Rockland Centre
Rockland Centre is an upscale mall located at Metropolitan Boulevard and de L'Acadie Boulevard in Mount Royal, Quebec, Canada, right across the street from the city limits of Montreal. It has been owned by Cominar since 2014.[1]
Modern tenants
The mall is home to two H&M stores, Vero Moda, Jack & Jones, Diesel, Rudsak, Harry Rosen, Le Château, Michael Kors, Stuart Weitzman Benetton, Zara, Mexx and Guess.
Current structure
Rockland Centre has three floors; the basement, main and top. But only the main and top floors are shopping space.
The basement floor has four tenants: Sports Experts, Nautilus Plus fitness club, Eggspectation restaurant and Urban Planet shop.
The first (main) floor features boutiques and the anchors Linen Chest (part of the old Eaton's space), Pharmaprix and longtime tenant The Bay.
The second (top) floor consists of boutiques and the mall's food court. The Bay's second floor is located on the mall's top floor.
Historical
Original shopping centre (1959-1982)
Rockland Centre first opened in 1959 with Steinberg's, Morgan's, Woolworth's, Holt Renfrew, United Cigars and 35-40 other tenants.
The original Rockland Centre was a non-linear outdoor shopping centre covered on the sidewalk. It was a single-level mall except for Morgan's that had three floors (when counting its basement). Rockland Centre was built on what used to be a golf course and was at the time of its opening the largest mall in Montreal. It was designed by architect Victor Prus.
Morgan's rebranded as the Bay in 1972.
Conversion into an upscale indoor mall (1982-1983)
In 1982, Rockland Centre underwent to the biggest change of its history to become the upscale mall it is today.
The majority of the original shopping centre was demolished in 1982 and rebuilt as a two-level fully enclosed mall. Only Steinberg's, The Bay and a handful of small tenants (e.g., Bank of Montreal) were spared from the demolition.
In 1983, the Bay moved into a newly built larger building adjacent to its original location, but with two floors instead of three. The Bay's original building was converted into mall space and its basement was turned into a food court.
A new Eaton's store was added in 1983 in the place of the demolished Woolworth's .
A multi-level parking lot was built between the Bay and Eaton's during the transformation of Rockland Centre.
Rockland Centre increased its number of tenants to 170 stores as a result of these renovations.
Demise of Steinberg's and afterwards (1992-present)
Steinberg's, one of Rockland Centre's last 1959 tenants, became a Metro in 1992.
Metro closed the store in 1999. Today the space is shared between Pharmaprix, Société des alcools du Québec and a relocated Bank of Montreal.
Demise of Eaton's and afterwards (1999-present)
Eaton's closed shop in 1999.
An existing Linen-Chest store relocated to the first floor of Eaton's. The rest of the first floor of Eaton's went to new boutiques.
The second floor of Eaton's was taken over by Sports Experts.
In 2007, the Sports Experts store was moved from its location on the second floor to the vacant food court area on the basement (the Bay's until 1983). In a swap of locations, the food court was moved to the second floor where Sports Experts had been (and which had been Eaton's second floor).
Popular culture
In the early 1990s, the mall was the filming location for the episode "Tale of the Pinball Wizard" from the children's horror/fantasy television show Are You Afraid of the Dark?.
Anchors
- The Bay (153,648 sq ft or 14,274.4 m2)
- Boutique Linen Chest (30,225 sq ft or 2,808.0 m2)
- H & M (22,290 sq ft or 2,070.8 m2)
- Sports Experts (21,305 sq ft or 1,979.3 m2)
- Zara (15,273 sq ft or 1,418.9 m2)
- Société des alcools du Québec (17,365 sq ft or 1,613.3 m2)
- Pharmaprix (16,716 sq ft or 1,553.0 m2)
- Nautilus Plus (14,997 sq ft or 1,393.3 m2)