Eaton Centre
Encyclopedia
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, originating with Eaton's
Eaton's
The T. Eaton Co. Limited was once Canada's largest department store retailer. It was founded in 1869 in Toronto by Timothy Eaton, an Irish immigrant. Eaton's grew to become a retail and social institution in Canada, with stores across the country, buying offices across the globe, and a catalogue...
, one of Canada's largest department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
chains at the time that these malls were developed. Eaton's partnered with development companies throughout the 1970s and 1980s to develop downtown shopping malls in cities across Canada. Each mall contained an Eaton's store, or was in close proximity to an Eaton's store, and typically the mall itself carried the "Eaton Centre" name. These joint-ventures represented a significant retail development trend in Canada during that period.
With the demise of the Eaton's chain in 1999, and the retiring of the Eaton's name as a retail banner in 2002, some of these malls have been renamed, although three of the larger ones continue to carry the Eaton name. Some malls in smaller urban areas, which were typically the least successful of all the Eaton Centre developments, have been demolished or converted to other, non-retail uses.
Before the Eaton Centres
Prior to the building of these large shopping malls, Eatons, like other departments stores in Canada and around the world, built stand-alone buildings that would hold one large department store only. Often these large retailers dominated the central cores of many mid-sized Canadian sized Canadian cities. Examples include Eaton's Building (Saskatoon)Eaton's Building (Saskatoon)
The Eaton's Building is a landmark building located in downtown Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Formerly serving as an Eaton's department store, the building is currently occupied by the Saskatoon Board of Education.-History:...
, College Park (Toronto)
College Park (Toronto)
College Park is a shopping mall, residential and office complex located on the southwest corner of Yonge Street and College Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
, and Eaton's Annex
Eaton's Annex
Located on Albert Street, directly behind the Eaton's Main Store and Toronto's City Hall, the Eaton's Annex was a 10-storey building containing both retail and office space...
(Toronto).
Current Eaton Centres
- Toronto Eaton CentreToronto Eaton CentreThe Toronto Eaton Centre is a large shopping mall and office complex in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, named after the now-defunct Eaton's department store chain that once anchored it. In terms of the number of visitors, the shopping mall is Toronto's top tourist attraction, with around one...
, TorontoTorontoToronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, OntarioOntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
: The largest of the Eaton Centre's, the mall is one of Toronto's most visited tourist attraction. The mall sits on the site of the store operated by Eaton's founder, Timothy EatonTimothy EatonTimothy Eaton was a Canadian businessman who founded the Eaton's department store, one of the most important retail businesses in Canada's history.-Early life and family:...
. - Montreal Eaton Centre, MontrealMontrealMontreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, QuebecQuebecQuebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
: This mall is located on Sainte-Catherine Street, one of Montreal's primary shopping districts, and is next to Eaton's former flagship Montreal store (which itself has recently been refurbished as a mall known as the Complexe Les AilesComplexe Les Ailes (Montreal)Complexe Les Ailes is a retail and office complex on Saint Catherine Street in Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Designed by the firm Ross and Macdonald and first constructed between 1925 and 1927, the building served as the Eaton's department store until 1999...
). It is also Downtown MontrealDowntown MontrealDowntown Montreal is the central business district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is nearly enitirely located at the southern most slope of Mount Royal and is approximately bounded by Sherbrooke Street to the north, Papineau Avenue to the east, Guy Street or until Shaughnessy Village to the west,...
's largest shopping mall. The mall replaced one named Les Terrasses, which was demolished after only a few years in operation.
Former Eaton Centres
- The Core Shopping Centre, CalgaryCalgaryCalgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, AlbertaAlbertaAlberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
: This downtown mall was constructed in the late 1980s, and required the demolition of the historic Eaton's store (Eaton's moved into larger premises in the new mall). Two facades of the old Eaton's store were preserved, and incorporated into the new retail podium. The "Calgary Eaton Centre" name was retained until 2010 (despite Eaton's departure in 2002) when it was dropped from marketing and branding efforts and renamed The Core Shopping Centre. - Edmonton City CentreEdmonton City CentreEdmonton City Centre is a shopping mall in downtown Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, across the street from Churchill Square.-History:In 1974, the City Centre Place shopping mall was completed within the larger Edmonton Centre development; TD Tower was added in 1976. In 1978, Oxford Tower and the...
, EdmontonEdmontonEdmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
, AlbertaAlbertaAlberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
: After the demise of Eaton's, the Edmonton Eaton Centre and Edmonton Centre, two formerly independent malls, were redeveloped into one shopping complex, and The BayThe BayThe Bay is a chain of 91 department stores that operate across parts of Canada. It is the main brand of Hudson's Bay Company , North America's oldest company. It has its headquarters in the Simpson Tower in Toronto. In French, the chain is known as la Baie, short for "Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson"...
, a former Eaton's competitor, moved into the former Eaton's store. - The Bay CentreBay CentreThe Bay Centre, formerly the Victoria Eaton Centre, is a shopping mall in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.Opening in 1990, the mall was the first large shopping mall in Victoria's city centre, occupying what were formerly two city blocks of the Old Town area...
, Victoria, British ColumbiaVictoria, British ColumbiaVictoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
: When Eaton's went bankrupt, the former Eaton's store in this mall was occupied for a short time by Sears CanadaSears CanadaSears Canada Inc. is a retailer, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, that operates in all provinces and territories across Canada with a network of 196 corporate stores, 195 dealer stores, 38 home improvement showrooms, 108 Sears Travel offices and a nationwide home maintenance, repair, and...
's "eatons" experiment, and afterwards by a Sears store. When Sears vacated the mall, the "Victoria Eaton Centre" was renamed to reflect the mall's new department store tenant, the Bay. - Metropolis at MetrotownMetrotownMetropolis at Metrotown is a shopping mall complex in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. With over 450 shops and services, it is the largest mall in British Columbia, and the 2nd largest in Canada...
, Burnaby, British ColumbiaBritish ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
: The Eaton Centre Metrotown opened in 1989. With the departure of the Eaton's store a decade later, the Eaton Centre and the nearby Metrotown Centre were incorporated into one mall. - CityplaceCityplace (Winnipeg)Cityplace is an office and retail complex situated in Downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba. It consists mainly of the former Eaton's company mail-order warehouse building that occupies the block bounded by Hargrave and Donald Streets, and Graham and St. Mary Avenues...
, WinnipegWinnipegWinnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
, ManitobaManitobaManitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
: Formerly "Eaton Place", this shopping and office complex occupies the former Eaton's mail order warehouse, and is located behind the city's new arena, the MTS CentreMTS CentreThe MTS Centre is an indoor sports arena and entertainment venue in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and home of the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League. It is located on the former Eaton's site and is owned and operated by True North Sports & Entertainment. The 440,000 square feet ...
(the site of the former downtown Eaton's store, now demolished).
Other Centres
- Pacific CentrePacific CentrePacific Centre is a shopping mall located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is operated by Cadillac Fairview Corporation. Based on the number of stores, many of which are underground, it is the largest mall in Downtown Vancouver with over 100 stores and services...
, VancouverVancouverVancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British ColumbiaBritish ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
: Constructed in phases from 1971 to 1973, this mall contained Eaton's flagship Vancouver store. - Rideau CentreRideau CentreRideau Centre is a three-level shopping centre on Rideau Street in Downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It borders on Rideau Street , the Rideau Canal, the Mackenzie King Bridge, and Nicholas Street....
, OttawaOttawaOttawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, OntarioOntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
: Prior to its construction in 1981–1982, Ottawa's "Rideau Centre" project had been subject to many years of planning. Prior to the mall's opening, Eaton's attempted to rename the mall the "Rideau Eaton Centre", but the chain was forced to back down due to the local outcry generated by the "eleventh hour" proposed name change. Nonetheless, Eaton's added an "E" to the mall's logo (although the letter has long since been removed).
