International Malls: Halifax Shopping Centre
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada - circa 1966
Halifax Shopping Centre split-image postcard views showing the interior, and exterior of the mall, where you can see the pretty cool looking original Eaton's anchor store--and dig that entrance design! Here's the mall's history from their website, which I found interesting reading:
Halifax Shopping Centre was constructed on the former site of the St. Joseph’s Boys Home, adjacent to the former Army barracks #6 and the former Halifax Airport off Chebucto Road, in 1960.Mall history: 1960 - present
At the time, Halifax Shopping Centre was the largest enclosed shopping centre in Eastern Canada, a much needed shopping opportunity for the then metro population of 193,353. At the time, the electric trolly service to the west end provided much of the traffic flow during the early years.
Anchored by Sobeys and Eatons, the centre attracted such retailers as Western Furniture, Reitman’s, D’Allairds, Birks, Kresges, Woods, The Candy Corner, McKnight’s Hardware, Gorden B. Isnor, Black Night Lounge, The Nova Scotia Liquor Commission, The Royal Bank and Goldber's Men’s Wear. Parking was provided above the centre on what is now the upper retail level. Combined with the Bayer’s Road Shopping Centre and the Original Sears built in 1920, Halifax Shopping Centre was part of the shopping hub of Metro.
Halifax Shopping Centre has seen several additions and expansions since 1960 and still remains one of the premier shopping destinations in Nova Scotia. 1989 saw the largest expansion of Halifax Shopping Centre with the addition of 75,000 square feet of retail space, three parking decks and a food court. The years between have seen many changes to the retail face of Halifax Shopping Centre. Today, Halifax Shopping Centre continues to reinvent itself with the recent addition of 400,000 square feet of retail, office and service space at the Halifax Shopping Centre Annex.
Current website: here
Previous entries: none
posted by Keith @ 10/27/2006
7 Comments:
Maybe you should change the name of the blog to "Malls of NORTH America" :)
Scott
That is a cool looking facade, isn't it! If you didn't tell me this was in Nova Scotia, I'd have assumed it was totally in the US. Neat!
Maybe you should change the name of the blog to "Malls of NORTH America" :)
Probably! Often I don't see a real line drawn between American and Canadian efforts as it all seems the same to me.
Tell you the truth, I wonder if interior malls just work in Canada as opposed to the US at the present time?
A decade ago I went to one mall in Windsor I enjoyed seeing, Devonshire Mall. Some years afterwards, they expanded their area further it seems, but I haven't been back there to see what it's like.
http://www.devonshiremall.com/
"Malls of NORTH America"? Heh, I would if I planned to do more International entries more often (which I don't), as opposed to just throwing one or two a week in, like I generally do (and only when the mood happens to strike me).
If some of these vintage non-US malls didn't look so groovy too, I'd never include them, but they do and so I can't resist. Fortunately I can have my cake and eat it too, as I think a cool looking foreign mall fits in the mix nicely here once and a while and is good variety in our MOA diet.
But overall, the focus will remain on American malls, no doubt about that. That's what I know and grew up with.
wow! I'd love to see other hpotos of halifax shopping centre! have any?
The Halifax Shopping Centre is holding it's own as of late, even with MicMac Mall (on the Dartmouth side across the harbour) growing larger all the time.
It's one of those malls that is really in the right *place*, as in, it's a hub spot that lots of people need to pass on their commute out of the city, which makes it convenient. Also, it's less of a hassle to get around than the larger, busier MicMac mall.
There is another, forgotten part of this mall (or at least it's considered as such) called the West End Mall, which features a vintage Bay. I was in there today to take pictures of this dead mall, and capture the retro-tastic Bay before it goes the way of all Canadian department stores.
Yep, we've got lots of malls up here, live and dead. I think the big thing up here that keeps "lifestyle centres" from really catching on is our climate...no one wants to walk outside in the driving sleet or snow to shop, and since that's about 8 months of the year, we press on with malls.
Having grown up on both sides of the CanAm border, I can vouch for the fact that our malls are very similar in design to US models, only the names change. Plus, with a much smaller population we have lots of hidden gems that time has forgotten because there's no real need to keep updating to attract customers when you're the only game in town, which happens a lot more down east than in ON.
If you'd like current shots of the HFX shopping centre, I'd be happy to post them on my flicker as a "live mall" to go with my dead ones. :)
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