Laurier Québec

Laurier Québec (formerly called and still commonly referred to as Place Laurier) is one of Canada's largest shopping malls. It is located in Quebec City, Quebec (in what was formerly the city of Sainte-Foy).

Laurier Québec
Coordinates46.77°N 71.285°W / 46.77; -71.285
Address2700, boulevard Laurier
Quebec City, Quebec
G1V 2L8
Opening dateNovember 11, 1961
DeveloperImmeubles Delrano Inc.
ManagementIvanhoé Cambridge
OwnerIvanhoé Cambridge
No. of stores and services300[1]
No. of anchor tenants5
Total retail floor area1,174,639 sq ft (109,127.5 m2)[2]
No. of floors3
Websitewww.laurierquebec.com/en
[3][4]

Though Galeries de la Capitale is the biggest mall in the city in terms of area, Laurier Quebec remains the largest by number of tenants. It has approximately 300 stores and restaurants and is built on three levels with underground, multilevel, and outdoor parking. Major tenants include La Baie d'Hudson, Best Buy, Toys "R" Us, Marshalls and Walmart. Other tenants include jewellery, gift, shoe, book, eyeware, music, toy, electronics, clothing, hardware, and pet stores as well as hair and beauty salons.

Four of the original 50 tenants from 1961 are still in the mall: Reitmans, the Laurier Comneuf cordwainer shop, the Doucet jewellery store, and the Laurier dry-cleaner.[5][6] The mall was noteworthy for having two Zellers stores at the same time in the 1990s and two Dominion supermarkets in the 1960s.[7]

History

1960s

Place Laurier was the first indoor mall in the province of Quebec.[8] It opened on November 11, 1961, as a two-level mall with 50 stores including anchors Pascal, Syndicat, Kresge's, Towers, Dominion Stores as well as an office building with eight floors known as Tour Frontenac.[9][10] They were shortly joined by a Paquet store.[9]

In 1964, an expansion occur in both extremities of Place Laurier.[11] In the western part, a new mall section of three floors was built on Towers' original anchor space.[9] The first floor of this western expansion constituted of the relocated Towers store, a second Dominion supermarket, and a Marquis de Montcalm restaurant.[9] The second floor was reserved for a relocated Syndicat (which had tripled its size), the first level of a new Norman store as well as a branch of the Bank of Montreal.[9][11] The third floor was mostly for the second level of Norman.[9] In total, 403,000 square feet was added in this western expansion of three floors.[9] In the eastern side of the mall, Pascal increased its size by 30% in absorbing Paquet's original location.[9] The latter moved in a brand new two-level building of 131,980 square feet and inaugurated its new store on April 14, 1964.[12][9][11]

1970s

An expansion to the north welcomed a two-level Sears store of 160,000 square feet and a new mall section of 48 boutiques spread on three floors for an additional 100,000 square feet of retail space.[9] Sears opened on October 7, 1971 under its then-name of Simpsons-Sears.[13] It was Sears' second store in the Quebec City area (after the location at Place Fleurs de Lys) and its third in the province of Quebec as a whole.[13] The rest of the northern section inaugurated in 1972.[9]

By 1976 Place Laurier was already well over 1 million square feet with 300 stores, making it the largest shopping mall in Canada at the time.[14] It was still by far the largest shopping mall in Quebec City in 1980 as Galeries de la Capitale had yet to open.[15]

La compagnie Paquet merged in the 1970s with Syndicat de Québec store chain.[16] Despite the merger, Paquet and Syndicat retained their respective stores at Place Laurier.[9]

1980s

Paquet and Syndicat both declared bankruptcy in 1981.[9] A 80,920 square feet single-level Zellers opened on November 3, 1982 in one of the two floors of the closed Paquet store.[17][9][18] As for Syndicat's vacant space, it was eventually subdivided by anchors Toyville and Wise, a General Motors car dealership and some 10 stores.[9]

An expansion to the south installed on September 15, 1982 a two-level La Baie store and a new mall section of 65 boutiques spread on two floors.[9][19] 130,000 square feet of retail space was brought by La Baie alone and another 129,534 for the boutiques.[9]

Provigo (the former Dominion supermarket rebranded in the early 1980s) closed in 1986.[20]

At this point, Place Laurier has undergone nine expansions between 1961 and 1986.[9] The mall's anchors in 1989 were Bonimart, La Baie Pascal, Sears, Toyville, Wise and Zellers.[21]

1990s

Pascal went bankrupt in 1991, leaving Toys "R" Us to occupy 40,000 square feet of the vacant space.[8]

