Built on the site of a circa-1925 horse racing track, Manitoba's first shopping mall featured a wide, open-air mallway.
Photo from University of Manitoba, Winnipeg Building Index
Showing posts with label Winnipeg's Polo Park Centre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Winnipeg's Polo Park Centre. Show all posts
The centre's sole anchor was Toronto-based Simpsons-Sears. The store fronted on a plaza which displayed "Equatorial Sundial," a sculpture created by Duane W. Eichols and Jim S. Willer.
Photo from University of Manitoba, Winnipeg Building Index
A newspaper advert announcing the grand opening of the Prairie Province's POLO PARK CENTRE. This took place on August 20, 1959.
Advert from Simpsons-Sears, Limited and David Slater, Limited
Here we see the mall's Centre Court area. "Acrobats," an abstract sculpture by George Swinton, stood in a reflecting pool.
Photo from http://www.winnipegarchitecture.ca
POLO PARK CENTRE TENANTS 1959:
SIMPSONS-SEARS (with cafeteria, snack bar, optical centre, garden and farm department and freestanding Super Service Station & Auto Centre) / DOMINION supermarket / LOBLAWS GROCETERIA / S.S. KRESGE 5 & 10 (with luncheonette) / ZELLER'S discount mart / Agnew-Surpass Family Footwear / Bata Shoes / Broadway Florists / Canadian Bank of Commerce / Cardinal Shirt & Tie Shops / D'Allaird's Limited / Dayton's Outfittings / Empire Wallpapers / Fabric Centre / Fashionette Hair Styling / Floors Moderne / G. Tamblyn / Genser & Sons / Gordi's Delicatessen / Henry Birks & Sons / Honford-Drewitt Suburban / Liquor Control Commission Store / Mario's Hairdressing / Monarch Lumber Company / National-Radex / O'Brien World Travel Service / Pauline Johnson Candies / Pennington's / Perth Dry Cleaners / Pia's / Reitman's ladies' wear / Rene's For Gifts / Reward Shoes / Richardson Brothers / Sally Shops / Strains Company / Sweet Sixteen Shop / Tip Top Tailors / Uncle John's Hobby Shop / United Cigar Stores / Wasson's Bowling Alley (lower level)
Winnipeg Arena, which stood on the north end of the mall site, predated the shopping hub by 4 years. It served as the home venue for the Winnipeg Warriors, Winnipeg Jets and Winnipeg Monarchs hockey franchises.
Photo from Wikipedia / "JETStender"
Photo from Wikipedia / "JETStender"
A mid-1960s view of the south end of POLO PARK CENTRE. The open-air complex had been enclosed and heated in 1963-1964.
Photo from University of Manitoba, Winnipeg Building Index
By 1969, the two supermarkets on the north end of POLO PARK have been relocated to the east side of the centre. The original stores were sectioned into inline retail spaces. An Eaton's department store has also been built. The mall now houses over sixty tenant spaces.
T. Eaton Company, Limited opened their POLO PARK store in May 1968.
Photo from http://www.flickr.com / "Darrell"
A view of the enclosed mall's Centre Court and S.S. Kresge 5 & dime. As a matter of note, three major United States variety store chains established divisions north of the border; Kresge, Woolworth and J.J. Newberry. In the mid-1950s, the Kresge Company was operating stores in six Canadian provinces.
Photo from University of Manitoba, Winnipeg Building Index
The south concourse at POLO PARK CENTRE. The stairway on the left accessed a basement level. This housed office suites and a bowling alley.
Photo from University of Manitoba, Winnipeg Building Index
The mall was given a major overhaul in the mid-1980s. 100 stores were added, with a second level extended over the existing structure. A reconfigured East Wing now housed a new Safeway supermarket, Bretton's and Zellers discount store (which had relocated from smaller quarters in the original section of the mall).
The aforementioned Winnipeg Arena was demolished in March 2006. With the site now vacant, construction got underway on the POLO NORTH strip plaza and office complex. Marshalls welcomed its first customers in April 2013.
