Centre Laval
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| Coordinates | 45°33′45″N 73°43′53″W / 45.5624°N 73.7315°W |
|---|---|
| Address | 1600 Le Corbusier Blvd., Laval, Quebec, Canada H7S 1Y9 |
| Opening date | March 26, 1968 |
| Management | Cominar [1] |
| Owner | Cominar [1] |
| No. of stores and services | 130+ |
| No. of anchor tenants | 8 |
| Total retail floor area | 699,685 sq ft (65,002.9 m2) (GLA)[2] |
| No. of floors | 1 |
| Public transit access |   at Montmorency  Terminus Montmorency |
| Website | centrelaval |
Centre Laval is a shopping mall located in the Chomedey district of Laval, Quebec, Canada, at the corner of Saint-Martin West and Le Corbusier boulevard. It is a 10-minute walk from the Montmorency metro station in nearby Laval-des-Rapides. Centre Laval is paired with Quartier Laval, a power centre across the street owned by the same company, with which it makes a shopping complex called DUO.
Though located only 2.5 km (1.6 mi) away from the bigger and more popular Carrefour Laval, Centre Laval is a large shopping mall in its own right with nearly 700,000 square feet (65,000 m2) of retail space.[2] It has 130 shops, services and department stores, including anchors Hudson's Bay, Marshall's/HomeSense, The Brick, Best Buy, Bureau en Gros, Lee Valley, Avril Supermarché Santé and Décathlon. Other tenants of importance include Mark's and Ares. There is also a branch of the Bank of Montreal.
History[edit]
Centre Laval began in 1968 as a 370,000 square feet indoor shopping mall with 50 stores anchored by Famous Players theatre, Woolco and Steinberg's.[3][4] It was notably the first shopping centre with a SAQ store.[3][4]
Centre Laval literally doubled its size on August 17, 1972 by expanding to the south for a new total of over 100 merchants.[5] Three new mall wings were added and the old area of the shopping centre was renovated.[6] The expansion was supposed to be anchored by Morgan.[7] But by the time the expansion was completed, the Morgan chain had already been renamed to The Bay and the store at Centre Laval inaugurated under the new banner.[8] Montreal Expos baseball players Ken Singleton and Terry Humphrey were present at Centre Laval on August 17 to sign autographs.[9]
In January 1994, it was announced that Walmart would buy the Woolco retail chain to establish a Canadian presence under its own name.[10]
Bureau en Gros acquired the lease of the bankrupt office supply chain Club Biz and inaugurated its Centre Laval store on June 1, 1996.[11] Club Biz, which was founded in 1991 by executives of Steinberg's, had taken over in 1993 the space at Centre Laval of the defunct supermarket following the latter's closing in 1992.
Walmart left Centre Laval in November 2012 to relocate as a Walmart Supercentre on the site formerly occupied by Centre 2000.[12] Walmart's location at Centre Laval was demolished to allow a Target store on its location that operated from 2013 to 2015. The store closed when Target took the decision to withdraw all its Canadian operations. As of October 2017, part of that space was occupied by a 70,000 square foot Sportium sport equipment store.[13] In 2018 more space is being occupied by a 32,000 square foot Avril Supermarché Santé supermarket, and Marshalls and HomeSense.[13]
Lee Valley opened its first store in the province on October 3, 2018.[14]
In June 2020, it was announced that Sportium would close like all locations from that retail banner.[15] Décathlon opened on December 19, 2020.[16]
The second floor of Hudson's Bay was closed around 2020 or 2021 and all of its merchandise is now on the first level.[17] It is one of four locations tested by Hudson's Bay as part of a pilot project where the stores are used as showrooms so that "customers can easily place online orders for products not available in-store".[18]
Ownership[edit]
In April 2007, Homburg Invest Inc acquired Alexis Nihon REIT and thereby officially took ownership of the shopping centre.[19] Centre Laval was transferred to Homburg Canada REIT in 2009 which eventually changed to Canmarc Real Estate Investment Trust in September 2011.[2][20]
Since March 2012, Centre Laval is owned and managed by Cominar following its acquisition of Canmarc.[1][20]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c "Centre Laval - About us". Cominar Real Estate Investment Trust. Archived from the original on June 22, 2012. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
- ^ a b c "Centre Laval - Canmarc REIT". CANMARC REIT. Archived from the original on January 18, 2013. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
- ^ a b "Laval gets new "Downtown"". Montreal Star. Montreal. March 25, 1968. p. 10.
- ^ a b "50-Store shopping mall opening in Laval". Montreal Gazette. Montreal. 25 March 1968. p. 11.
- ^ "Centre Laval Opens ... again". Montreal Star. Montreal. August 16, 1972. p. 10.
- ^ ""New" Centre Laval Size of Ten Football Fields". Montreal Star. Montreal. August 16, 1992. p. 55.
- ^ "Morgan's plans to build 110,000 square foot store". The Gazette. Montreal. 25 May 1971. p. 34. Retrieved 2018-02-04.
- ^ "The Bay advertisement page". Montreal Gazette. Montreal. 16 August 1972. p. 20.
- ^ "Two Expos to visit Centre Laval opening". Montreal Star. Montreal. August 16, 1972. p. 53.
- ^ "When Walmart set its sights on the Canadian market". CBC. 2020-01-14. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
- ^ "Bureau en Gros opens 4 stores". Montreal Gazette. Montreal. 31 May 1996. p. C8.
- ^ "Walmart Canada opens new regional office and supercentre in Laval, Quebec".
- ^ a b "Brief: More Target Spaces Filled, Miniso Continues Expansion, Artemano Files for Creditor Protection". October 18, 2017.
- ^ "Lee Valley to open first store in Quebec at Centre Laval | Montreal Gazette". September 26, 2018.
- ^ "Sail to close six stores in Ontario and Quebec, affecting 500 employees". CP24. June 4, 2020.
- ^ "New Décathlon Store Opening Soon!". DUO.
- ^ "Google Maps".
- ^ Saba, Rosa (November 17, 2020). "Hudson's Bay announces new online strategy to double product assortment almost overnight". Toronto Star.
- ^ "Homburg and Alexis Nihon announce closing of sale of industrial and office properties of Alexis Nihon to Comin". CNW Group. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
- ^ a b "Canmarc accepts latest Cominar bid". The Chronicle Herald. Retrieved November 3, 2012.