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Several studies have compared the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in green buildings and conventional buildings. However, such studies have not adequately focused on buildings such as shopping malls, and they lack comparisons of customers' subjective satisfaction levels with regard to green and conventional shopping malls. Accordingly, an objective environmental measurement and subjective questionnaire survey were integrated to conduct a comparative study on green and conventional mall buildings in Beijing, China, during the transitional season (spring), summer, and winter. Differences were found in the objective IEQ and in the customers' subjective satisfaction between the two buildings, and the factors affecting the customer satisfaction and the IEQ of shopping mall buildings were discussed. The measurement results show that a green shopping mall building is superior to a conventional one in terms of the indoor thermal environment, indoor illumination, relative humidity, carbon dioxide concentration, and noise level. Moreover, the results of the questionnaire found that customers show a higher tolerance toward the IEQ when they recognise that a building is green, and that ages and/or durations of time in the building also affect evaluations of environmental satisfaction. In addition, there are significant correlations between the various indoor environmental assessments, and their different effects on the overall environmental satisfaction are examined. This study proposes suggestions for optimizing an indoor physical environment under the premise of energy saving, and provides a reference for the design and operation of green shopping malls in cold-climate zones. • Green mall buildings are superior to common mall buildings in terms of indoor environmental quality and occupants' environmental satisfaction. • Occupants' indoor environmental satisfaction is affected by the recognition, age and staying duration. • Sub-environmental factors have different effects on the overall environmental satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]