The Wai

Not to be confused with Tai Wai.

The Wai (Chinese: 圍方; Jyutping: wai4fong1) is a shopping centre in Tai Wai, Hong Kong, which opened on 22 July 2023.^[1] The mall is managed by the MTR Corporation, and is the third largest shopping mall in eastern New Territories.^[4]

圍方
The Wai

The Wai on its opening day
Location	18 Che Kung Temple Road, Tai Wai, Sha Tin, Hong Kong
Coordinates	22°22′20″N 114°10′47″E
Opening date	22 July 2023; 2 years ago (2023-07-22)[1]
Developer	MTR Corporation[2]
Management	MTR Corporation
Owner	MTR Corporation
Architect	Structure: Ronald Lu and Partners Internal design: P&T Group
No. of stores and services	150[2]
Total retail floor area	650,000 square feet[2]
No. of floors	4[2]
Public transit access	Tai Wai station[2][3]
Website	The Wai

The Wai
Traditional Chinese	圍方
Simplified Chinese	围方
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Wéi Fāng Yue: Cantonese Jyutping wai4fong1

The mall is located directly under private estate the Pavilia Farm [zh], a property also managed by the MTR Corporation. It is connected to Tai Wai station.^[2][3]

Design

The shopping centre structure was designed by Ronald Lu and Partners, while P&T Group was responsible for interior design. The Wai has four storeys with a total floor area of 650,000 square feet (60,000 m²), including a 50,000-square-foot (4,600 m²) outdoor green area, an indoor car park with 390 parking spaces, and the largest bicycle parking lot in Hong Kong, with 330 bicycle parking spaces.^[5] Among the 150 shops in the mall, notable tenants include the largest of the 43 Market Place supermarkets in Hong Kong at the time of its opening, covering an area over 20,000 square feet (1,900 m²)^[6] and the Emperor Cinemas Plus+ cinema, the only cinema in Tai Wai, with six theatres and a total of 912 seats.^[5] There are eighteen electric vehicle charging stations and solar power facilities.^[7]

• 
  Bicycle parking lot
• 
  Outdoor green area
• 
  Artwork exhibition
• 
  Fourth and fifth floors
• 
  Exhibition area on the second floor

Connections

The shopping mall is connected to three footbridges: one to northern Tai Wai near Che Kung Temple and Sun Chui Estate,^[8] one to a complex footbridge,^[9][10] and one directly connected to Festival City, a private estate also owned by the MTR Corporation.^[8]

Transport

Directly below the shopping mall is a public transport interchange with numerous bus and minibus routes in addition to a taxi station.^[9] The mall is also connected to Tai Wai MTR station's exit B,^[2] while exit H directly connects the third floor of the mall to the elevated platform 3.^[3]

• 
  Public Transport Interchange
• 
  Tai Wai station exit B connected to the mall

Controversial demolition of footbridge branch

Prior to the mall's construction, a complex footbridge located above a roundabout joining Mei Tin Road, Che Kung Temple Road and Hung Mui Kuk Road connected four sides of the junction.^[9] However, one of its branches was called for demolition by the government's construction plan for the mall, which would have redirected pedestrians into the mall for accessing the footbridge.^[11] This increased the time to reach the footbridge from the ground, from 20 seconds to more than a minute. The plan was subsequently protested by councilors of the Sha Tin District Council.^[12] However, demolition works continued, beginning in 2022 and eventually completing in August 2023.^[12][13]

• 
  Entrance from the Sun Chui Estate footbridge
• 
  Footbridge users are redirected into the mall
• 
  Preparing for demolition
• 
  After the demolition

Incident

On 24 July 2023, the third day of the mall's opening, a 64-year-old woman was attacked by two people, who later escaped and have not been arrested.^{[when?][needs update]} The woman sustained an injury near her eye and sustained injuries to her chest.^[14]