Square One Shopping Centre; Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Located in the sprawling megasuburb of Mississauga, Ontario, Square One Shopping Centre is one of the largest malls in Canada and the second largest in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), behind Eaton Centre downtown. As a mega-regional mall, Square One draws from an impressive trade area encompassing the entire Golden Horseshoe, a term for the highly populated arc of provincial Ontario surrounding the shores of Lake Ontario from Greater Toronto to Fort Erie, also including Hamilton, Niagara Falls, and St. Catharines. With over 8 million people, one out of four Canadians lives within the Golden Horseshoe and thus Square One’s trade area, making it a very important mall. The mall itself is a monster melange of stores and services in a very unique floorplan, as a result of many different updates and expansions throughout the years, but we’re also interested in how the mall has functioned as the centerpiece for the City of Mississauga since its inception in 1974.
Indeed, the City of Mississauga’s existance is relatively recent, and moreso amazing is the fact that it has grown to a population of over 700,000 residents and has more than doubled in the past 20 years. Mississauga emerged from the amalgamation of several existing communities, some of them over a century old themselves, such as Port Credit, Streetsville, Malton, Cooksville and Clarkson. However, most of present-day Mississauga was agricultural until even the first half of the 20th century.
By the 1960s, however, a lot of post-WWII suburban-growth had spilled over from Toronto and many settlements had sprung up such as Meadowvale and Erin Mills, so a provincial decree set up the Town of Mississauga in 1968, which amalgamated many of these towns into one geographic giant. Then, in 1974, Mississauga incorporated as a city, and with it came the plans for the new city center which was to feature government offices, as well as a gigantic mall. Are we loving this already?
Square One Shopping Centre opened in late 1973, just a few months prior to Mississauga being officially incorporated, in order to provide a centerpiece for the newly formed city. It is located at Highway 403 and Hurontario Street. Square One opened anchored by Dominion, Woolco, The Bay, and Sears. Today, however, only a shadow of the original mall exists as it has expanded many times into the piecemeal success story it is today.
As mentioned, Mississauga grew rapidly as a bedroom suburb for Toronto during the 1980s and 1990s, and is still growing rapidly even today. To accomodate this sprawl, Square One was expanded several times during the 1980s, adding over 80 stores and a million more square feet in selling space. Woolco closed in the 1990s as that chain went out of business, and it was replaced by a 220,000 square-foot Wal-Mart store. When Eatons closed in 1999, it was replaced with Canada’s largest Zellers. In 2000, the most recent expansion occurred. Called Cityside, it added a Cineplex Odeon theatre as well as a more upscale, modern wing featuring many fashion designer boutiques as well as stores from the ’States. Then, most recently, the entire center was given the once-over and remodeled, culminating in late 2006. Three distinct neighborhoods exist within the mall with carpeted transitional areas.
The overall design and decor of Square One definitely reflect how the mall has changed in pieces over the years. The modern, most recent addition features marbled floors and an overall whitewashed look which has been popular in malls as of recent. The older wings vary, from the Milanese Galleria-style glass enclosure popular in the 1980s to darker 1970s tones with dark tiled flooring. Really, the mall is amazing because it has nearly every period of decor imaginable. In addition, the way the mall is set up is similar to that of the Mall of America, only modified and not as tall. A square perimeter of enclosed space connects all four anchors on the upper level, with a triangular series of hallways appended onto one end. The lower level is more curiously set up, with hallways zig-zagging off a main corridor connecting Zellers to the food court area.
So what’s next for the future of Square One? Today, Mississauga has over 700,000 residents and is Canada’s sixth largest city. Yet Toronto, the country’s largest city, is only 20 minutes away. So albeit a giant, Mississauga lives in the shadows of its older big brother next door. However, Mississauga is currently in the process of repositioning its image from suburban bedroom community to a city with its own legs, and its own real urban downtown. As such, the city has forged a relatively new downtown skyline centered near the mall featuring skyscrapers of 30 to 50 stories. In 2006, a design competition was held to build another 50-story condominum tower, which will be visually shocking and called Absolute World. In addition, numerous community festivals are centered around this new urban core of Mississauga, which once again was originally predicated on a mall which still thrives.
There are other large malls in the GTA, but only Square One has become the realized centerpiece for an entire community. With a great central location between the City of Toronto and the rest of the Golden Horseshoe, Square One will continue to dominate well into the future. I took the pictures featured with this post in January 2006. As always, comments and more information is always appreciated.
