Galeries de la Capitale

Galeries de la Capitale is a shopping mall located in the Les Rivières borough in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.[1]

Galeries de la Capitale
Coordinates46°49′48″N 71°18′0″W
Address5401, boulevard des Galeries
Quebec City, Quebec
G2K 1N4
Opening dateAugust 19, 1981
DeveloperDéveloppements Iberville
ManagementOxford Properties
OwnerOxford Properties, CPP Investment Board
No. of stores and services280
No. of anchor tenants7
Total retail floor area1,348,381 sq ft (125,268.7 m2)
No. of floors2
Websitewww.galeriesdelacapitale.com/en/

Galeries de la Capitale has 280 stores and 35 restaurants.[2] The anchors are Hudson's Bay, Simons, Atmosphère/Sports Experts, Toys "R" Us, IMAX, Best Buy. There is also a Rona l'Entrepôt in the parking lot.

The mall is famous for its indoor amusement park, the Mega-Parc, with 18 attractions and amusement rides including the first spokeless Ferris wheel in America. The Mega Parc attracts 420 000 visitors annually, 20% of which are tourists.[3] Galeries de la Capitale's IMAX theatre has the largest screen in Canada and is also the only IMAX in Quebec City.[4]

With its 1,348,381 square feet (125,268.7 m2), Galeries de la Capitale is the largest shopping mall in Quebec City, the second in the province after Carrefour Laval and the ninth in Canada.[5] It also has one of the highest sales per square foot among the province's shopping malls.[6]

History

Galeries de la Capitale was the idea of businessman Marcel Adams.[2] The mall was inaugurated in August 1981 in a deserted part.[2] At the time the mall was owned at 50% by Les Développements Iberville (the real estate company of Marcel Adams), at 25% by Eaton Properties (the real estate company of Eaton's), and at 25% by Markborough Properties (the real estate company of the Hudson's Bay Company).[2] Upon its opening of 190 stores, the anchors were Eaton's, The Bay, Provigo, Cooprix, Simons which were joined in the fall of the same year by Woolco.[7]

1988 saw the opening of the indoor amusement park Mega-Parc, the second largest of its kind in Canada after West Edmonton Mall.[3] The park, composed of 20 amusement rides, included a Ferris wheel, some roller coasters and a skating rink for ice hockey games.

In 1994, Woolco was converted to Wal-Mart as part of the American parent company's entrance to Canada with the official inauguration of that location being celebrated on November 22 although the store had already been opened to the public for many months.[8] In early 2002, Wal-Mart left Galeries de la Capitale to move on the nearby parking, allowing its former space in the mall to be replaced on July 13 of the same year by rival Zellers, itself relocating from a previous address in the Neufchâtel neighborhood.[9]

When Eaton's was downsizing in 1997, the location at Galeries de la Capitale was among the 31 stores nationwide the company had considered closing down in the same vein as other Quebec outlets at Carrefour Angrignon, Cavendish Mall, Beloeil and Gatineau.[10] But unlike these aforementioned stores, the one at Galeries de la Capitale ended up staying opened.[11][12] Two years later in 1999, Eaton's as a whole went bankrupt and its store at Galeries de la Capitale was the sole location in the province that Sears Canada had acquired.[13][14] The store was converted into the Sears banner without ever closing down.[14]

The mall was sold on December 1, 2005 for $358 million to a consortium consisting of Canada Pension Plan (80%); Osmington, an investment firm in Toronto (10%); and Westerkirk, a Toronto real estate firm (10%). Redcliff Realty Management was hired to manage the mall.[2] On June 2013, Oxford Properties and Canada Pension Plan each acquired 50% of Galeries de la Capitale and the former took on the management duties of the shopping mall.[15][16]

In Spring 2011, Galeries de la Capitale opened a new section of the mall.[17] The new section was added between the upper level McDonald's and the IMAX theatre. The new section included Best Buy's first Quebec City location, a Sports Experts store, and a new Toys "R" Us (the latter opening before the others in November 2010).[17] The opening of Best Buy was celebrated with a free concert inside the store by the band Simple Plan on September 19, 2011.[18]

Zellers closed and was replaced by Target on November 13, 2013.[19][20] Target closed in 2015 and Simons doubled its size to 80,000 square feet by relocating to that location in March 2018 and the rest of the vacant space was subdivided by nine smaller retailers.[4]

