Unicity Mall was an enclosed shopping mall in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was named for the 1972 unicity restructuring of city management. Originally known as Unicity Fashion Square when it opened in September 1975, the mall was anchored by a Woolco and The Bay, and was one of only three malls in the city, along with Polo Park and Grant Park Shopping Centre. Managed by Trizec Corporation, the mall initially prospered despite one wing being almost completely empty. The food court's McDonald's was the first to be placed inside a mall in western Canada. Today, the mall has been redeveloped into the Unicity Shopping Centre, a commercial site with individual buildings.

History

Unicity Mall was opened in September 1975 as Unicity Fashion Square, and was anchored by a Woolco and The Bay, and was one of only three malls in the city, along with Polo Park and Grant Park Shopping Centre. In the mid 1980s, the local economy was slowing down and the mall began losing tenants. By the 1990s, it was mostly empty and the vacated spaces were used for temporary flea markets. During that time, Woolco became Walmart, and extensive pressure was placed on the mall ownership for expansion of the Unicity Walmart location. In April 1995, owner Bramalea Limited, which had 67% stake in the mall, became bankrupt after all its

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

resigned. At that time, the mall had 86 stores and an area of . Markborough Properties of Toronto, which had owned a smaller portion of the mall, immediately took over management and leasing. Despite various legal battles between store owners, local residents, and the new ownership, the mall was demolished to make way for a larger Walmart. Ownership was transferred to First Pro and the mall was subsequently demolished in 2000 and replaced with a SmartCentres big-box complex. The Unicity Shopping Centre is now home to Walmart,

Canadian Tire Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited is a Canadian retail company which operates in the automotive, hardware, sports, leisure and housewares sectors. Its Canadian operations include: Canadian Tire (including Canadian Tire Petroleum gas stations a ...

Sobeys Sobeys Inc. is the second largest supermarket chain in Canada, with over 1,500 stores operating across Canada under a variety of banners. Headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, it operates stores in all ten provinces and accumulated sales o ...

Staples Canada Staples Canada ULC, operating as Staples (also known in Quebec as Bureau en Gros; formerly known as The Business Depot and later Staples Business Depot), is a Canadian office supply retail chain owned by Sycamore Partners. The corporation i ...

, Winners, Sport Chek, Tim Hortons,

KFC KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is an American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, that specializes in fried chicken. It is the world's second-largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald's, with 2 ...

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...

, Shoppers Drug Mart, Value Village, Mark's, Quiznos, Bulk Barn and Dollar Tree among others.

References

* {{Shopping Malls in Winnipeg Buildings and structures in Winnipeg Defunct shopping malls in Canada Shopping malls in Manitoba Shopping malls established in 1975 Demolished buildings and structures in Canada Buildings and structures demolished in 2000 St. James, Winnipeg