The Avalon Mall is a Canadian

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

located in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador on Kenmount Road. With over , two floors, and 142 stores, it is the largest shopping mall in

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic Canada, Atlantic region. The province comprises t ...

. The mall opened in 1967 and is owned by

Crombie REIT Crombie REIT (formerly ''Atlantic Shopping Centres'', then ''Crombie Properties'') is a Canadian unincorporated open ended publicly traded real estate investment trust which trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange and has an estimated market capitali ...

History

The Avalon Mall underwent major extensions in 1977, 1987 and 1999. In the late-1980s and early-1990s, low retail performance promoted mall management to embark on major renovation programs. The Scotiabank branch was renovated. Department store

Ayre and Sons Ayre & Sons, Ltd. was a department store chain in Newfoundland, Canada. The chain was formed in 1859 in St. John's, Newfoundland by Charles R. Ayre. Ayre opened his flagship store on Water Street in St. John's in 1859. After Newfoundland joined ...

became

The Gap The Gap may refer to: Places Australia * The Gap, New South Wales, a locality near Wagga Wagga, New South Wales * The Gap, Northern Territory, a suburb of Alice Springs, Northern Territory * The Gap, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland ...

in 1991, but then renovated in early 2018 once more to become

Charm Diamond Centres Charm Diamond Centres is the largest independently owned Canadian jewellery, jewelry retailer and second-largest jewelry retailer in Canada. Its stores are primarily located within regional malls in Canadian provinces such as Ontario, Alberta, Ma ...

Claire's Claire's (formerly known as Claire's Boutiques, Claire's Boutique and Claire's Accessories) is an American retailer of accessories, jewelry, and toys primarily aimed toward tween and teen girls. It was founded in 1961 and is based in Hoffman ...

The Source ''The Source'' is an American hip hop and entertainment website, and a magazine that publishes annually or . It is the world's longest-running rap periodical, being founded as a newsletter in 1988 by Jonathan Shecter. David Mays was the ma ...

, and Jump Plus. In 2005, the food court, washrooms, entrances and exterior of the mall underwent major renovations. Some of the tenants of anchor locations include

Winners Winners Merchants International L.P is a chain of off-price Canadian department stores owned by TJX Companies. It offers brand name clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, fine jewelry, beauty products, and housewares. Products are at a 20-60 ...

HomeSense HomeSense (stylized as Homesense in Europe and the United States) is a Canadian chain of discount home furnishing stores owned by TJX Companies. It originated in Canada in 2001, and was expanded to Europe in 2008 and the United States in 2017. ...

(formerly Sobeys) and, until January 9, 2018,

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

. Sears was originally

Woolco Woolco was an American-based discount retail chain. It was founded in 1962 in Columbus, Ohio, by the F. W. Woolworth Company. It was a full-line discount department store unlike the five-and-dime Woolworth stores which operated at the time. At i ...

until 1994, then

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

, which closed on January 25, 2005. In fall 2005, Sears opened in the Mall, this store went through liquidation and closed on January 9, 2018. Sobeys became Winners/HomeSense in spring 2006 with both Sobeys and Walmart moving to Kelsey Drive. Both Sears and Winners operated nearby at the Village Shopping Centre. A brand new Winners/HomeSense was opened in the former Sears store in 2019. In 1999, Empire Theatres closed its five-screen cinema (with access to the first and second floors; with most outlets on the first floor) then a Studio 12 (12 screen) theatre opened on the other end of the second floor (close to the mall's food court, the largest in Atlantic Canada). On June 27, 2013, Empire Theatres announced that it would be selling this theatre along with 23 others in Atlantic Canada to Cineplex Entertainment. Empire Theatres closed on October 22, 2013 and reopened as Cineplex Cinemas on October 25, 2013, then switched to the brand Scotiabank Theatre in November 2014. On February 28, 2018 it was announced that Cineplex would open The Rec Room in the mall in early 2019, which is adjacent to the Scotiabank Theatre. On April 18, 2019, it was officially opened and became the first location to open in Atlantic Canada. Scotiabank Theatre St

Until provincial legalization of

Sunday shopping Sunday shopping or Sunday trading refers to the ability of retailers to operate stores on Sunday, a day that Christian tradition typically recognises as a day of rest. Rules governing shopping hours, such as Sunday shopping, vary around the worl ...

in 1998, flea markets were common at the mall. This practice ended in December 2010, via mall management decision.CBC news report: "Avalon Mall folds flea market"
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References

External links and sources

Avalon Mall
{{St. John's landmarks Shopping malls in Newfoundland and Labrador Shopping malls established in 1967 Buildings and structures in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador 1967 establishments in Newfoundland and Labrador

History

See also

References

External links and sources