Zellers acquired the Bonimart chain in 1990.[22] On April 14, 1991, Zellers converted Bonimart into its nameplate resulting in Place Laurier having two department stores with the same name.[22][23] In the summer of 1996, the Zellers on the east side of the mall (previously Paquet) closed and was replaced by boutiques, while Zellers on the west end (formerly Towers/Bonimart) was enlarged to reach 135,000 square feet.[7][24]

2010s
Mall after renovation in 2019

Another expansion welcomed a Best Buy store on September 14, 2011.[8][25]

The Zellers store that was formerly Towers/Bonimart closed on December 17, 2012.[26] Target Canada replaced it on October 18, 2013.[27] Following Target's exit from the Canadian market in April 2015, Walmart Canada acquired the lease and opened its supercenter on October 20, 2016.[28]

Marshalls inaugurated on August 25, 2016 in the space vacated by Future Shop.[29]

Sears closed with the rest of the chain on January 14, 2018.[30] In 2020, the existing Sports Experts in the mall will relocate in half of Sears's former local to open the largest store in the province under that banner.[31]

Major tenants

See also

References
  1. Laurier Québec Retrieved April 30, 2018.
  2. "Laurier Québec". www.ivanhoecambridge.com.
  3. "Ivanhoé Cambridge Leasing-Property Facts". Archived from the original on August 9, 2011. Retrieved January 25, 2009.
  4. Laurier Québec-History Retrieved April 30, 2018.
  5. "Laurier Québec: "un grand village"". Le Soleil. November 2, 2013.
  6. "Laurier Québec boutiques | Centre commercial Laurier Québec". www.laurierquebec.com.
  7. "LAURIER 300 000$ à Ste-Foy". Le Soleil. Montreal. 8 August 1996. p. A2.
  8. "Laurier célèbre ses 50 ans". Le Soleil. March 30, 2011.
  9. "PLACE LAURIER la première ville sous un même toit". Le Soleil. 5 November 1986. p. L-19.
  10. "Place Laurier". December 20, 2006. Archived from the original on December 20, 2006. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  11. "Le Centre d'achats de Place Laurier prendra de l'expansion". L'Action catholique. 31 October 1963. p. 31.
  12. "Inauguration du nouveau la Cie Paquet Liée, Place magasin de Laurie". Le Soleil. 15 April 1964. p. 2.
  13. "Simpsons-Sears inauguera demain son magasin de Place Laurier". Le Soleil du Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean. 6 October 1971. p. 21.
  14. "Marathon acquiert Place Laurier au coût de $40 millions". Le Soleil. 1 April 1976. p. C-6.
  15. "Place Fleur de Lys agrandie". Le Soleil. 20 March 1980. p. A-13.
  16. "Civilisations.ca - Avant le cybercommerce - Profil historique - La Compagnie Paquet". www.museedelhistoire.ca.
  17. "Cent boutiques et un magasin LaBaie s'ajoutent aux commerces de la région". Le Soleil. 4 September 1982. p. B6.
  18. "INAUGURATION OFFICIELLE DU MAGASIN ZELLERS A PLACELAURIER". Le Soleil. 11 November 1982. p. B2.
  19. "Pas de bousculade chez La Baie". Le Soleil. 15 September 1982. p. A-2.
  20. "Provigo met fin à l'aventure Dominion". Le Soleil. 15 April 1986. p. A10.
  21. "Place Laurier". Le Soleil. 15 November 1989. p. Z-13.
  22. "Les deux Bonimart de la région deviendront des Zellers". Le Soleil. Quebec City. 7 December 1990. p. B3.
  23. "Zellers announcement". La Presse. Montreal. 15 April 1991. p. A10.
  24. "Deux Zellers ferment". Le Soleil. Montreal. 6 April 1996. p. D1.
  25. "Best Buy célèbre son arrivée à Québec avec Marie Mai, Simple Plan, Guy Lafleur et Alain Côté". www.lelezard.com.
  26. "Magasins Zellers de Laurier Québec et des Galeries Chagnon: locaux vidés fin décembre". Le Soleil. April 6, 2012.
  27. ICI.Radio-Canada.ca, Zone Économie-. "De premiers Target au Québec". Radio-Canada.ca.
  28. "Walmart ouvre son Supercentre à Laurier Québec". Le Soleil. October 20, 2016.
  29. Gagnon, Jean-Michel Genois. "La bannière Marshalls prend de l'expansion dans la capitale". Le Journal de Québec.
  30. "Final Sears stores close Sunday, marking the end of an era | The Star". thestar.com.
  31. "Le plus grand Sports Experts de la province à Laurier Québec". TVA Nouvelles.
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