Another recent arrival at the IM.com archives was a bunch of old Windsor promotional material from the mid to late 1970’s.
The “vintage” Devonshire Mall ad below graced the back cover of the 1976 “Guide to Windsor and district” brochure. I’ll post more from the brochure over the coming weeks.
From the Border Cities Star - December 6, 1924, almost a century ago to the…
Built in 1929, the house at 2177 Victoria Avenue was originally numbered 1545 Victoria, pre…
Crescent Lanes first opened on Ottawa Street in 1944 at 1055 Ottawa Street, opposite Lanspeary…
Above is a photo of the home of Mr & Mrs Oswald Janisse, located at…
in 1917 two Greek brothers Gus & Harry Lukos purchased a one story building on…
Photo from Google Streetview A long time reader sent me an email the other week…
View Comments
I might be wrong but I think the infamous tornado of 1974 that took the roof off of the old Curling Club delayed the completion of Simpson's for a year or two. For some reason Simpson's never caught on in Windsor and the store was renamed the Bay in the early 1980's. Gas was still being sold by the imperial gallon at your local Sunoco in the 70's.
For the Devonshire Mall's grand opening they had a raffle. No purchase required. You only needed to fill out a ballot. My friends and I were all just hitting driving age and we filled hundreds of ballots out. A girl from our group ( Anne Stevenson ) won the the car.
It was believe it or not a 1970 yellow Toyota Corolla. It was a boxy ugly car. We figured the Japanese cars would never take off in North America. Time has proved us wrong.
Loved this photo. In my youth (born 1979) Devonshite Mall, University Mall and Tecumseh Mall all stand out in my memories - each was a unique version of the other; Devonshire being the mother-ship.
As a child I had a huge "cartoon Map" of the city of Windsor. (You still these around today for places such as Toronto, Vancouver etc) I was always fascinated that The Bay was called "Simpsons". Speaking of the Bay, I was there recently and on the 2nd floor, the elevator and staircase brought back memories. Does anyone else remember "christmas Land" and the Talking Christmas Tree?
Also, my grandma always took me to eat at the restaurant which had a glass wall overlooking the sunken area. We would always ask for a window seat.
Today I RARELY go to the mall, in fact I avoid it at most costs. Recently when there the preserved Stairwell in the Bay made me wonder; why was the mall better back then? Updated and modern ... far more services now, and yet it seems that the DairyQueen, the old Devonshire Cinema (Last film I saw there was Patch Adams in 1999) were so welcoming.
As a child, I LOVED the immense chandilier in the movie theatre lobby ... in the early 90's it vanished and my friend Joti and I used to always ponder where it went - does anyone know??
questions about devonshire mall
1. was the famous players double cinema dolby equiped, or was it just mono?
2. the mall opened on my birthday--august 12th, but not my birthyear--1989, didn't know that.
3. the mall today has a big black sign that shows the stores at the new part, did they have something like that when it opened?
4. what was the chance of seeing a mono copy of the beatles "help!" (mas-2836) (us/canadian version) in the mall in 1970?
5. what kind of stores selled records, 8 tracks and audio cassettes?
6. was there an a&p in the mall, where did zellers come from?
7. when did other music stores (sam the record man, music world, dr.disc...) show up in the mall?
Some Answers for Elie:
3. they existed, but looked different.
6. The A&P was located where the Chapters/Globo shoes addition now stands. It was originally a "Miracle Food Mart" until the A&P took it over. (I would guess that happened late 1980's to early 1990's).
i dug up half a phone book from 1993 and it lists the a&p at devonshire mall., i also found some christmas ads from 86,7, and 88. the a&p is not at the mall, but the other mall which has zellers and sobeys.
A&P only existed in Devonshire Mall for about 4-5 years in the early 1990s. Prior to that it was Miracle Food Mart, and lasted until 95/96 when it closed down. A&P also existed in Tecumseh Mall until the early 90s, as this had been a previous Dominion location. This was the southern anchor to Tecumseh Mall where Marks Work Wearhouse and Shoppers Drug Mart are now.
A&P bought Miracle Mart (Steinbergs),then bought Dominion Stores, that how A&P got locations in Devonshire, and the westend mall,the Tecumseh Mall and Ambasador Mall next to Kmart where Dominion stores. Dominion stores name lived on in Toronto until the name change to Metro.
I was born in 1982 and remember those wooden planters and benches well. They were there a very long time! This picture was back when the hallways weren't filled with kiosks.
I'm still kinda pissed that a few weeks ago Devonshire Mall's website had a slide show of old photos (you couldn't pause it, or anything) and now I can't find the damn thing.