Heritage Mall (Edmonton, AB)

Heritage Mall was a regional-enclosed shopping mall in Edmonton, AB. The mall lasted for two decades as a popular shopping centre which served many Edmontonians. However, after the mall lost all of its anchors in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Heritage Mall was forced to close in January 2001. 
== History ==
In the 1970s, Edmonton was a booming city with lots of new residents and suburban development. In the south area of the city, there was a large piece of farmland which slated for development. It was decided that a new suburban neighbourhood would be built in the area along with an enclosed mall to serve the new residents. In August of 1981, the Heritage Mall opened to the public. The mall was modelled after the Coquitlam Centre in the neighbouring province of British Columbia. The mall featured two levels of shopping space, and had over 100 different shops and services. The main concourse had high ceilings with many water spectacular fountains and skylights. In the courts of the Heritage Mall, there were 30 foot (9 metres) tall palm trees which were imported from the American state of Florida. Heritage Malls original anchors were: Sears, Eaton's, Woolco, and Safeway. All of which, except for Safeway, were two stories tall.
In 1983 and 1985, the West Edmonton Mall went through major expansions, this made the Heritage Mall have more competition, however, the mall remained successful. 
By the 1990s, Doan Developments went bankrupt, because of this, the Heritage Mall was sold to Ivanhoe Cambridge who became the new owners of the mall.
In March of 1994, Woolco was converted to a Walmart Canada location. 
On August 27th, 1998, Walmart, which was one of the most popular tenants at the Heritage Mall permanently closed and moved a few kilometers away. As the mall was unable to fill this large space, the mall began to lose tenants and popularity. Soon after, Safeway also moved away to a standalone location directly across the street from the mall. 
Around this time, Heritage Mall received a renovation which redid the floor tile and mall entrances, and parts of the mall were repainted.
In 1999, Heritage Mall lost a third anchor when Eaton's went bankrupt and closed the majority of their stores. By this point, a lot of tenants were leaving the mall. 
A year later, Sears closed its location and moved to another mall in Edmonton. In the same year, the last restaurants vacated the food court of the mall. 
In January 2001, Ivanhoe Cambridge decided that Heritage Mall no longer needed to operate, and the last 28 tenants were closed by the beginning of the month, resulting in the closure of the mall. 
== After Closure ==
After the Heritage Mall closed, the mall sat abandoned for six years. In 2007, the mall was finally demolished for a new development to be built. In 2008, construction started on a new development which includes multiple apartment towers, offices, a hotel, and an open-air shopping plaza. 
Today, a part of the Heritage Mall parking lot still remains, other then that, the rest of the property was demolished and reutilized. 
File:Heritage-Opening-Day.jpg|The Heritage Mall on opening day
File:HeritageInterior.jpg|The interior of the Heritage Mall, looking towards Sears
File:Heritage Mall abandoned.jpg|The Heritage Mall while it was abandoned in 2004
File:Heritage Mall demolition.jpg|The interior of Heritage Mall during its 2007 demolition
== See Also ==
* West Edmonton Mall - competitor
Category:Shopping Malls
Category:Malls in Alberta
Category:Malls that opened in 1981
Category:Malls that closed in 2001
Category:Abandoned malls
Category:Defunct malls
Category:Malls in Canada
Category:Former Malls
Category:Two-Level Malls
Category:Regional malls
Category:Enclosed Malls
Category:Sears-anchored Malls
Category:Eaton's-anchored Malls
Category:Safeway-anchored Properties
Category:Woolco-anchored Malls
Category:Walmart-anchored Properties
Category:San Francisco Gifts Locations