Square One Shopping Centre

Square One Shopping Centre

File:Square one logo blue.png
Location	Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Opening date	1973
Developer	Oxford Properties Group
Management	Oxford Properties Group
Owner	Oxford Properties Group
No. of stores and services	360+
No. of anchor tenants	4
Total retail floor area	1,600,000 square feet (150,000 m²)
No. of floors	2
Parking	8,450 spaces +
Website	shopsquareone.com

Square One Shopping Centre is the largest shopping mall in Ontario and the third largest in Canada, after the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta and Metrotown in British Columbia.

Its address is 100 City Centre Drive in central Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Square One is located at Highway 403 and Hurontario Street (Highway 10), about 21 km (20 minutes) from downtown Toronto and 9 km (10 minutes) from Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

The mall is in close proximity to the Mississauga Civic Centre and the Mississauga Living Arts Centre, both of which are located right across from the mall. Located within the mall grounds is the main terminal of the Mississauga Transit bus network, which was opened in 1997.

Square One Shopping Centre is currently owned and managed by Oxford Properties Group and contains over 360 stores and services, 8,450 parking spaces and 1.6 million square feet (150,000 m²) of retail space. On average, the mall serves over 21 million customers each year.

Each year, between June and October, part of the mall parking lot hosts a large farmers' market where farmers from around Ontario come to sell their produce. The market is open on Fridays and Sundays.

History

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

In 1973, Square One opened, having 169 shops and services, including four major retailers: Dominion, Sears, The Bay and Woolco (a subsidiary of Woolworth's). In 1978, the mall won the Energy Conservation Recognition Award for its computerized temperature control system, the first ever in a Canadian mall.

During the 1980s, the mall underwent numerous expansions, adding 80 more stores and over a million square feet to the property. In the mid 1990s, Woolco closed. The Woolco location was transformed into the world's largest Wal-Mart store (220,000 sq ft).

A bird's-eye view of Square One Shopping Centre.

Between 2000 and 2003, a new expansion termed Cityside was completed. This latest expansion added 320,000 square feet to the mall, with an additional 370,000 sq ft 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.

During the 2003 North American blackout, which cut power to parts of the Northeastern United States and Canada, Square One had to be evacuated. The evacuation was safely completed within less than one hour, and the mall remained closed for a day and a half until power was restored to the city.

Starting in 2005, a major style renovation of much of the mall began, and is currently underway, with completion scheduled for Fall 2006. To coincide with the renovation, many new stores are being opened including Sephora, Sigrid Olsen, and Eddie Bauer.

External link

• Official website