Photo from www.accesswinnipeg.com
The official name of the mall was changed as part of a nation-wide rebranding of all Cadillac Fairview shopping complexes. In September 2015, it became CF POLO PARK.
Graphic from www.cadillacfairview.com
A circa-2024 layout shows modifications made over the past three and a half decades. A new megaplex cinema opened, on the northwest corner of the site, in late 1999. It was followed by the aforementioned POLO NORTH strip center (in medium gray). After Sears Canada went bust in 2018, the vacant, 3-level building was divided into nine store spaces. The largest tenant was an EQ3 modern furniture store, which opened in October 2021.
POLO PARK CENTRE
Portage Avenue / Manitoba Highway 1 and St. James Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba
One of the earliest open-air malls in Canada's Western Provinces was Manitoba's POLO PARK CENTRE. The complex was built on 60 acres, located 2 miles west of centre city Winnipeg. Designed by Hans Peter Langes and the firm of Green, Blankenstein, Russell & Associates, the centre was developed by a joint venture of Toronto-based Simpsons-Sears and David Slater, Limited.
A mall-wide dedication was held on August 20, 1959, officiated by Duff Roblin (Premier of Manitoba) and Stephen Juba (Mayor of Winnipeg). This was followed by a 3-day grand opening extravaganza, which included pony rides, clowns, door prizes and a high-wire trapeze act. Some of the mall's charter stores were Zellers, Pennington's, Reitman's, Broadway Florists, Fashionette Hairstylists, Perth's Dry Cleaning, Tip Top Tailors, the United Cigar Store, an S.S. Kresge 5 & 10 and Dominion supermarket.
Common areas were decorated with several works of art; these created by four local artisans. "Equatorial Sundial," by Duane W. Eichols and Jim S. Willer, stood in a plaza at the south end of the complex. Over the east mall entry was "2 Cocks Rising," with "Owl Preparing For Flight" suspended over the west. These hanging screens were done by Jim S. Willer.
At the center of the centre, in a reflecting pool, was "Acrobats," an abstract work sculpted by George Swinton. The north end of the main mall featured two sculptures. "Birds In A Bluff" and "Mock Wall" were created by Richard Williams.
Montreal-based Fairview Shopping Centres, Limited established majority ownership of POLO PARK CENTRE in 1963. In September, plans were announced for an enclosure of the complex. The project had been completed by August 1964.
A second renovation of POLO PARK CENTRE got underway in February 1967. The north end supermarkets were relocated to new quarters on the east side of the centre. The original stores were sectioned into fifteen tenant spaces, these adjacent to a new 2-level (212,000 square foot), Toronto-based Eaton's. This store was dedicated on May 2, 1968.
The mall's first motion picture venue, the Pace Twin Cinema, had been installed in the basement level of the shopping hub. It showed its first features in June 1962. The Famous Players circuit purchased the Pace Twin and renovated it into the single-screen Cinema Polo Park. This venue opened in 1968. In the late 1970s, the interior of the mall was given a face lift, which included skylights, landscaping and a new Centre Court fountain. At this time, the mall housed seventy-nine stores and services.
Competing shopping centres in the POLO PARK trade area were all located within the corporate limits of Winnipeg. The first was GRANT PARK CENTRE (1962) {2.1 miles southeast}, then GARDEN CITY CENTRE (1970) {4.8 miles northeast}, UNICITY FASHION SQUARE (1975) {4.8 miles west}, ST. VITAL CENTRE (1979) {5.2 miles southeast} and KILDONIAN PLACE (1980) {6.1 miles northeast}.
All the competition initiated a 75 million dollar renovation of the POLO PARK property. The project got underway in 1984 and added a second level to the existing mall. New skylights, escalators, quarry tile flooring and a glass elevator were installed, along with the 8-bay Food Gallery culinary complex.
A new East Wing was also built. This included a (40,000 square foot) Safeway supermarket on Level 1, Bretton's and Zellers stores on Level 2, and an adjacent parking deck. The refurbished retail hub was dedicated August 13, 1986. It now encompassed over 1 million leasable square feet and housed 180 stores and services.
