Chinook Centre
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| Location | Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
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| Opening date | 1960 (first phase) |
| Developer | Cadillac Fairview |
| Management | |
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| No. of stores and services | 200 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 4 (major) 4 (junior) |
| Total retail floor area | 1,175,000 ft.² |
| No. of floors | 2 |
Chinook Centre is the largest mall (by area) in Calgary, Alberta (1,175,000 square feet). It is also the most visited. It is located near the geographic centre of the city on Macleod Trail SW, just north of Glenmore Trail about 5 km (3 miles) south of downtown, and three blocks west of the Chinook LRT Station (Calgary Transit).
The mall is owned by Cadillac Fairview, one of Canada's largest real estate property managers and developers.
History
In 1960, with Calgary's population and city limits rapidly expanding, the original section of Chinook Centre was opened on the site of the Chinook Drive-In. Designed as an open-air complex, the mall was anchored by Woodward's, Holt Renfrew, and a bowling alley, in addition to a variety of other higher-end stores. The centre was enclosed a few years later, and quickly became a focal point of social life for affluent Calgarians.
In the mid 60's, a separate mall, Southridge, was opened across the street from Chinook. Built to be a competing centre with Sears and approximately 30 other stores, Southridge operated separately until 1974, when the malls came under common ownership and an expansion was built to bridge the centres together. The new, much larger mall was renamed Chinook Ridge Shopping Centre, and included a major enclosed parking structure, an office tower, and a food court.
A major expansion and renovation in the early 1980’s saw the addition of a new department store (fashion retailer Bretton's), and a new 2-storey wing of specialty retailers.
The piece-by-piece construction had resulted in a disjointed, ill-conceived layout which confused and frustrated shoppers. By the mid-1990’s, the centre had become extremely outdated. While it was still the largest mall in Calgary, other local malls were attracting more shoppers and new stores with expansions of their own.
Planning for a complete overhaul of Chinook Centre began in 1995. In 1998, after several setbacks caused by a change in mall ownership, the massive, $300 million renovation project was launched. After three years of construction, the renovation finally came to a close, by which time virtually all 200 of the mall’s stores were relocated or totally renovated.
Chinook Centre today
The newly renovated Chinook Centre is home to three major department stores, 200 stores, several full service restaurants, a bowling alley, and the city's largest movie theatre complex, the Famous Players Paramount Calgary, with 16 screens and an IMAX. The new mall also provides opportunities for more prominent retailers to design their own exterior facades.
Today, Chinook has the 3rd highest sales per square foot of any mall in Canada, at approximately $738. Only Toronto Eaton Centre and Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto have higher sales. As such, it is home to many higher-end stores, many of which are not found anywhere else in Alberta.
The focal point of the new mall is a 4-storey high rotunda, with a fibre optic 'constellation' ceiling and a time capsule at the centre's axis, set to be opened in the year 2999.
Also at the centre of the mall is a vast food court which was the largest in Western Canada when completed. The title was lost in 2005 to Metrotown Mall’s new food court in Burnaby, British Columbia. Roughly the size of a football field, containing seating for 900, and offering 20-some food vendors, the food court overlooks a 20-foot tall dinosaur fashioned out of old farming equipment parts.
The mall contains three architecturally distinct ‘zones’, which also categorize store types to some extent. The north end contains mostly mid-priced ‘family’ oriented merchants, mid-to-upper-priced ‘young adult’ tenants occupy the south end, and higher-priced ‘lifestyle’ stores are clustered around the central rotunda.
Retailers
Chinook Centre is anchored by Sears, The Bay, and Zellers department stores. Junior anchors include Old Navy, Chapters, Sport Chek, and The Gap.
In late 2005, the upscale US chain Williams-Sonoma opened a 4,500 square foot location, the fifth Canadian store in the chain, and the first store outside of the Toronto area. Its opening day sales were the second highest of any location in the company's history, second only to Manhattan's flagship store.
The store was followed shortly by a 15,500 square foot Pottery Barn (a division of Williams-Sonoma), the first Alberta store.
Apple has also selected the centre for its first Western Canadian store, slated to open later this year. The arrival of these higher-end stores has solidified Chinook Centre as the dominant shopping venue in Calgary.
Notable specialty retailers at the mall include:
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Expansion plans
Currently pending approval is a major 180,000 square foot expansion to the mall's northeast side. The plan includes two underground parking garages, two floors of retail space, and between 50 and 60 higher-end stores, to be completed in mid-2008. A valet parking service is also planned. It is widely anticipated that Restoration Hardware, Crate & Barrel and Sephora will anchor this new wing.