From the Windsor Star – May 2, 1969
Artist’s view of centre
Fifteen months from now Windsor will have one of the largest shopping centres in Canada with the opening of the $15,000,000 Devonshire-Windsor Shopping Centre on Howard Ave. south of E. C. Row Ave. Located on a 65-acre site with paved parking area for 3,000 cars, the centre will include 500,000 square feet of retail area and serve as the base of employment for nearly 1,000 employees who will work in some 60 different stores including large Simpsons-Sears and Miracle Mart department, stores. The artist’s version of the centre shown above looks from Howard Ave. Photo left is the enclosed mall. The mall will be the focal point for nearly 60 national and local chain stores and all the shopping area will be temperature controlled. The photo above shows an artist’s conception of the interior of the mall which will feature a heavy wood beamed ceiling and indirect fluorescent lighting.
City store complex one of Canada’s Largest
60 stores in $ 15 million centre
By Bill Hickey and Jack Kent
Preliminary work on ground installations for the $15,000,000 Devonshire-Windsor Shopping Centre on Howard Ave. at E.C. Row Ave. has begun. The enclosed shopping complex will be one of the largest of its kind in Canada.
Cambridge Leasehold Ltd. of Windsor, developers of the project, have completed plans for the site and have established tenants for its 60 stores during the months since the project was announced last summer.
Feature tenants in the giant shopping mall will be Simpsons-Sears, who will build a 286,000 square foot department store, Steinberg’s, planning a 102,000 square foot Miracle Mart, and Famous Players, who have announced a twin theatre project for the development.
In addition to these three, whose participation had been disclosed earlier, Cambridge today announced 19 more firms which will lease stores in the mall. They are:
Grafton’s(ladies’ and men’s fashions)
Elk’s Men’s and Boys’ Wear
Braemar Fashions
Reitman’s
The Place
Business Girl
Young Canada Children’s Fashions
D’Allards (ladies’ fashions)
Maher Shoes
Bonita Shoes
Collyer Shoes
Shoppers’ Drug Mart
Dominion Play World (toys and sports equipment)
Laura Secord Candies
Singer Sewing Center
Seary’s Flowers
Lizanne Fabrics
Canada Trust – Huron and Erie
Canadian Imperial Bank of CommerceA spokesman for Cambridge said negotiations were at varying stages with numerous other prospective tenants. He anticipated no difficulty in leasing all the 60 store sites.
According to figures compiled by Cambridge, the complex will reach estimated retail sales of $25,000,000 to $30,000,000 annually, employ upwards of 1,000 full and part-time staff members earning annual salaries and wages of about $5,000,000, and pay the city of Windsor annual taxes of about $40,000.
The shopping centre will provide about 500,000 square feet of retailing space and more than 3,000parking spaces on the 65-acre tract.
Experts estimate that while the construction of the centre will cost about $15,000,000, it will require almost as much money again to provide carpeting, fixtures and stock for the stores in the complex.
J.C. Barrow, chairman of the board of Simpsons-Sears who was in Windsor today with other officials of his company and others associated with the shopping centre called this the “anchor store” in this new shopping complex.
Mr. Barrow said today that the Windsor store is considerably larger than was originally planned because of the market potential. It will be among the largest units in the Simpsons-Sears chain which will include 395 outlets across Canada including 35 retail stores. In addition the firm has major department stores under construction at Moncton, N.B.; Winnipeg and Kamloops, B.C.
Mr. Barrow said the decision to build in Windsor at this time amply demonstrates the confidence the company has in the stability and future growth prospects for the Greater Windsor area.
Included among the Simpsons-Sears officials here for the official announcement of the start of construction are Morgan Reid, vice-president; Arthur Torr, planning and development; D. S. McDonald and Hal R. Borden, retail administration; Charles J.
Dunn, general manager and Ray Lister, national publicity director.Scheduled for completion in August 1970, the centre will be the only enclosed shopping centre between Detroit and London and the largest between Detroit and the Toronto area.
According to Cambridge’s statistics, the complex will serve a population in the neighborhood of 400,000 in Essex and Kent counties. Disposable income in this area totals $1,345,000,000 annually and retail sales now total $700,000,000, each year.
