, there was going to be a smaller scale event featuring a circus train and a carousel. It was going to run from March 14th until April 26th. In the end though, because of the coronavirus pandemic, it got cancelled.
In 2021 the Carnival initially looked like it would again be cancelled, but it was brought back as a summer event! It was open from July 23rd to August 2nd (with the exception of July 26th and 27th). Lansdowne Centre was again home to this fun fair. The 2022 edition returned in the spring and ran from April 15th to 24th. In 2023 the carnival takes place at Lansdowne Centre from March 30th to April 10th.
The Spring Carnival is a medium-sized fair with the typical assortment of rides, vendors selling candy floss and midway games. There is usually a Ferris wheel, Tilt-a-Whirl, kiddy rides and the usual selection of rides that go up and down and round and round.
Carnival Hours and Rates
Hours of operation for the rides in 2023 are the following (weather permitting):
Thursday, March 30th – from 3:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Friday, March 31th – from 3:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Saturday, April 1st – from 12:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Sunday, April 2nd – from 12:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Monday, April 3rd – closed
Tuesday, April 4th – from 3:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Wednesday, April 5th – from 3:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Thursday, April 6th – from 3:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Friday, April 7th – from 12:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Saturday, April 8th – from 12:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Sunday, April 9th – from 12:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Monday, April 10th – from 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Ticket prices are as follows:
- Single tickets: $1.25 each
- Book of 20: $25 (so $1.25 each)
- Book of 40: $45 (so $1.125 each)
Individual rides cost between three and six tickets each (so between $3.75 and $7.50 per ride). All-day wristbands are also available for $45, as well as six-ride passes for $24. Both of these options are good deals for people who plan on being at the fair for a while.
Carnival Advice
TIP #1: Lineups for rides are usually smallest at the beginning of the day and, obviously, on rainy days.
TIP #2: During Spring Break most years PlayDome also features amusement rides indoors at BC Place Stadium. PlayDome didn’t take place in 2020, 2021 or 2022. It has been cancelled for 2023.
Click Spring Break to learn about March activities for kids elsewhere.
Starlight Theatre Drive-in Movies
Numerous outdoor movies take place in the Lower Mainland during the summer each year. Most are free and they take place everywhere from parks to shopping malls to convention centres and municipal plazas.
Each summer Lansdowne Centre hosts a weekly evening outdoor movie in its parking lot. It’s one of the region’s free drive-in-style movie venues where people are welcome to watch from their cars or bring their lawn chairs. The shows didn’t take place in 2020, because of COVID-19. Happily, they returned in 2021 and 2022, and again feature in 2023!
Starlight Theatre Drive-in Movies at Lansdowne Centre usually take place on Wednesday evenings and feature free drive-in parking for up to 200 vehicles on a first-come, first-served basis. There is always lots of space for people to set up and watch from their lawn chairs too.
Similar to free outdoor movies at other venues, films featured at Starlight Theatre Drive-in Movie nights are usually popular films that are no longer showing in major theatres.
Starlight Theatre Movies in 2022
In 2022 the movies took place on Wednesday nights from August 24th to September 21st.
For an idea of what to expect in 2023, here’s what was showing for free at dusk on Wednesday evenings in 2022:
- 24th of August – Spider-Man: No Way Home
- 31st of August – How to Train Your Dragon: Hidden World
- 7th of September – Crazy Rich Asians
- 14th of September – Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
- 21st of September – Free Guy
Some weeks the Starlight Theatre Drive-in Movie feature presentation is perfect for kids and their families, and other days it’s more for adults and people who like action films (in some cases) or romance flicks (in other cases). Over the course of the summer there is always something for everyone!
For a list of dozens of free summer films at other locations, click Vancouver Outdoor Movies.
Other Information
For more information about the mall, click Lansdowne Centre.
Other shopping malls in Richmond include Richmond Centre (which is the city’s largest) and Aberdeen Centre (which has arguably the most distinctive Chinese character).
Another shopping place of interest in the summer is the Richmond Night Market.
Other topics of interest you might want to check out include the following:
- Best Places for Shopping
- The City of Richmond
- Metro Vancouver’s Top 100 Places
- Festivals & Events Calendar
- Chinese New Year Activities
- Summer Outdoor Movies
- The Lower Mainland at Spring Break
- Vancouver on a Budget
- Vancouver for Children