Matt from CLT
June 8th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Hmmm….what a varied mix of styles…but I do like it. I think you described it perfectly — the mall seems to encapsule the “best”/”worst” of each decade. (Personally, I would put those glass curved skylights in the worst category — sooooooo 80s/90s. But I digress.)
I also found the two Bay entrances amusing in that the upper is somewhat modern and open, and the lower is much more formal and restrained with the name spelled out without the “Bay” logo.
And they do like their zig-zags…reminds me of Rideau Centre in Ottawa.
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JP
June 8th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
To be technical: Woolco didn’t close, Wal-Mart simply bought the chain out.
If I’m not mistaken, this is now the only mall in Canada with both a Zellers and a Wal-Mart. There used to be a few others (Joliette QC comes to mind), but Wal-Mart has closed a lot of its ex-Woolco mall locations recently in favour of larger standalone stores nearby.
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zayre88
June 9th, 2007 at 9:16 am
That mall reminds me of “Galeries de la Capitale” in Quebec City. The Bay has the same kind of entrance, the upper with “The Bay” logo, the lower with the full company name, less open, more dark. Wal-Mart also opened in a Woolco there. Like JP said, that Wal-Mart store has also left the mall in favour of a standalone store. Zellers replaced it!
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Jonah N.
June 9th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Woolworth sold all their stores to Wal-Mart, then became Foot Locker Inc.
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Shane S.
June 10th, 2007 at 7:54 am
I grew up with this mall and know quite alot about it. The main reason why alot of the ceilings on the main level are low and seem kind of dark are because the fact that long time ago during the mid 80’s when they were renovating and expanding, the centre was only 1 floor and that main floor was the upper level that we see today. That’s why the mall levels are so awkward and confusing (as someone said to me before “and then comes Square One where realiy hits you, and somehow the parking lot is ontop and you shop underground”)
This is truely a real Canadian Mall, even though nowadays everything in it is American, even some of the styling, but it’s very unique in it’s own way.
Oh yeah but those pictures you took, you really took them during a bad time lol. That was right when they were in the middle of renovations where they changed each hallway into a different neighborhood to make walking around the mall easier. Now the change is 100%….so it’s pretty sad that alot of the decor and fixtures that I saw in the mall from the 70’s are now gone.
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Mark
June 12th, 2007 at 11:24 am
*tear* sigh, I wish malls were still like this in the US, it’s so beautiful!
Nothing uptight, upscale, or snooty about this mall, just a good old shopping area for regular people, sigh how malls used to be before they were “trend-ized”.
The mall looks like fun,rare these days.
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Shane S
June 12th, 2007 at 9:15 pm
Replying to what Mark said
This mall is anything but fun nowadays. It’s very hectic and confusing. The pictures shown are from more than a year ago, trust me the mall looks absolutly nothing like this now. The ceilings that you see with the mirrored octagons and the huge curves with the skylights are all gone and you could never tell that it’s the same mall. The whole mall got this hugeeee revamp and almost everything that was there before is totally gone. The only signs of the 70’s in this mall are the brown tiled floors leading to one of the washroom areas…and their about to renovate that too. Now it’s very very very modern looking. It’s so weird seeing how this mall changed 100% since it opened in the 70’s. You should come down here to Mississauga and see what I’m talking about. Or ask any other frequant Square One-goers
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Mark
June 12th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
They got to this mall too !?
F***! d**** it! can’t they leave things well enough ALONE!?
Why does every building have seem to be so soulless these days?
SFGDB!!!!!
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Shane A.
June 13th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
Lol Mark…it’s not as bad as you think. The stores in here are a little pricey though. I can guarentee that an Abercrombie or Hollister is going to come within months. Almost all the stores in this mall are upscale…excluding a few (and if they aren’t, they look upscale on the outside). And you may think that it doesn’t have soul but you’d be glad to know that the exterior is still the same as it was in the 70’s in alot of parts of the mall…but like the the first photo shown….everything will be changed within months (by the way the first photo with the Ciniplex and the large window are apart of the expansion that took place a few years ago, not renovations).
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Scott
June 14th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Wow… frreedom AND kick-a*s malls… I love Canada.
Scott
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Shane A.
