For generations of west-end Ottawa residents, Westgate Shopping Centre was more than just a strip of retail. It was where you bought your first records, bumped into neighbours on Saturday mornings or ate lunch at the Clark’s Dairy Bar.
Built in just 11 months and opening with fanfare on May 19, 1955, it was Ottawa’s first shopping mall, boasting wide walkways, modern storefronts and ample space for more than 1,000 cars — a symbol of post-war progress and suburban growth. There were even “smart and stylish” parking attendants wearing suits that resembled Canada’s famous Mounties, with whistles to help direct traffic and park cars.
“Not one or two — but two dozen of the city’s most up-to-date retail establishments have been preparing for weeks, a galaxy of opening day specials that will surprise the most value-conscious customers who visit this modern shopping center,” wrote the Ottawa Citizen the day before the mall’s official opening. “No matter where you park, you’ll find every store within easy reach of your car.”
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Steinberg’s Grocery, which had opened its first Ontario supermarket in the mall a few months prior, had air conditioning and piped-in music from a speaker system — luxuries in the mid-1950s. There was even a unique automatic orange juice dispenser where fresh oranges were squeezed “before your eyes” at the price of 10 cents a glass. A dozen eggs cost 59 cents, one pound of cheddar cheese about 49 cents and milk only 22 cents a quart.
“Decorative panels on the walls indicate what lines are sold in that location: steaks, bananas and so on,” the Citizen wrote. “Steinberg’s surprises you with potted plants, seeds: the bulk of their wide array of cut flowers, ice cream display; the line of folding garden chairs and steel tables.”
At the neighbouring Reitman’s Department store, a Fall Fair in 1955 advertised a children’s duffle coat would sell for under $7 and men’s all-wool suits for $49.50. An eiderdown blanket cost $2.66, while a stylish coffee table would set you back $11.95. Even an armless sofa bed — a mid-century modern staple — was just $69.50.
The land where Westgate sits used to be prime for spring flooding before its development. Real estate developer Harold Shenkman purchased the first piece of it in 1951 for $21,000 and the other section a year later for $42,000. The project was first supposed to open in 1953 at a price tag of $750,000, but construction soared to around $2 million. The reason why plans expanded: abandoned rail lines were being replaced by an expressway that today is known as the Queensway.
When doors to the Westgate department store first opened, it was met with a gala and much fanfare. Famed television singers and husband/wife duo Shirley Harmer and George Murray were in attendance, along with tabloid favourites Elaine Grand and Dick McDougal who flew in from Toronto.
There was also a novel motorcade to show off the fashion of 1955, which began at the Reitman’s Rideau Street location and ended at Westgate.
“The west end has never seen a show like it,” reported the Ottawa Journal. “There were famous television personalities (and) gorgeous models in a fashion show on wheels.”
Over the next year, Westgate continued to be an attraction for some of the country’s biggest names. TV star and singer Joan Fairfax was “nearly mobbed” when she introduced one of her records at the mall alongside composer Denny Vaughn. There were also performances from the famous Ink Spots vocal group and various quartets including the Crew Cuts, the Four Lads and the Ames Brothers.
Westgate also hosted the Ottawa Rough Riders football team before the opening season in 1955 where head coach Chan Caldwell was presented with a giant horseshoe. The team went on to win the game.
That Christmas, Westgate was the first shopping centre to welcome Santa Claus by helicopter. Lionel “Pete” Durrett, the mall’s administrator, recalled in an interview with the Ottawa Journal: “He landed on the roof, and we had to call in extra guards to hold back the crowds. There were a few anxious moments when I wondered if Santa’s helicopter would go right through the roof, but apart from that, everything went off beautifully.”
Easter saw the arrival of the Easter Bunny at the mall, but the costume was lost on its way from Montreal and Durrett had to dash down to the train station to find it.
A changing retail landscape
But the mall’s heyday would not last forever. Shenkman sold the mall in 1960 and turned his focus across the street to the Talisman Hotel that was being built. Known for its famed Beachcomber Room, it too has been lost to history, with apartments now built on the site.
In 1972, Freiman’s was sold to The Bay and the Westgate location closed two years later. Then in 1978, the mall was renovated extensively and became an enclosed space. It had to keep up with changing times after Bayshore and St. Laurent shopping centres became competition.
The $750,000 project built a glass enclosure around the building with moveable glass walls. It would remain open in the summer to permit airflow and then closed during the colder months, but the mall space would neither be air conditioned nor heated. It was believed at the time that renovated shopping centres would mean a 30 per cent uptick in sales.
A decade later, between 1988 and 1989, the mall undertook a 15,000-square-foot expansion that widened it to have stores on both sides and a food court, resembling what it looks like today.
Traffic never fully recovered and over the coming decades stores would come and go. A three-screen cinema that opened in 1988 was gone by 2000. Consumers Distributing, a warehouse-like store that sold items through a catalogue and was seen as an anchor tenant after Freiman’s closed, declared bankruptcy and left in 1996. Your Independent Grocer, which replaced Steinberg’s in the late ‘90s, closed in 2003 when Westboro’s Superstore opened. Shopper’s Drug Mart later moved into that space and will remain as a stand-alone once the mall is torn down this month to make way for a revamp of the site.