The basement single-screen cinema was replaced by a larger, state-of-the-art venue in the late 1990s. The Famous Players Silver City Polo Park was built as a northwestern outparcel. It featured 14-screens and an adjacent parking deck. First features were shown on December 3, 1999.
Anchor rebrandings at POLO PARK CENTRE had begun in August 1973, when the Simpsons-Sears nameplate was truncated to "Sears." Stores in the Eaton's chain were acquired by Sears and shuttered in the autumn of 1999. The POLO PARK location became one of eighteen Sears-Eaton's "urban concept stores," which debuted in autumn of the year 2000.
Portage Avenue / Manitoba Highway 1 and St. James Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba
One of the earliest open-air malls in Canada's Western Provinces was Manitoba's POLO PARK CENTRE. The complex was built on 60 acres, located 2 miles west of centre city Winnipeg. Designed by Hans Peter Langes and the firm of Green, Blankenstein, Russell & Associates, the centre was developed by a joint venture of Toronto-based Simpsons-Sears and David Slater, Limited.
The developers had officially announced plans for a west Winnipeg shopping centre project in April 1954, but it was January 1958 before actual construction got underway. When fully realized, POLO PARK CENTRE featured a main level of retail and basement, with forty-one charter stores and services. A 2-level (256,200 square foot) Simpsons-Sears opened for business on May 6, 1959. Loblaws Groceteria began business on June 17th.
A mall-wide dedication was held on August 20, 1959, officiated by Duff Roblin (Premier of Manitoba) and Stephen Juba (Mayor of Winnipeg). This was followed by a 3-day grand opening extravaganza, which included pony rides, clowns, door prizes and a high-wire trapeze act. Some of the mall's charter stores were Zellers, Pennington's, Reitman's, Broadway Florists, Fashionette Hairstylists, Perth's Dry Cleaning, Tip Top Tailors, the United Cigar Store, an S.S. Kresge 5 & 10 and Dominion supermarket.
Common areas were decorated with several works of art; these created by four local artisans. "Equatorial Sundial," by Duane W. Eichols and Jim S. Willer, stood in a plaza at the south end of the complex. Over the east mall entry was "2 Cocks Rising," with "Owl Preparing For Flight" suspended over the west. These hanging screens were done by Jim S. Willer.
At the center of the centre, in a reflecting pool, was "Acrobats," an abstract work sculpted by George Swinton. The north end of the main mall featured two sculptures. "Birds In A Bluff" and "Mock Wall" were created by Richard Williams.
Montreal-based Fairview Shopping Centres, Limited established majority ownership of POLO PARK CENTRE in 1963. In September, plans were announced for an enclosure of the complex. The project had been completed by August 1964.
A second renovation of POLO PARK CENTRE got underway in February 1967. The north end supermarkets were relocated to new quarters on the east side of the centre. The original stores were sectioned into fifteen tenant spaces, these adjacent to a new 2-level (212,000 square foot), Toronto-based Eaton's. This store was dedicated on May 2, 1968.
The mall's first motion picture venue, the Pace Twin Cinema, had been installed in the basement level of the shopping hub. It showed its first features in June 1962. The Famous Players circuit purchased the Pace Twin and renovated it into the single-screen Cinema Polo Park. This venue opened in 1968. In the late 1970s, the interior of the mall was given a face lift, which included skylights, landscaping and a new Centre Court fountain. At this time, the mall housed seventy-nine stores and services.
Competing shopping centres in the POLO PARK trade area were all located within the corporate limits of Winnipeg. The first was GRANT PARK CENTRE (1962) {2.1 miles southeast}, then GARDEN CITY CENTRE (1970) {4.8 miles northeast}, UNICITY FASHION SQUARE (1975) {4.8 miles west}, ST. VITAL CENTRE (1979) {5.2 miles southeast} and KILDONIAN PLACE (1980) {6.1 miles northeast}.
All the competition initiated a 75 million dollar renovation of the POLO PARK property. The project got underway in 1984 and added a second level to the existing mall. New skylights, escalators, quarry tile flooring and a glass elevator were installed, along with the 8-bay Food Gallery culinary complex.
