PEOPLE DOUBTED WESTGATE WOULD WORK
Many thought developer Harold Shenkman a fool when he proposed Ottawa’s first shopping mall. For people used to heading down to Rideau and Bank streets for shopping, the idea of a massive 12-acre mall surrounded by a parking lot at what was then the city’s outskirts seemed absurd. But Shenkman went ahead anyway and on May 12, 1955, Westgate Shopping Centre was officially opened. It featured 25 shops, anchored by a Steinberg’s grocery store, now home to a Shoppers Drug Mart. Today, Westgate’s days are numbered. Owner Rio-Can has said it intends to demolish the mall in favour of a complex of five highrise residential towers. Blair Crawford