June 21st, 2007 at 9:09 pm
Here’s the department stores and major stores of the mall over the years
On Opening, October 1973
Dominion (Large grocery store)
The Bay (Kind of a Canadian version of Macy’s)
Woolco (A subsidiary of Woolworth’s)
Sears
15 Years later,
Dominion
The Bay
Woolco
Sears (New store layout, renovated)
Eatons (Kind of a Canadian version of Macy’s mixed with Bloomingdale’s, opened in 1988ish)
Present day, 2007
The Bay (Renovated multiple times)
Wal-Mart (Woolco made a huge transformation in 1994 after Wal-Mart entered Canada)
Sears (Renovated somewhat, mostly interior)
Zellers (The closest thing to Target in Canada, it’s like there the same exact store but with different names, Converted in early 2000 after Eatons went bankrupt)
Home Outfitters (Canadian version of Bed Bath and Beyond, part of the new mall addition)
Ciniplex Odeon Cinemas (Part of the new mall addition)
Dominion left sometime either during the late 80’s or early 90’s if I can recall. A few other large stores came in and out of the mall, I’m not so sure but I really remember a JC Penny here in the early 90’s after Dominion left, also a smaller movie theatre was here and then demolished before the expansion in 1999-2000) Now to this day the mall has been completely “Americanized”.
Here’s a picture of the mall in the 70’s before the centre court was enclosed in the mid-late 80’s.
http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/residents/citycentregallery?paf_gear_id=13200032&imageId=39300021&index=127&returnUrl=%2Fportal%2Fresidents%2Fcitycentregallery%3Fstart%3D121
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Jonah N.
June 21st, 2007 at 9:46 pm
What? 404?
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Shane A.
June 22nd, 2007 at 7:31 am
Sorry I don’t know why the sites doing that….try this…anyways it shows more pictures and descriptions of the mall. Theres pictures on page 7 and page 6.
http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/residents/citycentregallery?start=121
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JP
June 22nd, 2007 at 10:05 am
There wouldn’t have been a JCPenney – they’ve never had stores in Canada.
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Andrea
July 23rd, 2007 at 8:23 pm
As far as I can remember, the mall was always 2 levels. During the ‘transition years” in the late 80’s there was a Bretton’s and s bath and bedding store (I forget the name) that went in where Dominion was. There’s a groups about the old square one on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2529816909
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Jamie
July 30th, 2007 at 10:17 am
I’ve only been to Square One a couple of times, but always found it (at least the older lower level) the most claustrophobic of the Toronto area’s malls, especially when packed with weekend shoppers.
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JDT
August 28th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Square One’s renovation/transformation is nearly complete. As of August 2007, they are just finishing the transition area between Cityside and the centre corridor leading to Sears. And though I like the mall’s trendy new look and decor, the mix of stores leaves something to be desired. Where are Lacoste, Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch? Instead we get junk like International Clothiers, TWO separate dollar stores (Dollarama and Everything For A Dollar Store) and a host of independent retailers no one really cares for (Brogue, Apollon, Unicus). Oh well, at least Sherway Gardens is nearby.
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Jonah Norason
September 4th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
The picture of the court is great, and there probably is a perimeter hallway inside the mall. So what I see? There’s a ramp or stairs in the background, a carousel, then there’s an escalator in some trees and some sort of large gray hole or wall that appears to be relatively popular.
The mall is not “Americanized”…it’s just retail trends.
What is CitySide anyway?
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JDT
September 4th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
Cityside is one of Square One’s three new neighbourhoods or “districts” designed to make finding your way around the mall easier. The other two neighbourhoods are Northside and Centre Walk. They are differentiated by flooring, lighting and decor. Before the mall was one large maze. Now it’s been divided into three distinct areas.
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JP
September 5th, 2007 at 11:38 am
Are there any A&F or Hollister stores in Canada? I remember hearing some plans for expansion up north but nothing about any stores actually opening. Of course, living in the last region of the country that any of these chains come to, I may be out of the loop…
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JP
September 5th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Never mind, just found out that A&F is at (or at least coming to) Sherway Gardens and Yorkdale…
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Jame
December 26th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
ummm i would like to request a modification to the information up above. the largest mall in Canada, which is located in the GTA, is located in Vaughn, next to Canada’s Wonderland. so Square One is in fact, the third largest within the GTA.
