At 115,478 m2 or 1,242,990 sq ft, it is both the largest enclosed shopping centre in the Greater Montreal area and the largest mall operating on a single floor in all of Quebec. Virtually untouched by the ongoing decline of indoor malls, it typically ranks among the top shopping centres in Quebec for its number of visitors as well as sales per square foot and has been home to many retail firsts in the province.
Construction of the mall was announced on February 27, 1969, by Steinberg's and Eaton's. The consortium announced that a 150-store mall would be built on a 20,000,000-square-foot (1,900,000 m2) property next to the Laurentian Autoroute, subject to the construction of the necessary infrastructure by the newly formed city of Laval.[4]
Construction was intended to start in 1971[5] but the project had been delayed after a zoning bylaw proposed by mayor Jacques Tétreault, that would effectively have given the Carrefour Laval consortium a monopoly over the development of the proposed downtown core of Laval, was challenged by the opposition and by members of his own party who founded his idea to be discriminatory and too restrictive towards other businesses.[6] Carrefour Laval finally broke ground the following year and undertaken by Fairview Corporation which had previously developed the shopping malls Fairview Pointe-Claire and Galeries d'Anjou.[7]
Timeline
1974: Carrefour Laval opens with major tenants Simpsons, Eaton's, Dupuis Frères, Pascal's and Beaucoup.[a][8] The L-shaped Carrefour Laval has 125 stores.[9][10] Eaton's and Beaucoup anchor the ends of the mall and Simpsons is at the junction.[10] Carrefour Laval has three owners: Fairview Corporation, Ivanhoe Corporation and Eaton's.[11][12] It has a size of 850,000 square feet[13] and occupies a land of 29.6 hectares.[14] Almost 200,000 square feet of it goes to the Eaton's store.[15]
1983: The mall increases to 1.15 million square feet by expanding to the west with 90 new stores and a Sears department store of 158,000 square feet.[17][18]
1984: The Beaucoup concept is abandoned. Steinberg's and Miracle Mart now have their separate anchor spaces, although they remain side by side.
1993: Staples also becomes a tenant of Carrefour Laval.[24] It is located in a portion of the former Pascal's hardware store's.[25] Moreover, work begins to convert the space that had been occupied by M to accommodate what would have been the first Costco store in Quebec,[26] but this is halted when Costco and Price Club merge the same year, since there was already a Price Club store right across the expressway.
1994: Rona L'Entrepôt opens on what used to be the anchor spaces of Steinberg's and M.[27]
2000: Cadillac Fairview acquires full ownership of the mall.[31] Until now it had been co-owned by Ivanhoe.[31]
2002: Carrefour Laval expands with 80 new stores and anchor Simons.[32] This expansion took place on the former spot of the Eaton's store which has been demolished.[33] The new section is characterized on a map as the southern eastern portion of the mall with the shape of an arc.
2008: A newer, expanded food court and redesign of the flooring and ceilings is underway and scheduled to be completed in two phases by 2009.[34] The food court offers now 1,200 seats.[2]
2009: The new food court opens with 22 fast food restaurants, 1,200 seats and an upscale restaurant, Table 51. This results in a small increase of the total size of Carrefour Laval (attributed to the northern part of the new food court) although insignificant in comparison to the mall's expansions in 1983 and 2002. Conversion of the old 1983 food court into retail space begins.
2010: End of the work for the conversion of the old food court
2022: Sears' former building is demolished.[38]Sporting Life opens in its former location[39][40] at 26,827 square feet.[41]
Transit accessibility
Non-local car traffic to the mall is mainly accessible via the two major highways that border it: Highway 15 and Highway 440. Additionally, it is served by public transit via the STL, which has its EXObus terminal located across from the mall, with bus service that connects to the Montreal Metro (via the terminus of the orange line in Laval).
^"The New Carrefour Laval Opens August 14th - Cadillac Fairview's $88 million investment results in 80 new stores and elegant ambience". Canada NewsWire. Ottawa. 12 August 2002.
