- Midtown Plaza (Saskatoon)
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Midtown Plaza 
Midtown Plaza main entrance showing CN towerLocation 201 1st Avenue South – Central Business District, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Opening date 1968 (Simpson-Sears only); July 30 1970 (full mall); renovated 1990 Owner Oxford Properties No. of stores and services 131 No. of anchor tenants 2 Total retail floor area 616,282 sq ft (57,254.5 m2) / 96,883 sq ft (9,000.7 m2) retail Parking 1,000 surface north, south and Sears lot and 796 underground No. of floors 2 (mall)
12 (tower)Website http://www.midtownplaza.ca/ Midtown Plaza is a shopping mall in Downtown Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, that is owned by the Oxford Properties Group. [1] The two main anchors are Sears Canada and The Bay and the shopping centre has a total store count of approximately 130 stores, making it the largest shopping centre in Saskatchewan. The mall was built on the former site of the city's main railway station as part of a major inner city redevelopment project in the 1960s that also saw construction of a freeway, the Senator Sid Buckwold Bridge, and TCU Place a major arts-convention complex.
The mall officially opened with a full complement of 51 stores and services on July 30, 1970; however, one of its anchor tenants, Simpson-Sears (now Sears Canada) opened for business in 1968.[2]
Also part of the Midtown Plaza complex is CN Towers – renamed in 2006 "The Tower at Midtown", an office block that was for most of the 1970s the tallest building in Saskatoon. The 12-story tower is 57 m (187 ft) in height.[3] Besides professional offices, from the 1970s to the early 2000s it also housed the broadcast facilities for the city's Canadian Broadcasting Corporation affiliate, CBKST.
The mall is served by the province's largest underground parking garage and two above-ground parking lots to the north and south of the mall.
History
Midtown Plaza opened in 1969 as a single-level mall with approximately 60 stores, with its official grand opening occurring on July 30, 1970. Initially, the mall's anchor tenants were the department stores Sears Canada (then known as Simpson-Sears) and Eaton's, with Kresge's discount department store serving as a junior anchor. A Dominion grocery store and a branch of the Famous Players movie theatre chain were added to the mall in its early years. The Midtown 2 was a two screen theatre that operated from 1970-2000. [4] In the mid-1980s, Dominion closed its Saskatchewan locations and the space was used as special events show room for a time (best known for hosting extravagant Christmas season displays) before being renovated into a food court in the late 1980s; the redevelopment of this part of the mall sparked the full-scale renovation that resulted in the addition of a second floor in the early 1990s, as well as an alteration of the building's facade into a design based upon the lines of the original rail station.
On August 16, 1976, a one-ton piece of concrete fell off the side of the CN Towers, crashing into the mall below; the mall and the office block were subsequently closed for several days while engineers assessed the building's integrity.[5]
The Eaton's store closed after that chain's collapse in the late 1990s and a few years later was replaced by The Bay, which vacated its five-storey location on 2nd Avenue North in favor of moving into the mall. The movie theatre closed in the late 1990s as well, and after standing unoccupied by a permanent tenant for a number of years, by the late 2000s a portion of the theatre location was taken up by smaller retailers.
In the early 1980s a small boutique-style shopping centre called Midtown Village opened adjacent to the west side of the mall on Idylwyld Drive. In 1989 it was purchased by Midtown Plaza but remained mostly vacant before being leased by Saskatchewan Property Management Corporation Community Services. It was demolished in 2007 and turned into additional mall parking. Another addition to the complex was the construction of a Toys "R" Us store in the late 1990s. This store is not physically connected to the mall, being built on a section of the plaza's south parking lot and separated from the mall by 20th Street, but is still considered part of Midtown Plaza.