Cambridge estimates disposable income in this area to be 18 per cent above the national average.
Construction of the mall will proceed in two concurrent phases. The mammoth Simpson-Sears store will be built separately but in conjunction with the rest of the centre.
Simpson-Sears today announced the letting of the contract for foundation work on their building to Ascon Construction Ltd. of Windsor. The general contractor will be named later.
The remainder of the centre will be constructed by Eastern Construction Ltd. of Windsor. Toronto architects Petroff and Jeruzalski designed the structure.
The entire shopping centre will be enclosed and temperature controlled. It will feature fountains, green plantings and flowers and will be lighted indirectly.
The shops will open into the main concourse from both sides and will not have individual outside access. The structure will be brick faced, offset by copper colored cupules and border trim. Service areas will be concealed by brick walls and shrubbery, and boulevards will break up the parking lot and help route traffic. The mall will include a 200-seat auditorium and shops
will range from fashion wear to specialty items and service stores.The centre will face Howard Ave. with the two-storey Simpson-Sears store at the north end and the Steinberg Miracle Mart at the south. The enclosed concourse will run between the two.
Development of the complex will allow for additional structures be built on the east side. The Simpson-Sears store will contain 55 departments through its two storeys and basement. It will be situated on 18 1/2 acres owned by the company and will be connected with the rest of the mall by a 50-foot-wide unobstructed entrance. The store will have five other entrances from the parking lot.
The store will feature poured-in-place foundations and first floor walls and pre-cast concrete for the second storey. The exterior will be faced with brick. There will be extensive landscaping around the base of the store and no display windows.
The store will emphasize fashions and wearing apparel but will carry a full line of furniture and home furnishings, housewares, major appliances, hardware, sporting goods and automotive parts.
It will also have a catalogue and telephone ordering department, restaurant, home decorating consulting service, optical department, hearing aids, watch repairs and insurance office. A repair service will also be available for appliances, radios, television, outboard motors, power mowers and similar equipment and an auto centre with 12 service bays and two gas islands and a garden centre will be offered.
Truck loading and unloading will be done underground in an enclosed area able to handle up to 15 trucks at once.
Simpson-Sears was formed about 16 years ago as a joint venture of the Robert Simpson Co. of Toronto and Sears-Roebuck and Co. of the U.S. Simpsons, and then Simpsons-Sears, has had a catalogue sales store in Windsor since 1940. The present store at 736 Ouellette Ave. employs 45 persons. No decision has yet been made on its future but it will remain open until the mall store is completed.
The Steinberg Miracle Mart will provide 20,000 square feet of food market space and 17 checkout lines. There will be 1,400 lineal feet of shelf and counter space. The department store in the Miracle Mart will offer 62,000 square feet for clothing. housewares, hardware, sporting goods, pets, gifts, cosmetics, notions, stationary, furniture and cameras as well as a pharmacy and restaurant.
Famous Players Devonshire Mall cinema will feature two theatres, one of 650 seats and the other with 452. The cost of the cinema project is about $600,000
$15 million to build in 1970. Wow, that’s a lot. I wonder what the average house cost in Windsor in 1970.
I remember the old Devonshire mall. It was totally ” ’70s” and such a dreary place.
Sadly it was the death knell of downtown…
How come Windsor never had a downtown mall? London has the Galleria. Toronto has the Eaton’s Centre. What happened with Windsor? Was there opposition to it, or simply no interested. What happened?
Windsor probably dodged a bullet by not getting a Galleria. The Eaton Centre is one of the few downtown malls that didn’t kill the rest of downtown (a number of reasons — the size of Toronto, the tourist attraction quality of the E.C.).
The Steinberg Store was a sort of downtown mall.
ME> I never thought the old mall was “dreary” — seemed fairly standard, regional mallish.