Ontario Downtown Renewal Programme (ODRP)
Commencing in the early 1970s, OntarioOntario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
's provincial government
Bill Davis
William Grenville "Bill" Davis, was the 18th Premier of Ontario, Canada, from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the MPP for Peel in the 1959 provincial election where he was a backbencher in Leslie Frost's government. Under John Robarts, he was a cabinet minister overseeing the education...
poured millions of dollars over the course of a decade into the ODRP program in order to revitalize the downtown retail areas of smaller communities throughout the Province. Typically, this involved the construction of new downtown malls to compete with growing suburban shopping opportunities.
However, there was no business case or market analysis to justify the construction of these downtown malls. Typically, this involved the construction of new downtown malls to compete with growing suburban shopping opportunities. Many residents noted that the enclosed facilities represented the antithesis to the one unique aspect of downtown shopping: street-related stores.
Nonetheless, in a highly criticized business decision, Eaton's became a partner in the program, and its stores served as the anchor tenant in many of these malls. As stated in The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
newspaper, "The history of retailing is filled with tales of merchants who were brilliantly prescient in their location choices, and others who totally misread their markets and fell flat. In the 1970s, the T. Eaton Co. became a textbook example of the latter when it built huge department stores in the increasingly empty downtowns of small Canadian cities; far from reviving the cores, the stores failed as consumers kept taking their business to suburban malls."
- Hamilton Eaton Centre, HamiltonHamilton, OntarioHamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
: Unlike most communities subjected to ODRP projects, Eaton's had been present in Hamilton's downtown for many decades. Despite Eaton's years of business in downtown Hamilton, this mall was never successful. Now renamed "Hamilton City Centre", the majority of the mall houses the temporary city hall. - Guelph Eaton Centre, GuelphGuelphGuelph is a city in Ontario, Canada.Guelph may also refer to:* Guelph , consisting of the City of Guelph, Ontario* Guelph , as the above* University of Guelph, in the same city...
: With the departure of Eaton's, this mall was redeveloped as the Guelph Centre. The site of the Eaton's store now houses the Sleeman Centre, which is a large ice rink. The rest of the mall was converted to a galleria style pedestrian street called 'Old Quebec Street', with offices above the shops. - Eaton Market Square, BrantfordBrantford, OntarioBrantford is a city located on the Grand River in Southern Ontario, Canada. While geographically surrounded by the County of Brant, the city is politically independent...
: Eventually renamed simply "Market Square", much of this mall has been converted to non-retail uses. - Peterborough Square, PeterboroughPeterborough, OntarioPeterborough is a city on the Otonabee River in southern Ontario, Canada, 125 kilometres northeast of Toronto. The population of the City of Peterborough was 74,898 as of the 2006 census, while the census metropolitan area has a population of 121,428 as of a 2009 estimate. It presently ranks...
: The former Eaton's store now contains movie theatres. - Sarnia Eaton Centre, SarniaSarnia, OntarioSarnia is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada . It is the largest city on Lake Huron and is located where the upper Great Lakes empty into the St. Clair River....
: This mall opened in 1982 but suffered from stiff competition from the existing suburban Lambton MallLambton MallLambton Mall is a shopping mall located in Sarnia, Ontario. It opened in 1971 and through several expansions now has 650,000 square feet of retail space...
. Eaton's departed in 1997, 5 years short of its intended 20 year lease, followed by the closing of the A&PA&P CanadaA&P Canada was a Canadian supermarket company from 1927 to 2009.In 1927, A&P opened its first stores in Canada. By 1929, A&P was present in 200 communities in Ontario and Quebec....
supermarket in 2000. Renamed the Bayside Mall after the departure of Eaton's, much of this mall has been converted to office space. - Kitchener Market Square, KitchenerKitchener, OntarioThe City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...
: The former Eaton's store has been converted to offices, as has much of the remainder of the mall.
See also
- List of shopping malls in Canada
- List of largest shopping malls in Canada