The old Eaton's building (now The Bay) on the north end of Polo Park in the 1970s
Exhibit area of Polo Park in the 1970s
Fountain at Polo Park 1970s
Exhibit area of Polo Park in the 1970s
Interior shot of Polo Park in the 1970s
Interior shot of Polo Parl in the 1970s
Interior of Polo Park in the 1970s
Another angle of the sculpture looking out on to Portage Avenue
Sculpture at the east entrance
The Polo Park Cinema
Sculpture outside the north entrance.
The old yellow and black Polo Park sign. Photo and all others from the U of M archives.
Polo Park celebrates its 50th birthday this year. I have written extensively on the mall as it is the oldest and largest shopping centre in the city. In 1963, it became the first covered mall in Manitoba and possibly the second in Canada since the first was in B.C. in 1962.
The former racetrack was converted to its present retail format in 1959. At that time Simpsons Sears department store began construction and was completed in May. The rest of the open air mall was completed in August of the same year.
The design of the mall was Simpsons Sears at the south end and two retail strip malls facing one another running north from the department store. There were 40 stores in the first incarnation of the mall, only seven of which remain with the mall in 2009.
Those stores are:
Simpsons Sears
Broadway Florists
Fashionette Hair Stylists
Mario's Beauty Salon
Perth's
Tip Top Tailors
Zellers
The Polo Park Bowling Centre was also an original tenant.
The present owner of the mall Cadillac Fairview is celebrating the anniversary of the mall's opening on August 20 by honouring longtime employees and the original stores.
Today the mall, after five renovations and three expansions, is home to over 200 stores, a 500 seat food court and 6000 parking spaces. The last major expansion in 2008 saw Sport Chek move from its basement location to a large store fronting the south entrance. This made way for McNally Robinson to take over the location. The old food court on the second floor was expanded atop Sport Chek below.
As I have detailed here before, the mall still lacks a theme and is poorly organized. The food court is off to one side of the mall and lacks the great hall feeling that St. Vital Centre has. Women's fashion has no discernible groupings.
Still, after 50 years, Polo Park has survived and prospered. It will be interesting to see if it will be here 50 years from now.
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