A new East Wing was also built. This included a (40,000 square foot) Safeway supermarket on Level 1, Bretton's and Zellers stores on Level 2, and an adjacent parking deck. The refurbished retail hub was dedicated August 13, 1986. It now encompassed over 1 million leasable square feet and housed 180 stores and services.
The basement single-screen cinema was replaced by a larger, state-of-the-art venue in the late 1990s. The Famous Players Silver City Polo Park was built as a northwestern outparcel. It featured 14-screens and an adjacent parking deck. First features were shown on December 3, 1999.
Anchor rebrandings at POLO PARK CENTRE had begun in August 1973, when the Simpsons-Sears nameplate was truncated to "Sears." Stores in the Eaton's chain were acquired by Sears and shuttered in the autumn of 1999. The POLO PARK location became one of eighteen Sears-Eaton's "urban concept stores," which debuted in autumn of the year 2000.
This retail experiment was an unmitigated disaster. All stores being permanently shuttered on February 23, 2002. The POLO PARK store re-opened, as The Bay, in 2003. The Sears Auto Centre closed in June 2003. It was demolished and replaced by a freestanding structure which housed Joey's Grill Lounge & Cabana Bar, EQ3 (furniture & accessories) and Pier 1 Imports.
A 30 million dollar remodeling and expansion was done to POLO PARK between 2006 and 2008. New flooring, signage and interior features were installed. A new Main Entrance was built onto the southeast corner of the mall, creating 20,000 square feet of new retail and restaurant space. Moreover, The Food Gallery was expanded to 17 bays and Zellers enlarged into a 97,200 square foot store.
Safeway's shuttering, in December 2008, created space for two new tenants; BCBG Maxazria and a (37,000 square foot) XXI Forever. BCBG opened in December 2010, with Forever 21 holding its grand opening on March 5, 2011. Hudson's Bay Company announced a store name change in March 2013. All "The Bay" locations would be known, henceforth, as Hudson's Bay (Francophone stores would officially become La Baie D'Hudson).
The 2011 purchase of Zeller's stores, by the American Target chain, was to bring Target into the POLO PARK mall. However, the (97,200 square foot) Zellers was deemed too small to accommodate a store operated by the Minneapolis-based merchandiser.
It was decided to build an all-new store on the site of the old Winnipeg-Canad Inn Stadium, adjacent to the north end of the mall. The (144,000 square foot) Target consisted of 2 levels, with the first dedicated to covered parking. An official dedication was held October 17, 2014. The store closed less than 6 months later, on April 12, 2015.
Meanwhile, POLO NORTH, a 3-level (210,000 square foot) office and retail complex, was built on the site of the demolished Winnipeg Arena (1955-2006). The first tenant, a 1-level (28,000 square foot) Marshalls, began business April 4, 2013. This was followed by the grand openings of adjacent Mark's Work Wearhouse and Bed, Bath & Beyond stores.
As for the vacant Zellers on the mall's second level, it was sectioned into seventeen inline store spaces; these accessed from a new loop mallway. Tenants in the renovated area included Teavana, Anthropologie, The Disney Store, Thomas Sabo, Fossil, Nine West and Urban Outfitters.
Stores opened for business October 1, 2014, in conjunction with the dedication of a 49 million dollar, mall-wide face lift. This project installed new skylights and soft-seating areas and renovated the centre's restrooms. There were now approximately 1,202,000 leasable square feet and 200 stores and services. As part of a nation-wide Cadillac Fairview rebranding, the mall's name was changed to CF POLO PARK on September 21, 2015.
The Silver City megaplex was rebranded as the Scotiabank Theatre Winnipeg in the fall of 2016. The vacant Target, adjacent to the north end of the mall, was divided into five tenant spaces and renamed PLAZA AT POLO. The first tenant, a 24-7 Intouch Contact Centre, opened in early 2018. It was followed by the debut of a (37,000 square foot) Winners & HomeSense. This combination store welcomed first shoppers on September 25, 2018.
