Fairview Park Mall

CF Fairview Park (commonly known as Fairview Park Mall) is a large shopping mall of 120 stores in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, owned and managed by Cadillac Fairview.[1] Anchor stores are Hudson's Bay and Walmart, with one large anchor space, last occupied by Sears, divided into multiple stores including Winners, Sport Chek, Mark's, and a RBC branch which opened in 2021, with the rest of vacant space planned for redevelopment in the future.[2][3]

This article is about the mall in Kitchener. For the mall in Toronto, see Fairview Mall.
CF Fairview Park
LocationKitchener, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates43.42487°N 80.43859°W / 43.42487; -80.43859
Address2960 Kingsway Drive
Opening date1966
ManagementCadillac Fairview
OwnerCadillac Fairview
No. of stores and services120
No. of anchor tenants3
Total retail floor area746,334 sq ft (69,336.7 m2)
No. of floors1
Websitefairviewpark.ca

Kingsway Drive bounds CF Fairview Park to the north, Wilson Avenue to the west, Fairway Road to the south, and Highway 8 to the east. Its presence over the years has turned Fairway Road into a major commercial strip. Out of the four malls in the Region, Fairview Park is the largest at 730,000 square feet (68,000 m2) of gross leasable area.[4]

The mall is also a significant public transit hub in Waterloo Region. Fairway station, located just west of the mall, is the terminus for many Grand River Transit bus routes as well as the southern terminal of the Ion rapid transit system, which recently started operating in June 2019.

History

Fairview Park opened in 1966 in the Parkway neighbourhood of the recently expanded City of Kitchener. A Simpsons-Sears department store had opened in August 1965, predating the mall's opening by a year, with the rest of the mall being constructed around it.[5]

The initial anchors were Simpsons-Sears at the south end and a Zehrs supermarket at the north. A new wing with Woolco was added on the east in the early 1970s along with 20 stores, and Simpsons on the west was added in the early 1980s along with 40 more stores. In the time since, Simpsons-Sears has become Sears, Woolco was converted to a Walmart, and Simpsons became The Bay. The small Zehrs supermarket had been located facing Kingsway Drive but moved to an outdoor plaza on Weber Street on the other side of Highway 8 (occupying the space of the former "HiWay Market" supermarket). Its area was redeveloped, partially into the current food court and partially into a PharmaPlus location (which later closed).

From early 2007 to that summer, the mall underwent a major $33.4-million redevelopment. This renovation included a new food court and interiors, including high ceilings. The parking lot was also refurbished. It was the first major renovation since 1986.[6]

On August 7, 2021, the mall became home to the region's first Chick-fil-A restaurant, which was met with fanfare and protest from LGBTQ2S+ groups.[7]

Anchors

Former anchors

Food Court

Fairview Park Mall has a large food court with various multicultural options ranging from American fast food to East Asian Cuisine. Notable restaurants include KFC, A&W, Famous Wok, Tim Horton's, Subway, and Bourbon Street Grill. Stand-alone restaurants include Jack Astor's and PI CO. Pizza Bar.

Area/Location

Fairview Park Mall is situated on Fairway Road, in close proximity to the Traynor/Vanier and Centreville neighbourhoods, and just a 5-minute drive from downtown Kitchener, Ontario. With a population of 14,000, this area is one of the largest neighbourhoods in the Region.[8]

Transit Terminal

Fairview Park Mall is home to a central transit terminal. A bus terminal used to be located beside the southwest entrance of the Hudson's Bay store.[9] This facility served as a significant hub for Grand River Transit (GRT), with most of the routes terminating there. The Region's Ion rapid transit system now also services this area at the Fairway station, which has its associated bus connections. When the station came online in June 2019, the existing terminal closed.

The Traynor/Vanier neighbourhood is home to many new immigrants and working-class people of Kitchener who regularly use the bus. This is an essential asset to the community in which the mall is located.

Bus routes from the Fairview neighbourhood are essential to reach as far as Southern Cambridge and Northern Waterloo, making it the epicentre of transportation in the Tri-Cities.

See Also

References
  1. Fairview Park Directory Listing Archived 2012-02-07 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed July 16, 2007.
  2. "CF Grand Market District (Kitchener, Cadillac Fairview, ?s, Roy Higgs International)".
  3. "Sport Chek Now Open!". Cadillac Fairview. May 19, 2022. Archived from the original on November 28, 2022. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  4. Cadillac Fairview Retail Portfolio. Accessed July 16, 2007. Archived July 4, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  5. Davis, Brent (2015-10-26), "New products, service led to Sears turnaround", Guelph Mercury, retrieved 2020-03-17
  6. "Fairview mall to get $33.4-million facelift". The Record. 2006-05-10.
  7. "Chick-fil-A opens in Kitchener to long line ups and LGBTQ2+ protests". The Record. 2021-08-07.
  8. "Kitchener Population 2022 | Canada Population". Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  9. "GRAND RIVER TRANSIT BUS PLATFORMS at FAIRVIEW PARK" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-03. Retrieved 2015-10-26.
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