Fairview Park mall turns 50
Region’s largest shopping centre ‘constantly innovating,’ general manager says
KITCHENER — The year was 1966.
Lester B. Pearson’s Liberals were in power, “Star Trek” began beaming into people’s homes, and subways started running on Toronto’s Bloor-Danforth line.
In Kitchener — a city of about 95,000 residents at the time — shoppers flocked to the brand-new Fairview Park mall, eager to check out its 45 stores.
For about a year, they’d had a sneak peek of sorts, in the form of the Simpsons-Sears store that had opened in 1965 as the mall took shape around it.
Half a century later, Fairview Park remains a going concern. A Cadillac Fairview property, the shopping centre at Fairway Road and Highway 8 is the largest in the region at 730,000 square feet and boasts about 130 stores and services.
Over the years, names like Simpsons, Woolco and Zehrs have anchored the mall; these days, Hudson’s Bay, Walmart and Sears are the largest tenants.
Significant renovations and expansions in 1975 and 1980 were followed by a $33.4-million redevelopment in 2007 that included a new food court, raised ceilings, and new floors and interior finishes.
“We’re very proud to be connected with the community,” says general manager Lillian Stojanoski. “Really, I think we’ve grown together with the community.”
Much of Angie DeLeo’s adult life has been spent at Fairview Park, from her first day in 1990 as an employee at beauty retailer Caryl Baker Visage.
When Le Salon, the business she now coowns with her husband, Vince, opened in the mall a short time later, she was hired as its receptionist. Vince later joined the team and by about 1993, Angie and Vince were the sole owners.
Five years ago, Le Salon moved to a larger location, where the couple now employs 15 staff.
“I’m proud to be a part of this property,” DeLeo says.
Her business has weathered ups and downs over the years — economic downturns, the rise of online shopping and the fear following the 9/11 attacks that kept people away.
“You can’t do a haircut online,” she says with a laugh. “I’m in a fail-proof industry.”
Many of Le Salon’s customers — DeLeo calls them “guests” — have been regulars for years, a loyalty that comes from the relationships that the couple has built.
“They’re our family,” she says. “I take it to heart, I don’t take it for granted.”
But she also credits mall management with innovating, upgrading and attracting new tenants.
“We’re constantly innovating,” Stojanoski says. “We’re really focused on digital platforms.”
The mall offers such amenities as free Wi-Fi, device charging stations and an app or text-driven customer service feature.
To celebrate its anniversary, the mall is inviting customers to share memories and stories via its social media channels or on their own, using the tag #50years50stories.
The area immediately around the mall is also undergoing a transformation of sorts, with the region’s light rail transit system expected to begin service to and from Fairview Park in 2018.
A new Cineplex theatre is taking shape across Fairway Road at the former site of the Waterloo Region Record, land that now belongs to mall owner Cadillac Fairview. Expected to open this fall, the theatre will include three luxury VIP Cinemas and a licensed lounge.
Cadillac Fairview’s properties include Toronto’s Eaton Centre and Shops at Don Mills, Ottawa’s Rideau Centre and Vancouver’s Pacific Centre. Fairview Park is one of its oldest malls.
Grant Packard, an assistant professor in marketing at Wilfrid Laurier University, says a shopping mall’s survival depends on its ability to read the marketplace.
A mall that evolves and understands its demographic groups and their experiential needs will typically thrive, he says.
While shopping malls may have lost some of the timepressed family market to power centres or online shopping, they continue to be popular destinations as multipurpose social hubs for other groups, including teens and seniors.
Teens, especially, create a sense of energy and vibrancy that’s important in attracting other customers. The challenge that individual retailers can face lies in converting those groups into customers, Packard says.
Fairview Park’s efforts in recent years to “go upscale” with the introduction of retailers such as Sephora and Lush mirror a trend that malls have embraced in seeking success, Packard says.
“It’s exciting to see a mall that lasts that long and continues to be successful,” he says. “It shows they can change with the times.”