Retro Retail Video - Polo Park Shopping Centre
Polo Park Shopping Centre (1979)
Here's a dandy 1979 Christmas TV commercial for the Polo Park Shopping Centre, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, which opened in 1959. Their Wikipedia entry is here. No, this mall isn't in America, but I'll loosen the focus once in a while for cool videos like this (and/or photos). As I always say, in the end, a groovy mall is a groovy mall...
Oh, and I also couldn't resist sharing a nice little graphic (left) from their website, just because it looked so dang cool. Actually, it kind of puts me in mind of the '70s style of retail advertising illustration...and I always appreciate that kind of trip. My hat's off to the artist behind it!Polo Park has just launched a major $30 million renovation project (uh, they're calling it "makeover madness", which they proclaim is "taking over Polo Park!"), the ongoing updates of which can be found here, as well as here, for an overview on the pending changes to the shopping center...er, centre.
posted by Keith @ 1/05/2007
7 Comments:
This post on Polo Park mall brings me back to one of the most enduring mall memories that I've ever had. Perhaps someone who reads this can get more information on my memory. A photo would be wonderful!
Here's my experience:
I am not from Winnipeg, but in 1970 I visited Polo Park and was fascinated by what I saw: Two large grocery stores (i.e. competitors) right next to each other in the mall but with NO WALL between them (except for some sort of removable divider put up at night). That's right, one could walk between the two stores with extreme ease, although they were joined at the "front" (i.e. on the cash register side), but nevertheless together formed one very large retail space.
This must have been some sort of bold 60ish retailing experiment, obviously never to be repeated. It certainly left a strong impression with me.
Anyone else remember this?
I'm still trying to forget the World of Cheese!
Scott
To answer some of your questions:
Polo Park underwent a major renovation in 1986 that added a 2nd story to the mall, with new renovations underway. The Sears, recently renovated, is still where it is, and Eaton's became bankrupt and became Sears's version of eatons before that failed too. It is now The Bay. The Safeway is still there too. Never seen another grocery store there (born in 1986).
Winnipeg Arena got the wrecking ball in 2006, replaced with the MTS Centre downtown.
I have not seen the Magic Mushroom Slide in my lifetime.
I remember Polo Park. It's one of the first fully enclosed malls in North America. I got a job at Sbarro in their shiny new food court when they renovated in 1986. I lasted a week and swore I'd never work in fast food again. I'm glad to hear the mall is getting a face lift – that '80s postmodern style didn't age so well. I think the original underground bowling alley is still there though. I don't remember the mushroom slide but I do remember the World of Cheese. Anyone remember Kresgie's? It was like a smaller version of K-Mart. Bright fluorescent lights, cafetera, the whole store smelled like a deep fryer. The Gap is there now.
Having grown up in Winnipeg, our family would go to Polo Park occassionally. Kresge's was always a favourite stop, mostly because of the cafeteria.
Does anyone remember the art nouveau in front, kind of looked like a serrated knife inside a masonry circle? We used to call it the alligator.
Ceasars Restaurant - anyone have pictures of that place
Polo Park Mall is a great Mall, but I do think they ruined the aesthetics with the 2007 renovations, it had much more character before and fountains too, I hope the next facelift brings back some colour and neon
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