A 30 million dollar remodeling and expansion was done to POLO PARK between 2006 and 2008. New flooring, signage and interior features were installed. A new Main Entrance was built onto the southeast corner of the mall, creating 20,000 square feet of new retail and restaurant space. Moreover, The Food Gallery was expanded to 17 bays and Zellers enlarged into a 97,200 square foot store.
Safeway's shuttering, in December 2008, created space for two new tenants; BCBG Maxazria and a (37,000 square foot) XXI Forever. BCBG opened in December 2010, with Forever 21 holding its grand opening on March 5, 2011. Hudson's Bay Company announced a store name change in March 2013. All "The Bay" locations would be known, henceforth, as Hudson's Bay (Francophone stores would officially become La Baie D'Hudson).
The 2011 purchase of Zeller's stores, by the American Target chain, was to bring Target into the POLO PARK mall. However, the (97,200 square foot) Zellers was deemed too small to accommodate a store operated by the Minneapolis-based merchandiser.
It was decided to build an all-new store on the site of the old Winnipeg-Canad Inn Stadium, adjacent to the north end of the mall. The (144,000 square foot) Target consisted of 2 levels, with the first dedicated to covered parking. An official dedication was held October 17, 2014. The store closed less than 6 months later, on April 12, 2015.
Meanwhile, POLO NORTH, a 3-level (210,000 square foot) office and retail complex, was built on the site of the demolished Winnipeg Arena (1955-2006). The first tenant, a 1-level (28,000 square foot) Marshalls, began business April 4, 2013. This was followed by the grand openings of adjacent Mark's Work Wearhouse and Bed, Bath & Beyond stores.
As for the vacant Zellers on the mall's second level, it was sectioned into seventeen inline store spaces; these accessed from a new loop mallway. Tenants in the renovated area included Teavana, Anthropologie, The Disney Store, Thomas Sabo, Fossil, Nine West and Urban Outfitters.
Stores opened for business October 1, 2014, in conjunction with the dedication of a 49 million dollar, mall-wide face lift. This project installed new skylights and soft-seating areas and renovated the centre's restrooms. There were now approximately 1,202,000 leasable square feet and 200 stores and services. As part of a nation-wide Cadillac Fairview rebranding, the mall's name was changed to CF POLO PARK on September 21, 2015.
The Silver City megaplex was rebranded as the Scotiabank Theatre Winnipeg in the fall of 2016. The vacant Target, adjacent to the north end of the mall, was divided into five tenant spaces and renamed PLAZA AT POLO. The first tenant, a 24-7 Intouch Contact Centre, opened in early 2018. It was followed by the debut of a (37,000 square foot) Winners & HomeSense. This combination store welcomed first shoppers on September 25, 2018.
BCBG Maxazria and Forever 21 did a retail retreat from Canada. The POLO PARK BCBG went dark in March 2017, with Forever 21 being shuttered in November 2019. Forever 21 reentered the Canadian market, with the POLO PARK location reopening on March 11, 2022. Sears, a charter 1959 mall tenant, went dark on January 21, 2018. Its vacant building was reconfigured as several smaller retail, restaurant and office spaces. A (44,000 square foot) EQ3 furniture store began business on October 29, 2021.
Sources:
https://www.winnipegarchitecture.ca / Winnipeg Architecture Foundation
http://wbi.lib.umanitoba.ca / University of Manitoba Building Annex
http://www.cadillacfairview.com
http://www.polopark.ca (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
Sources:
https://www.winnipegarchitecture.ca / Winnipeg Architecture Foundation
http://wbi.lib.umanitoba.ca / University of Manitoba Building Annex
http://www.cadillacfairview.com
http://www.polopark.ca (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
https://www.cfshops.com
http://www.retailinsider.com
http://www.cinematreasures.org
https://globalnews.ca
http://www.retailinsider.com
http://www.cinematreasures.org
https://globalnews.ca
https://accesswinnipeg.com
https://globalnews.ca
https://accesswinnipeg.com
"Polo Park Centre" article on Wikipedia
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