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Dave
December 28th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
The largest mall in Canada is by far West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton Alberta with 800 stores and millions of square feet.
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JC
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:17 am
I usally avoid this mall these days. It’s way too crowded for me and it has a claustrophobic feek to it with the low ceilings. A lot of people are wondering when it will get A&F, Hollister, Lacoste, etc but considering how close it is to Sherway Gardens, I’m not sure if those companies will want to open new stores so close to another mall where they already have locations. They have line ups outside the entrance to get into Hollister at Sherway Gardens, so maybe they could open one up at Erin Mills or another mall further west.
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Me
February 28th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Its a hangout for hoodlums. Easy to see with the bus terminal being outside. Not like it used to be with the over population of Mississauga. Its turning into Brampton. Shootings right out front of the mall while people wait in their cars, muggings etc.
Go to Sherway for a hood-free shopping experience… There is no bus terminal there! Enough said…
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Mr. Theatre
April 5th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
The Cineplex Odeon cinemas at Square One have been taken over by Empire Theatres.
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JDT
April 7th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
The parking lot doesn’t seem to be quite as packed as Yorkdale’s on the weekend but inside the mall Square One is usually jam-packed, people travelling or walking by bus I guess. Also, finding a spot to sit in the Food Court is a nightmare.
On the other hand, Square One is apparently moving upscale. They are closing smaller stores like Below the Belt and Rodeo Jewellers while bringing in a whole slew of new stores later this year: Coach, Spence Diamonds, bebe, Okaidi, GEOX, and BCBG MaxAzria among others. On the north side in the parking lot across Wal-Mart they’re also adding a Boston Pizza, the Running Room and an LCBO. The renovations in regards to Cityside, Northside and Centrewalk are complete now it’s just a matter of bringing in more exciting stores.
Dunno why they still don’t have an A&F or Hollister here. Square One is a huge regional mall – bigger than Sherway and Yorkdale and the largest mall in Ontario – that draws shoppers from all over the place. They are missing out on a lot of potential sales by not opening a location here.
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Ed Ruskin
May 20th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Shane S. Is right about Hudson’s Bay Company! Call me Crazy! Zoom on the picture with the Hudson Bay Company store, and focus on the black square with white letters…INC! That’s a Macy’s “Exclusive” brand! :O What gives!? I work at a Macy’s, and i’ve found a bath rugh which said “Exclusive for the Hudson Bay Company”, a towel that said “Made in the USA For Zellers” and a Macy’s “Exclusive” blanket with a price tag from “The Hudson Bay Company” What’s up with that???!!!!
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Rohit Gupta
February 3rd, 2009 at 4:40 am
Some very good collection of pictures you have. Personally, I feel Square One mall is the best in the world. I have no facts. I have no figures. I just FEEL its the best.
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Andrew Reply:
June 29th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
@Rohit Gupta,
U must be very confused to think this is actually a mall its got the worlds most unfriendly chicks do some traveling dude.
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Andrew
June 29th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Yo this mall is whack damn u canadians haven’t been out much this shit is the gayest mall i have ever seen in my life. Go see Walden Galleria Mall in Cheektowaga outside buffalo now thats a fucken mall even Vaughan Mills out does this mall. The girls in this mall are stuck up bitches who don’t know what travel and real life is about.
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Adam
August 17th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
This mall most likely would have a hollister and abercrombie except its not owned by cadillac fairview which seems to be the group getting them in their malls, pacific centre, eaton centre, fairview , sherway gardens etc.
Is it just me or is the annoying thing about toronto is there is no mall with everything you want. Every mall has a few unique stores they dont have at other malls but no mall has them all. Abercrombie , Hollister, Bench , Lascoste, Urban Outfiters, Aeropostale, Holts, AX, etc.
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Lee
August 24th, 2009 at 3:16 am
walden galleria is a dump. i remember when square 1 was really a square and the middle of it (now the foodcourt) was outdoors. 70’s to early/mid 80’s
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Gary
August 24th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
The Walden Galleria is a pretty good mall, although I haven’t been there in several years, it looks as if it has changed tremendously.
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Adam
September 8th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Walden Galleria has every store you could possibly want, but something about it bothers me it seemed so sprawling and characterless. It also has a lot of empty stores right now, which is sort of weird cause it looks like they just put on a big expansion
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