A couple weeks ago I wrote a piece about Yorkdale Mall at 401 and Dufferin. An interesting history and Modern structure:
http://www.eyeweekly.com/eye/issue/issue_08.09.07/city/news.php
Thank god Windsor had the brains (or lack of vision – you chose) NOT to build a downtown mall. The term “Downtown Mall” is actually an oxy moron (like jumbo shrimp and metal woods) as downtowns do not need to recreate a walkable retail environment like the suburbs do. The suburbs are merely a patchwork of recreations of “something that works somewhere else” anyways, so the success of malls shouldn’t surprise anyone.
I fed my post-secondary mind in London, and the downtown “London Mews”, while working as a subterrainian teenage wonderland, was a dismal retail experience. And I was living downtown for the grand opening of the Galleria. It was a pretty intriguing architectural exercise, but completely and quickly lost out to the real retail experience of the authentic London downtown.
Interesting to note that a few of those original tenants are still alive and kicking at Devonshire…Reitman’s, Shoppers, Laura Secord and both banks, to name a few. For those of you how were around or recall–did Smith’s (SportChek/GoodLife) and Simpson’s (The Bay) come in a later phase, or did they end up opening with Sears and Steinberg?
If you look at the outside of The Bay, the scars from the old Simpson’s logos are still pretty clearly visible.
I almost forgot–did Sears ever use their Lower Level? The article mentions it being a three-level store, but in my time down here its only ever been two levels of retail.
JT> The Bay/Simpsons extension was built in 1974 (and was damaged by the deadly Tornado that hit Windsor in April of that year while under construction).
If memory serves, the inverted “Y” that included the food court area was added around 1986-7. A few years later the Miracle Mart was gutted and the concourse from Sears extended through it.
Like at Yorkdale, it is interesting seeing the bits and pieces put together, usually in the places you’re not supposed to go. A few of the service corridors run along the former outside walls, which is neat.
In the 5 years I worked there, exploring these passages was one of the few ways to keep sane while selling Brittany Spears to the kids.
Was Devonshire Mall designed that it could have a second floor of shops added. I see around the Bay/Sportcheck area that it is two stories and the concourse mall area leading to it, yet the rest of mall concourse is one storey. I always wondered why the majority of the mall is only one storey and if they ever had it in mind to add another floor of shops to it. I wonder if that’s why Home Depot is moving? So, Devonshire Mall can have more parking for a possible expansion.
David, I don’t believe that it was designed for a second floor. Typical of the short-sightedness of most Windsor area developments. Everything always seems to be done on the cheap. Heck, even the Chatham mall has a parking garage attached.
As for Home depot moving, nope. They are moving only because the want a new store, the one on Sidney by the mall is “too old”. Typical atitude of our disposable society. They want to be closer to the sprawl, along with Home Depot, Future Shop is also leaving the Roundhouse centre and moving into the new plaza where Home Depot is going at Walker & Cabana.
The city keeps sprawling, and now the donut hole of retail is spreading toward the Mall area.
What I would love to see it Lowes move into the old Home Depot site and give them a run for their money. However I doubt it will happen. Home Depot will probably pay money to keep that site vacant, like Loblaws did with the old N&D site at Dominion and Grand Marais.
The city reconfigured that road (Sidney) in front of the Home Depot during the last mall expansion moving the whole road south. You can still see the old road and street signs back by the Movie theatre as an exit from the parking lot out to Marentette. Sidney is a major feeder road to the industrial park behind it, and used by hundred of trucks a day, it is not possible to move it again or close it. The mall is likely a large as it’s going to get, however this city has done dumber things….
Shawn, thanks for the link to the Eye Article.
The two storey portions appear only to have been intended for the department store anchors (Sears, Simpsons, Smith’s…Devonshire had a thing for anchors starting with “S”, didn’t it?), the movie theatre and some offices (between the theatre and Laura Secord).
How long did Smith’s last? I know that by the time of my earliest memories of Devonshire (late 70s/early 80s), the space was already split between Marks & Spencer and Leon’s (the escalator linking the two was a childhood mystery to me, as in why we never went up to the dark-looking space at the end of the escalator…)
Construction on the food court in Devonshire Mall began late in 1984 and opened to the public in the fall of 1985. A & W, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Mr Sub, Orange Julius and Mrs Vanelli’s were the original tenants in the food court. Le Chateau, Athena, Music World, National Sports and a store that sold lamps made up the retail portion of the expansion. After the long, lingering recession of the early 1980’s, Windsor’s economy was booming and by 1985 and people started to spend money again.