Stores and services
List of stores and services as of March 2008[update]:
Food services
- A & W
- Booster Juice
- Edo Japan
- Grandma Lee's Bakery Café
- Kernels
- Koryo
- Laura Secord Chocolates
- Manchu Wok
- Mrs. Vanelli's
- New York Fries
- OPA! Souvlaki
- Orange Julius
- Starbucks
- Subway
- Taco Time
- Tomas The Cook
- The Berry Barn
- Timothy's World Coffee
Women's clothing
- Addition Elle
- Bryan's Fashions
- Costa Blanca
- Cleo
- Fairweather
- Garage Clothing Company
- J. Michaels
- La Senza
- La Senza Express
- La Vie en Rose
- Northern Reflections
- Motherhood Maternity
- Mariposa
- Reitman's
- Ricki's
- Sirens
- Smart Set
- Suzy Shier
- Tabi International
Men's clothing
- Randy River
- Tuxedo Town
- Tip Top Tailors
Men's and women's clothing
- American Eagle Outfitters
- Below the Belt
- Bluenotes
- Bootlegger
- Boutique of Leathers
- Danier Leather
- Jock Sportswear
- Jersey City Canada
- F2 Fashions
- Le Château
- The Gap
- Swimwear etc.
- Mexx
- Roots
- Sonar
- Urban Behavior
- West 49
- LOL T-Shirts
- Stitches
-Eddie Bauer -Urban Planet (UP)
Health and beauty
- Shoppers Drug Mart
- Sangsters Health Centres
- Lush
- The Body Shop
- Angles Salon Spa
- Hair Affair & Chatters
- Midtown Stylists
- Dr. Strelioff - Optometrist
- General Nutrition Centre
- Pearle Vision
- First Lady Products
- Fruits and Passion
Shoes, bags, and accessories
- Aldo
- Bentley
- Buckle It Up!
- CAPZ
- Eddie Bauer
- Claire's Accessories
- Culture Craze
- Ardene
- Naturalizer
- Foot Locker
- Feet First
- Payless ShoeSource
- Spareparts
- Spring
- Sterling Shoes
- Xcetera
- True Vision Sunwear
- Unic
- Sunglass Hut International
Telecommunication services
- Airsource (Rogers Wireless)
- Moga Mobility (Fido)
- Jump.ca (Sasktel)
- Telus Mobility
- Virgin Mobile
Electronics, music, movies and games
Jewellers
- Peoples Jewellers
- South China Jewelry
- Ben Moss Jewellers
- Charm Diamond Centre
Children's clothing
- Gap Kids
- Mexx Kids
- Please Mum
- The Children's Place
- Triple Flip
Greeting cards, books and travel agents
- Carlton Cards
- Coles
- Gateway Newsstand
- Hallmark Cards and Gifts
- Marlin Travel
Department stores
Banks
Sports equipment
Toys
Miscellaneous
- Apple Art Works
- Quarks
- Quilts Etc.
- Stokes
- Stitch It
- Sears Keys & Engraved Gifts
- Things Engraved
Location
Coordinates Coordinates: 52°7'39"N 106°40'3"W Coordinates: 52°07′39″N 106°40′03″W / 52.127500°N 106.667500°W
References
- ^ Oxford Properties Group
- ^ Midtown Plaza grand opening supplement, Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, July 29, 1970
- ^ "Canada Building". emporis.com. http://www.emporis.com/application/?nav=building&id=canadabuilding-saskatoon-canada. Retrieved 2011-02-27.
- ^ Saskatchewan Movie Theatre History
- ^ Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, August 17, 1976
External links
See also
List of shopping malls in Saskatoon Shopping malls Confederation Mall · Market Mall · Midtown Plaza · Scotia Centre Mall · The Centre · The Mall at Lawson HeightsPower centres Blairmore (under construction) · Preston Crossing · River City Centre · Stonegate · University Heights Square (under construction)Strip malls Avalon Shopping Centre · Canarama Centre · Churchill Shopping Plaza · Circle Centre Mall · College Park Mall · Cumberland Square · Eastview Shopping Centre · Erindale Centre · Grosvenor Park Centre · Lakeview Square · Lakewood Common · Louis The 8th Mall · Plaza 22 Strip Mall · Primrose Plaza · Royal Square · Trafalgar Square · Westgate Plaza · Westgreen Shopping PlazaCategories:- Shopping malls in Saskatchewan
- Buildings and structures in Saskatoon
- Skyscrapers between 50 and 99 meters
- Terminating vistas in Canada
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