Square One Shopping Centre

43°35′35″N 79°38′34″W / 43.59306°N 79.64278°W / 43.59306; -79.64278

Square One Shopping Centre
Aerial view of Square One Shopping Centre
Map
LocationMississauga, Ontario, Canada
Opening dateOctober 3, 1973; 51 years ago (October 3, 1973)[1]
OwnerAIMCo and OMERS
No. of stores and services360+
No. of anchor tenants5 (Walmart Supercentre,
Hudson's Bay, Simons, Holt Renfrew, Sport Chek)
Total retail floor area2,200,000 square feet (200,000 m2)[2]
No. of floors2
Public transit accessCity Centre Transit Terminal
WebsiteshopSQUAREONE.com
Square One Chandelier
Square One Entrance 7
Entrance lobby.

Square One Shopping Centre, or simply Square One, is a shopping mall located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest shopping centre in Ontario and the second largest shopping centre in Canada, after the West Edmonton Mall. It has over 2,200,000 square feet (200,000 m2) of retail space, with more than 360 stores and services.[citation needed] On average, the mall serves over 24 million customers each year.[3] It operates on most holidays (the exceptions being Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Christmas Day), making it the only shopping mall in the city and one of the few in the Greater Toronto Area that does so.[4]

Square One is located in downtown Mississauga adjacent to the interchange of Highway 403 and Hurontario Street, near the Mississauga Civic Centre, the Mississauga Living Arts Centre, and the Mississauga Central Library; and has many condominium towers surrounding it.[5] Located adjacent to the mall is the City Centre Transit Terminal; the central hub of MiWay; Mississauga's municipal transit system, Square One Bus Terminal (serving regional GO Transit buses), and a Peel Regional Police community station.

History

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The Food District

Excavation of the Square One site began in 1969. Construction was finished in 1973, where the mall was first opened to the public. The four original anchors included Woolco, Sears at the time Simpson-Sears, The Bay, and Dominion.

Some stores such as Ashbrook's and Mark & Spencer's were closed in the late 1990s order to make way for the Cityside expansion, which was completed in the early 2000s.

In 1999, Eaton's filed for bankruptcy, closing their location at Square One. Zellers took over the space in 2000.[citation needed]

During January 2011, Target acquired the leases of most Zellers stores, including their location at Square One. Zellers closed in June 2012 and the store was renovated into a Target, which opened to the public on March 30, 2013.[citation needed]

In January 2013, Square One started a major renovation on the main corridor from the Target store to the centre court/food court. Burger King and Bowring were forced to close down due to the expansion of the food court across from the existing food court. The scenic elevator, along with the fountain, were removed and replaced with two escalators. This renovation was completed in Fall 2013. Square One also expanded by adding its concept, Grand Centre Court, which added at least (220,000 sq ft (20,439 m2)) square feet extra.[6]

Sears Canada announced on June 14, 2013 that it would be closing its store at Square One and Yorkdale as of March 9, 2014.[7] On June 27, Empire Theatres announced that they would be selling their theatre at Square One to Landmark Cinemas, which closed one year later.[8][9]

It was announced on December 6, 2013 that La Maison Simons would take over most of the space occupied by Sears, with a flagship store which opened in Spring 2016.[10]

In January 2015, Target Canada announced that it would close all their stores, including their location at Square One. Target's location at Square One closed in April 2015.

The South Expansion was completed on March 1, 2016 adding numerous retailers and a Holt Renfrew anchor store, along with removing the Dollarama and Home Outfitters stores.[11]

In June 2018, Square One announced the West Expansion, which took place in the former Target location that closed in 2015. The expansion opened between Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 and added several brands like Uniqlo and The Rec Room, as well as a 34,000 sq. ft. local food emporium, The Food District.[12]

The Uniqlo at Square One opened on November 2, 2018.[13]

Chapters closed in January 2019 and reopened as Indigo in the West Expansion in February 2019.

Square One has had many anchor stores throughout its history:

Current

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Former

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  • Ashbrook's[14] - closed around the late 1990s; currently part of Cityside Expansion.
  • Dominion (1973–1986) - original anchor; closed and demolished during the 1980s. Now mall space.
  • Eaton's (1988–1999) closed 1999; replaced with Zellers the following year.
  • HMV
  • Marks & Spencer[14] - closed late 1990s.
  • Sears (145,202 sq ft (13,490 m2)) - 1973 as Simpsons Sears – March 9, 2014; replaced with Simons and SportChek.
  • Target (2013–2015) (163,733 sq ft (15,211 m2)) - replaced Zellers; closed April 2015. A portion of this space is now used by Indigo, The Rec Room, and Food District (Western Expansion).
  • Woolco (1973–1994) - Woolco was acquired by Walmart, which replaces it.
  • Zellers (Store 279) (2000–2012) - took over Eaton's; replaced with Target the following year after its closure.


Future Hurontario LRT Connection

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The Hurontario LRT is a Light rail transit line under construction that will run along Hurontario Street from Port Credit GO station in the south to Brampton in the north. The LRT will have an intermediate stop at City Centre and connect to the MiWay City Centre Bus Terminal, as well as the Square One GO Bus Terminal.

References

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  1. ^ "A Look Back at Square One 40 Years Ago | Mississauga". insauga.com. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
  2. ^ "About | Square One Shopping Centre". Shopsquareone.com. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
  3. ^ "Oxford Properties". Oxford Properties. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
  4. ^ Square One. "Square One". Archived from the original on May 25, 2013. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
  5. ^ "New Condos in Square One | For Sale & Pre Construction".
  6. ^ [1][dead link]
  7. ^ Francine Kopun (June 14, 2013). "Sears Canada closing two Toronto-area stores | Toronto Star". Thestar.com. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
  8. ^ "Landmark Cinemas of Canada Announces Acquisition of Twenty Empire Theatres". MMD Newswire. Archived from the original on July 1, 2013.
  9. ^ Khalil, Nouman (October 1, 2014). "Square One's Landmark Cinema closing doors Friday". Mississauga.com.
  10. ^ Square One Shopping Centre. "Simons to open first Ontario store at Square One Shopping Centre". Newswire.ca. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
  11. ^ "Development: South Expansion | Square One Shopping Centre". shopsquareone.com.
  12. ^ "Development: West Expansion | Square One Shopping Centre". shopsquareone.com.
  13. ^ Vertolli, Riziero (November 5, 2018). "UNIQLO is now open in Square One in Mississauga". Mississauga.com.
  14. ^ a b "Wayback Machine- Square One Upper Level Floor Plan from 1997". Internet Archive. January 16, 2015. Archived from the original on April 13, 1997. Retrieved January 16, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

Square One Condos located in Mississauga City Centre

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