When I moved here in the early 90s there was still an Arthur Treachers inhabiting the food court–if memory serves me the original food tenants you listed have all survived. The Food Court extension was the section of the mall with those creepy statues of miniture people.
Shawn, I too find it interesting peeking around those service corridors–the one I’m thinking of is “behind” The Bay–and it is here that you see the Simpson’s “label scar” clearly. Until recently the stickers on the entrance (now buried) for the “Arcadian Room” restaurant still showed that they happily accepted the Simpson’s charge card. Not sure if you had much time to explore Yorkdale BEFORE Eaton’s closed–but that store was a gem if you’re into modernism…the restaurant, which was called The Village Loft stayed pretty much modish to the end–I have a photo I can scan if you’re interested.
RIP: Stop n Go 🙂
I heard the real reason Home Depot and Future shop were moving was to stop the Cambridge Gouging on there lease. And Home depot wants to add 1/3 more square footage.
Would anyone have pics of the mall from the inside during the years?
Would anyone have any pics of the site before the mall was built? If I remember correctly there was a car racetrack there…Bluebird Raceway?
Lol, I remember that ceiling!
At the main (center) entrance facing Howard Avenue, the right side of the entrance corridor was occupied by Canada Trust and Mappins Jewellers, the left side was occupied by Steak ‘N’ Burger Restaurant, The Colonel’s Lounge (a bar), Brew ‘N’ Burger Restaurant (later changed to Mug ‘N’ Burger) and Stop ‘N’ Go snack bar, all owned and operated by now defunct Winco Inc.
note to Bob C…..meanwhile…..4yr. later.. The site of the present Devonshire Mall was once the Devonshire Racetrack. There are pics on here, Metropolis site, of that track, the paddocks, grandstand etc. Sorry I’m late with an answer, but I just saw your post today.
David, I know it’s 5years later since your comment wondering how much the average house cost in Windsor in the 1970’s. We bought our older 4 bedroom home for $9,000, but only after seeing we couldn’t afford the $5,000 downpayment on a modest 3-bedroom brick ranch at $45,000!
According to an online inflation calculator, that $15 million for the initial construction would cost about $90.7 million in 2011 dollars. Devonshire’s own website has a slide show of old pictures of the mall (though I can’t find them at the moment, I saw them 2 weeks ago).
I try to think back of the changes throughout the years. I was born in 1982, so I kind of remember the food court area being new as some of my earliest memories. Those statues always creeped me out. I remember when the Dairy Queen was on it’s own outside of the Food Court area, with it’s own seating. Then Burger King was in that place after (I think?), and later moved to another location, which is now some weird lounge with extra bathrooms. But where was the original movie theatre? Was it in the same area as the old Dairy Queen? I remember going through the Art Gallery of Windsor when it was there in my early high school days. We would play the functional pinball machine that took nickels. We took the elevator up and had a security guard follow us around the second floor because we were probably caught on the cameras in the elevator.
I remember some restaurant where is now Le Vie En Rose, I believe. Was that the Arthur Treacher’s? I really don’t know.
I’ve seen pictures that there was gas pumps outside the Sears Satellite building, but I don’t remember them being there. So many memories for me and many others over the years. It would be great to see the layout as it changes over the years. Now I go there so infrequently, that there’s always new stores every time I go.
My earliest recollections of Devonshire include the Shell gas station/car wash at the south end of the mall property, the Miracle Mart department store, when The Bay was Simpson’s, the “exotic” British food at the Marks and Spencer, Buster Brown shoes, Leisure World hobby shop and all the dark brown wooden benches — so 70’s!
I also remember the Dairy Queen next to the old Devonshire theatres. I went to school with a guy whose family owned it.
Uzzy that restaurant you are referring to was Margareta’s (sp?).
It was also above the Bay at one time too. I forget where it was first…
I was just a little kid when I ate there.