Square One Shopping Centre

infobox shopping mall
shopping_mall_name = Square One Shopping Centre


image_width = 115
caption =
location = Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
opening_date = 1973
developer= OMERS/Oxford Properties Group
manager= OMERS/Oxford Properties Group
owner= OMERS/Oxford Properties Group
number_of_stores = 360+
number_of_anchors = 4 (Wal-Mart, The Bay, Sears, Zellers)
floor_area = 1,614,125 square feet
(150,000 m²)
parking= 8,450 spaces +
floors = 2
website = [http://www.shopsquareone.com www.shopsquareone.com]

Square One Shopping Centre is a shopping mall located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest shopping malls in Canada, with over 1.6 million square feet (150,000 m²) of retail space and more than 360 stores and services. On average, the mall serves over 21 million customers each year.

Square One is located at 100 City Centre Drive in central Mississauga, about 20 minutes from downtown Toronto and 15 minutes from Toronto Pearson International Airport. Square One's location is adjacent to the interchange of Highway 403 and Hurontario Street (Highway 10).

The mall is in very close proximity to the Mississauga Civic Centre and the Mississauga Living Arts Centre, both of which are located right across from the mall. Also located near the mall are residential condominiums, Mississauga's Central Library, a large Chapters bookstore and a 13-screen Cineplex Entertainment theatre featuring IMAX (separate from the theatre located inside the mall). The area near the mall is thus a unique combination of residential, government, and entertainment and retail-related commercial areas.

Located within the mall grounds is the main terminal of the Mississauga Transit bus network, which was opened in 1997, and a Peel Regional Police station, which was opened in 2002.

Each year, between June and October, one of the mall parking lots hosts a large farmers' market. The market is open on Fridays and Sundays. For the 2006 season, the market was moved from its previous location at the far end of the Wal-Mart parking lot to a new location, the parking lot located between The Bay and the Mississauga Civic Centre. For the 2007 season, the market was moved once again, this time to a larger location at the northwest parking lot of the mall, near Zellers.

Square One is currently owned and managed by the [http://www.omers.com/scripts/index_.asp OMERS Realty Management Corporation] through the [http://www.oxfordproperties.com/ Oxford Properties Group] .

History

Excavation of the Square One site began in 1969. Current mayor of Mississauga Hazel McCallion, who at that time was mayor of the nearby Village of Streetsville (now part of Mississauga), attended the ground-breaking ceremony, which was held in the middle of a hayfield. The mall, in fact, predates the City of Mississauga itself by one year. Mississauga's city centre has since grown around Square One, as planned prior to construction.

Major construction finished in mid-1973, having cost only $44-million. In October 1973, Square One opened, having 169 shops and services, including four major retailers: Dominion, Sears, The Bay and Woolco (a subsidiary of Woolworth's).

During the 1980s, the mall underwent numerous expansions, adding 80 more stores and over a million square feet to the property, including a new Eaton's department store. In the mid 1990s, Woolco closed. The Woolco location was transformed into one of the world's largest Wal-Mart stores (2 floors, convert|220000|sqft|m2|-3|abbr=on). Following the bankruptcy of the Eaton's chain in 1999, the Square One store was converted into Canada's largest Zellers location.

Between 2000 and 2003, a new expansion termed "Cityside" was completed. This latest expansion added convert|320000|sqft|m2|-3 of retail space to the mall, as well as an additional convert|370000|sqft|m2|-3 for parking. New stores opened included Old Navy, Home Outfitters and Tommy Hilfiger. A new Cineplex Odeon movie theatre was also opened. In 2005, the theatre was bought by the Empire Theatres chain, as there already was a large Famous Players Coliseum across the street.

In 2004/2005, a major $33-million style renovation of much of the mall began. Besides giving much of the original parts of the mall a new look and feel, the renovation project divided Square One into three distinct "neighbourhood" areas, with carpeted "transition areas" located in between. The major phase of the renovation was completed in November 2006.

To coincide with the renovation, several new stores have been opened including H&M, Swarovski, Sephora, FCUK and Marciano.

Anchors & Majors

*Wal-Mart (convert|244664|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on)
*The Bay (convert|191011|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on)
*Zellers (convert|163733|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on)
*Sears (convert|145202|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on)
*Empire Theatres (convert|50000|sqft|m2|-3|abbr=on)
*Home Outfitters (convert|39763|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on)
*Old Navy (convert|25941|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on)
*Gap (convert|20310|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on)
*Urban Behavior (convert|20282|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on)

External links

* [http://www.shopsquareone.com/ Official website]