Park Royal Shopping Centre

Park Royal Shopping Centre, opened in 1950, is a shopping mall located in West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Park Royal is officially Canada's first covered shopping mall.[1][2] Park Royal currently markets itself as five star shopping and has undergone significant changes to attain this. The shopping centre was originally anchored by Woodward's.

Park Royal Shopping Centre
LocationWest Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Coordinates49.326°N 123.137°W / 49.326; -123.137
Opening dateSeptember 1, 1950
No. of stores and services280
Total retail floor area1,400,000 sq ft (130,000 m2)
No. of floors1 (Park Royal North), 2 (Park Royal South)
Websiteshopparkroyal.com
Park Royal Shopping Centre, prior to the South Mall expansion, c. 1950
Park Royal, North Mall
Park Royal, South Mall

The Centre was started alongside the Guinness family's British Properties developments nearby, and was named after the London suburb of Park Royal where a Guinness brewery stood. The Guinnesses sold it in 1986.

The mall is physically divided into two locations by Marine Drive, a major thoroughfare on the North Shore. The two sides are aptly named North Mall and South Mall, and are connected by 2 main intersections: Main St - Marine Drive, and Taylor Way - Marine Drive, as well as an overpass next to Shoppers Drug Mart. The North Mall is the original part of the mall, and had the anchor store Woodward's (on the East end) and Woodward's Food Floors (on the West end). Expansion to the South Mall occurred in the 1962 with a further development in the mid-1970s. The expansion in the 1960s added SuperValu and Eaton's as the anchor stores on the South Mall. Further expansion in the mid-1970s added a second floor to the mall and the Hudson's Bay store.

In the 1980s when Woodward's closed, The Bay moved into the location previously held by Woodward's, and the Food Floor was converted into a Government Liquor Store, London Drugs and Rogers Video (now closed).

The entire mall covers roughly 1.4 million square feet.

The Village

In late 2004, The Village was opened as an expansion of the South Mall, allowing for more stores and retail services. The Village was designed as a joint venture by the architectural firms, F+A Architects (Pasadena, California) and Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership (Vancouver). The 238,000 square foot (22,111 m²) expansion cost approximately $30 million Canadian dollars. The Village is Canada's first lifestyle centre specifically designed for the affluent West Vancouver market, where all the retail locations offer mid to upscale lifestyle services. The Village is unique in that it aims to replicate the experience found at Whistler Village, where consumers are predominantly in the open-air (outside) to browse the stores. A bowling alley and a golf practice range were demolished to make way for The Village. Home Depot's first Canadian urban concept store is located at The Village. It features pre-built fully furnished rooms and other customizable household furnishings for consumers to choose from.

Shops and services

Park Royal South anchor stores include: Best Buy, La Maison Simons and Sport Chek. Since 2013, Park Royal has been undergoing major renovations, and has introduced a new village that includes retailers such as: Urban Outfitters, Zara, H&M, Aritzia and Anthropologie. In 2015, Park Royal closed the old food court on the south side, and revealed a new, updated version the floor above with popular chains such as Booster Juice, Freshii, and Chatime. In 2015, Canadian retailer Simons moved into the space that used to be occupied by Extra Foods. In 2017, The Canpets was replaced by a new store, Miniso. Park Royal also offers complimentary Wifi all over the mall. A new VIP Cineplex movie theatre above The Brick opened on April 3, 2019.

Transportation

Park Royal also acts as an area transit hub, known as the Park Royal Exchange, with various TransLink buses and West Vancouver Blue Buses serving this location.

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See also

References
  1. Shopping Mall History Archived 2008-03-27 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Our History:Social History
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