The mall is dead, long live the mall: The rise and fall of Saint John's suburban shopping meccas

Not so long ago, suburban malls were more than mere shopping centres. They were social hubs, places to hang out, hook up with friends, find new fashions, eat, drink and people-watch.

But in 2017, the small mall is on the road to extinction.

According to Collier's 2016 National Retail Report, "non-store retail" sales amounted to $23 billion in Canada in 2014. Online shopping, big-box retailers, and the shuttering of major department store chains has meant that many suburban malls across North America are struggling.

Saint John, prior to the construction of McAllister Place in 1978, supported numerous smaller shopping centres serving distinct local neighborhoods: Loch Lomond Mall and Parkway on the east side, Lancaster Mall on the west side, Lansdowne Place in the north end, and Prince Edward Square Mall in the city's uptown core.

Many of those malls continue to operate today. But they are fundamentally transformed from what they were just a few decades ago.

While the memory of those shopping meccas, now often referred to as "dead malls," is sad for those who remember busier times, they also serve as a poignant reminder of the past.

The CBC's Julia Wright captured these photos of Prince Edward Square Mall, Parkway Mall and Loch Lomond Place, and contrasted them with archival images from their heyday — when the mall was still king.

Escalators leading from the underground parking garage to the shopping level of Prince Edward Square Mall, the first enclosed mall in uptown Saint John built by the late developer Pat Rocca in 1973.

"It was a vibrant, central park of the city," said Rocca's son, Patrick, who remembers visiting the mall as a child in the 1970s. The 160,228 sqare feet retail space included an underground parking garage to help shoppers beat the whims of weather.

Shoppers in front of Reitman's in Prince Edward Square Mall on the day of its grand opening on April 3, 1973. Premier Richard Hatfield was in attendance for the ribbon-cutting at the shopping centre. The mall and the nearby 10-storey Prince Edward Square Apartments were hailed as the culmination of the urban renewal plan for uptown Saint John, initiated in the 1960s by Saint John Mayor Eric. L. Teed.

Original plans for the site included a landscaped square on the corner of Union and Prince Edward streets, with reflecting pools, sculptures, and promenades.

Adam and Eve Hairstyling, located near the Prince Edward Street entrance of the mall, is the only original tenant that remains in 2017.The original signage for the hair salon, which also had a location in McAllister Place on the east side, is still mounted over the entrance. 

"My dad's uncle, Joe Mercuri, opened the barbershop and a beauty salon in there," said Patrick Rocca. "I remember they always cut my hair too short, it was the 1970s and everybody wanted long hair. I was the only kid walking around with my head almost shaved."

Hairstylist Carolyn Gagnon gives a customer a trim at Adam and Even Hairstyling. She and her husband, Gerard Gagnon, took over operations of the salon from Joe Rocca more than 30 years ago. The original analogue cash register remains in daily use at the shop, which has changed little since the 1970s — with the exception of the prices, of course.

Down on its luck: a handwritten out-of-order sign taped to a 1980s coin-operated prize machine in front of Giant Tiger in Prince Edward Square Mall. Since 2004, Giant Tiger, a Canadian discount chain, has become one of the most cost-effective options for young families and other shoppers looking to buy fresh produce and groceries in uptown Saint John.

A young woman serves a customer at a lunch counter at Prince Edward Square Mall in the 1970s.

The original anchor tenants were an IGA supermarket and Towers, pictured in the upper left of the photo. In 1991, Towers was bought by Zellers. A few years later, in the mid-1990s, the IGA became a Save-Easy. When Save-Easy closed at the end of 2003, the space was taken by Giant Tigerover the following year. 

Apartment buildings and vacant retail space are reflected in the windows of a side door at Prince Edward Square Mall. Although initiatives like the nearby Saint John Social Enterprise Hub have helped to revitalise the area, it remains one of the most impoverished in Greater Saint John. The socioeconomic decline of the neighbourhood, according to Patrick Rocca, has likely been a factor in the deterioration of Prince Edward Square Mall.

