St. Laurent Centre (French: ''Centre St-Laurent'') is a

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

located in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the c ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. It is owned and operated by Morguard REIT. The shopping mall is located just north of Highway 417 at the corner of

St. Laurent Boulevard St. Laurent Boulevard ( Ottawa Road #26) is an arterial road in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Beginning at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police college complex at Sandridge Road in the Manor Park neighbourhood, St. Laurent Boulevard runs in a straight ...

and Coventry Road. The mall opened in October 1967 housing 50 retailers with

Simpson-Sears Sears Canada Inc. was a publicly-traded Canadian company affiliated with the American-based Sears department store chain. In operation from 1952 until January 14, 2018, and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, the company began as Simpsons-Sears ...

(later Sears),

Freimans A.J. Freiman Limited, or Freimans ( ), was a landmark department store at 73 Rideau Street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, founded in 1918 by Archibald J. Freiman. Archibald Jacob Freiman was born in Lithuania in 1880, and emigrated to Hamilton, On ...

and

Dominion The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 1926 ...

as original anchors. Sears was the last original

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek � ...

to leave the mall, closing on January 8, 2018 due to bankruptcy of the chain. Hudsons Bay is currently the mall's oldest anchor tenant, having purchased

in December 1971 and rebranding the store to The Bay in June 1973. On March 13, 1991, The Bay moved to its current two level location as part of a mall expansion. It is adjacent to the former space of The Bay and 50% larger. The former store was converted to a food court, office space, and other retailers. The mall is also anchored by

Toys "R" Us Toys "R" Us is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer owned by Tru Kids (doing business as Tru Kids Brands) and various others. The company was founded in 1957; its first store was built in April 1948, with its headquarters loca ...

. On the afternoon of September 16, 2022, there was a physical altercation involving multiple people in their late teens and early 20s. The event took place just outside the mall's

Dollarama Dollarama is a Canadian dollar store retail chain headquartered in Montreal. Since 2009 it is Canada's largest retailer of items for five dollars or less. Dollarama has over 1400 stores and has a presence in every province of Canada; Ontario has ...

. Marcus Maloney (19) was stabbed, and later pronounced dead in hospital. Mohammed Osman (18) was later charged with second degree murder, along with two counts of

aggravated assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in cri ...

and one count of breaching release conditions after being apprehended by

Ottawa Police The Ottawa Police Service (OPS; French: ''Service de police d'Ottawa'') is a municipal police force in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The OPS serves an area of 2,790 square kilometres and 1,017,449 (2021 census) people alongside several other police ...

overnight. St. Laurent Centre is the third largest mall in terms of total space in the

National Capital Region A capital region, also called a capital district or capital territory, is a region or district surrounding a capital city. It is not always the official term for the region, but may sometimes be used as an informal synonym. Capital regions can exis ...

behind

Rideau Centre The Rideau Centre (french: Centre Rideau) (corporately styled as CF Rideau Centre) is a three-level shopping centre on Rideau Street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It borders on Rideau Street, the ByWard Market, the Rideau Canal, the Mackenzie Ki ...

and

Bayshore Shopping Centre Bayshore Shopping Centre is a major shopping mall located in the Nepean district of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The mall is one of the busiest in the National Capital Region as it attracts almost 8 million visitors per year from across the city and ...

with 880,736 sq ft of leasable area, although a large portion of the mall's gross leasable area is utilized by non-retail tenants. It is currently the 27th largest mall in Canada. The mall's owner, Morguard, has applied to the

City of Ottawa The City of Ottawa is the corporate entity of municipal government in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The corporation is responsible for provision of services to the public as well as enforcement of municipal by-laws. It is overseen by the City Manag ...

for

land-use planning Land use planning is the process of regulating the use of land by a central authority. Usually, this is done to promote more desirable social and environmental outcomes as well as a more efficient use of resources. More specifically, the goals ...

approvals to permit an expansion of the mall, bringing the overall size to . If approved, the expansion would make St. Laurent Centre the 10th largest mall in Canada. The expansion plan is currently on hold indefinitely. The mall has a total of 195 stores and services on three levels. The centre also hosts a large amount of non-retail tenants including office space, a dental clinic, a gym (

GoodLife Fitness GoodLife Fitness Centres Inc. is the largest health club company in Canada with over 450 locations across the country, under the banner of four brands.

), a second-run theatre and a career college (Willis College).

OC Transpo OC Transpo, officially the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Transit Commission, is the public transit agency for the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It operates an integrated hub-and-spoke system including light metro, bus rapid transit, convention ...

St-Laurent station St-Laurent is a station on the Confederation Line of Ottawa's O-Train, located at St. Laurent Boulevard (Ottawa), St. Laurent Boulevard and the Queensway (Ottawa), Queensway. Location The station is integrated to its surroundings, with direct ...

is connected to the mall. It has three levels: the underground

Confederation Line The Confederation Line (french: Ligne de la Confédération), also called O-Train Line 1 (french: Ligne 1 de l'O-Train), is a light rail line operated by OC Transpo in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, as part of the city's O-Train light rail system. I ...

platforms, the intermediate mezzanine which connects to the shopping centre, and a local bus platform on the upper level where OC Transpo routes 5, 7, 14 and 18 all end or start their trips. The tunnel-level is accessible via escalators and elevators from the mall. OC Transpo also has a client service kiosk at the station. The original

Transitway Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...

station opened in 1987 after the mall had an expansion of about 80 stores. On June 28, 2015, the underground Transitway platforms closed for the construction of the Confederation Line which began service on September 14, 2019. Rider Express offers a Toronto-Kingston-Ottawa service departing from Entrance 3 of St. Laurent Centre.

Megabus Megabus may refer to: * Megabus (Europe), a low-cost coach service with services in Europe owned by ComfortDelGro. * Megabus (North America), a low-cost bus service in the United States and Canada owned by Variant Equity Advisors. * Megabús, a ...

intercity buses bound for Kingston, Scarborough, and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

depart from Stop C at St-Laurent Station

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Laurent Centre Shopping malls established in 1967 Shopping malls in Ottawa