Marlborough Mall

Marlborough Mall is a shopping mall located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Opened in October 1972, the mall has expanded several times and today includes approximately 100 stores and services, and encompasses over 584,000 square feet.[1] The mall also featured a Safeway until the 1990s, when the store moved to its own location west of 36th Street.[2]

Marlborough Mall

A Marlborough Mall entrance
Location	Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Coordinates	51°03′17″N 113°58′42″W
Address	3800 Memorial Drive NE
Opening date	October 1972
Management	20 VIC Management Inc.
No. of stores and services	107
No. of anchor tenants	2 (1 open, 1 vacant)
Total retail floor area	52,191.9 m^2 (561,789 sq ft)
No. of floors	1
Website	marlboroughmall.com

The current anchor store is Wal-Mart, as Sears closed its doors in March 2017.

Location

The mall is located in the northeast quadrant of the city, in the community of Marlborough next to the Marlborough C-Train Station. It is located at the corner of Memorial Drive and 36th Street.

Physically it shares the same block as the Applewood Village condominiums. The south and west ends of the mall are bound by 4-lane divided roads. The mall itself is located in a residential zone on the edges of the Franklin commercial area and is nearly surrounded by other commercial ventures. To the west lies a commercial park with a car dealership and several mini-malls and standalone retailers. One block to the northwest lies Pacific Place (formerly Franklin Mall) and directly north is a strip mall. The larger, 2 level Sunridge Mall as well as a Real Canadian Superstore outlet is one C-Train stop to the north, about 2000 metres away, itself in a very large commercial setting with several blocks of stores concentrated together.

History

The mall was originally built in the early 1970s, with Woolco as the flagship store. Renovations later added Simpsons-Sears at the north end of the mall.

In 2005 the mall underwent a total interior renovation that saw the addition of new tile, additional skylights, and a new mall corridor to access an expansion of Wal-Mart that allowed the addition of several small retailers. Construction of a modest, 10,000 sq ft (930 m²). expansion began in the summer of 2010 and involved the addition of a loading dock and space for three new retailers; construction was completed in December 2010.[3]

Community

The mall has served as a focal point for social events, hosting a small carnival midway in the west parking lot every summer in the 1970s and 1980s. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus has also operated from the west parking lot in the past. Other community activities have included geology displays by the University of Calgary.[4]

Layout

The mall is fully enclosed and built as a split level, with the northern portion of the mall slightly higher than the southern. A standard 13-unit food court is located where the split occurs, and has both an upper and lower deck for seating.

A five-story "professional building" houses medical offices including dental, general practice, and sports medicine.

1990	2005

Note: the above diagrams contain an error; Simpsons-Sears should be on the 1990 map, and Sears on the 2005 one.

Anchors

• Walmart 14,827.3 square metres (159,600 sq ft)
• In 2020 MaKami College will be moving into the 137,000sqft space left empty by Sears.

References

1. This includes administrative areas and interior trafficways, not just retail space.Project website Archived 2011-07-08 at the Wayback Machine, accessed Sept. 27, 2010
2. As indicated in the article on anchor stores, it was found that grocery stores make poor anchors as visits to the store result in few stops to other shops.
3. Project website Archived 2011-07-08 at the Wayback Machine, accessed Sept. 27, 2010
4. U of C article

External links

• Marlborough Mall