"Saint John has always been a city that didn't like change," said Rocca. "But if you don't change, you end up behind the times. Fortunately, there's new blood and new leadership that can change the vision and look at new ways to make it the place-to-be again."

Parkway Mall in east Saint John opened in 1973 as a 217,703 square feet shopping centre with 34 stores and services, including a movie theatre, a grocery store, and music and clothing stores. Until the mid 1980s, its anchor tenants were The Met, Save-Easy, and Zellers. When Zellers moved into the former K-Mart at McAllister Place in 1998, it heralded the beginning of Parkway's gradual decline. In 2017, most of the exterior signage has been removed.

Cars in the parking lot of Parkway Mall in 1981. The original white, blue and red Parkway Mall logo is visible in the background. Patrick Rocca, whose father built the mall in the 1970s, remembers it as "a popular place to go back and see movies back in the 70s and early 80s."

"There was a grocery store, lots of retail stores, a liquor store. It was very, very active at the time," he said. The liquor store at Parkway Mall closed in 2016, moving soon afterwards to the East Point Shopping development on Retail Drive.

A newspaper advert from the 1970s touting the goods and services available at the newly-opened Parkway Mall. As the ad suggested, gimmicks like fun fairs, dance contests, fashion shows, and (in this case) a meet-and-greet with local NHL stars were popular methods of enticing shoppers to spend the day at suburban shopping centres. 

"My biggest recollection was how booming it was," said Saint John resident Gary Flanagan, whose father worked at Parkway Mall. "Back in the early to mid 1980s it was 'the mall' in Saint John. It is a little sad, especially when you remember the way it used to be."

Parkway Mall continued to operate but underwent major renovations that ended its operation as an enclosed mall. The internal concourse was walled off and it now functions like a stripmall. The major tenants in 2017 include a gym, a dollar store, and a career training centre.

Loch Lomond Place, a 219,797 square feet mall on Loch Lomond Road and McDonald Street in east Saint John, opened in 1967 as Loch Lomond Shopping Mall.  "Everything from the Dairy Queen to Woolco to Sobeys was there," said Michael MacDonald, who grew up a 10 minute walk away on nearby Jean Street.

"It was the place to go to. I had 11 brothers and sisters and they worked at the mall at Dalfen's, a department store that carried a lot of clothing and toys back in the mid-1970s," he said.

Adam West, star of the 1960s live-action Batman series on ABC, sits in a Bricklin SV-1 during a 1976 promotional appearance at Loch Lomond Mall. According to Michael MacDonald, who was 12 years old the day that West came to Saint John, Loch Lomond Mall was "just jammed." 

"You couldn't fit a nickel between the people. It was unbelievable, just filled with excitement," he said.

A vintage, coin-operated spaceship ride in the corridor of Loch Lomond Place stands silent beside a shuttered retail space.

"I remember when we would go to Woolco when I was a kid," said Michael MacDonald. "Every month they'd have $1.44 Day — big sales where everything was $1.44. We'd be carrying boxes of stuff because there was no shopping carts left, it was that busy. The last time I was there, it looked like a big, empty shell. But you have to evolve or become extinct."

A 1960s-era bench and trash can, with fake flowers planted in its ashtray, in the interior concourse of Loch Lomond Mall. Unlike many struggling malls, the interior of Loch Lomond Place remained in service, even though only a handful of businesses, including a chain coffee shop, newsstand, and pool hall remain.

A bank of payphones at Loch Lomond Place — a relic of a different time in Saint John's history. In 2017, what were once department and grocery stores in Loch Lomond Place have been renovated into massive call centres. The Sitel Call Centre and Sears Contact Services, along with Red Cross and Trane Atlantic, are now the building's anchor tenants. 

What's in store? An empty shopping cart near the entrance of Sears in McAllister Place. The store's closure was announced in June 2017 as part of a court-supervised restructuring process.

Many malls face uncertain times in the wake of major shake-ups in the department store industry.

"Neighbourhoods change, people change. It's inevitable," said Patrick Rocca. "You see it everywhere. I'm fortunate that I can remember back to when those places were vibrant."