In 2016, The Bay received a major facelift and new retailers such as Urban Planet, Sephora, Old Navy, Browns Shoes and the only Mountain Equipment Company store in Quebec City opened.[3][21] Dollarama returned to the mall and the food court was relocated to the second floor next to the Mega Parc.[22]

In 2017, Sears Canada announced they would be closing all their remaining stores.[23] This included the store at Galeries de la Capitale.[24]

After almost 30 years in operation, the Mega-Parc closed in September 2017 to undergo major renovations.[4] It reopened on January 18, 2019 with 18 amusement rides; 14 of which are new.[25] The amusement park now host a Steampunk theme.[25] The four returning rides were renovated to fit the new theme; they are the Force G gravity ride, the Condor plane ride, the Carrousel, and the Électro roller coaster.[3][25] Particular to the new Mega-Parc is Zénith, the first Ferris wheel in the continent without spokes.[25] Another new attraction is Patinarium, an ice skating circuit that surrounds the theme park and is the longest trail of this kind in Canada.[25] The ice skating is lit with LED lights, allowing it to change colours.[3]

In 2023, Zellers made a comeback to Galeries de la Capitale this time as a small department within the Hudson's Bay store of the same shopping mall.[26] It is currently the only Zellers outlet in Quebec City.[26]

See also

References
  1. "Les Rivières". ville de Québec.
  2. "About Us (Galeries de la Capitale". Redcliff Realty Management.
  3. "Mega Parc makeover in Quebec City shopping centre". renx.ca.
  4. Patterson, Craig. "Quebec's Largest Mall Sees Gains as it Continues Overhaul into 2018". Retail-Insider.
  5. "Canadian Shopping Centre Study 2017" (PDF). Retail Council of Canada. p. 8.
  6. Patterson, Craig (July 7, 2017). "Les Galeries de la Capitale to See Substantial Investment [Renderings/Video]".
  7. "Galeries de la Capitale: le ruban est coupé". Le Soleil. August 19, 1981. p. A-11.
  8. "Ouverture officielle du Wal-Mart". Le Soleil. November 22, 1994. p. B-10.
  9. "La guerre entre Zellers et Wal-Mart se transporte aux Galeries de la Capitale". Le Soleil. 6 March 2002. p. C-1.
  10. "It's one third off at Eaton's". The Windsor Star. Windsor. March 13, 1997. p. D11.
  11. Delan, Paul (July 31, 1997). "13 Eaton's stores off death list". Montreal Gazette. Montreal. p. D1.
  12. "Eaton's store saved in Quebec City". Calgary herald. Calgary. August 19, 1997. p. C3.
  13. Mahood, Casey (August 21, 1999). "Eaton's prepares to close for good Chain unveils plan to wind down and liquidate stock". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. p. A1.
  14. "Sears buys Eaton's name, eight stores". CBC News.
  15. "Oxford Properties and CPPIB Expand Canadian Retail Joint Venture". Yahoo Finance. June 10, 2013.
  16. "About". Les Galeries de la Capitale. Oxford Properties.
  17. "Best Buy débarque aux Galeries de la Capitale". Le Soleil. February 24, 2010.
  18. "Best Buy celebrates its arrival in Quebec City with Marie-Mai, Simple Plan, Guy Lafleur, and Alain Cote". Ottawa: Canada Newswire. September 13, 2011.
  19. Heinrich, Jeff (September 14, 2013). "Target article (whole page)". Montreal Gazette. Montreal. p. C6.
  20. "Target to open 33 more Canadian stores next month, including first Eastern Canada locations". Financial Post. October 28, 2013.
  21. CAPITALE, GALERIES DE LA. "Modernization and New Retailers: Projects Underway at Les Galeries de la Capitale". www.newswire.ca.
  22. McCleans, Steve. "An interior makeover for Galeries de la Capitale". renx.ca.
  23. Ligaya, Armina. "Sears closing after 65 years in Canada; court grants complete liquidation". Global News.
  24. Wright, Lisa (January 12, 2018). "Final Sears stores close Sunday, marking the end of an era". thestar.com.
  25. Patterson, Craig. "Galeries de la Capitale Unveils Overhauled Méga Parc Amusement Centre [Photos/Video]". Retail-Insider.ca.
  26. "Zellers returns to Quebec City, within Bay store at Les Galeries". Quebec Community Newspapers Association. January 30, 2023.
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