County Fair Mall (New Minas)

County Fair Mall is an enclosed shopping centre which serves the Annapolis Valley region of Nova Scotia, Canada. The mall is currently anchored by Sobeys and Value Village. Former anchors include Zellers, Sears, and SaveEasy. 
==History==
County Fair Mall had an opening date of 1974.https://www.countyfair.ca/leasing Its anchors were Zellers, Dominion, and Sears. At the time of this mall opening, there was already another mall in New Minas called Country Gardens Mall (Also known as Gardens Mall or Towers Mall.) which had opened in 1970.https://x.com/HalifaxReTales/status/1220432374460289024 The two malls co-existed for many years.
In 1985, Dominion closed its store. Since there already was an IGA in New Minas, this location wasn't replaced with IGA. Soon after, a grocery store called Best for Less moved in. 
In the 1990s, Best for Less closed and was replaced with SaveEasy Wearhouse Foods. In the late 1990s, SaveEasy closed and was replaced by Sobeys, which is the current grocery store in County Fair Mall. 
In the 1990s, the mall underwent a renovation, the mall entrances which previously had green facades were replaced with pink and turquoise facades. Inside, the mall tile was redone, and a new logo was introduced, which is similar to the current County Fair Mall logo. 
Around the same time, the Zellers was remodeled. The inside was redone with the current store design used at the time, the brown facade above the entrance was extended and repainted red and white. 
By the turn of the century, County Gardens Mall permanently closed, it was demolished to build a Walmart Canada. This meant there was no longer any competition in New Minas, although there was and still is other malls in the Annapolis Valley. At this time, a Canadian Tire was built in the parking lot of the mall which still remains open today. 
Throughout the next few years, County Fair Mall remained a successful mall with many national retailers and costumers visiting the mall, the newly built Walmart down the road didn't do too much to the malls sales at the time. 
In 2008, a power centre started construction next to the mall, over the next few years, Lawtons Drugs, Reitman's, Wicker Emporium, and Payless Shoe Source moved from the mall to the power centre, along with this, several other major retailers such as Future Shop, Winners, and The Home Depot opened at the power centre, drawing attention away from the mall. At this time, County Fair Mall was still doing fine as it still had all of its anchors, albeit a bit less foot traffic and stores then before. 
In the early 2010s, a Great Canadian Dollar Store moved into the former Lawtons Drugs.
In March 2013, Zellers closed its store at County Fair Mall,https://www.bluepageswiki.org/wiki/Zellers_178 leaving the main anchor store empty at the mall, Target Canada had decided to not open any stores in the Annapolis Valley, including this mall. The other Zellers in the Valley at Greenwood Mall was turned into a Walmart location, but the County Fair Mall location remains vacant even today, except for a part that was turned into Value Village. The Zellers wing of the mall became completely dead, most stores in that wing ether closed or moved. 
Soon after Zellers closed, the mall's exterior was repainted a more modern beige and blue theme. 
In 2016, Sears closed its location at County Fair Mall, leaving yet another anchor vacant. Stores like EB Games, Bentley, GNC, Maritime Travel, and Ardene all closed their stores in the mall. This is around the time that County Fair Mall became a dead mall. Over the next few years, even more stores closed, the only somewhat busy part of the mall left was near the Sobeys where there's an NSLC, and a few other businesses. These days, most stores are gone, and the mall looks old and dark. If Sobeys leaves the mall (Which it probably won't) then the mall might completely close down. For now, the mall will probably stay open, as it still has a few stores and a Taekwondo place. The future of County Fair Mall is uncertain. 
==See Also==
*/Gallery
*/Stores
*Sobeys - A current anchor
*Value Village - A current anchor
*Sears - A former anchor
*Zellers - A former anchor
*Country Gardens Mall - former competitor
*Greenwood Mall - current competitor
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjbnS9VSiLs - A promotional Christmas album from the mall in 2001
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdvgdS-hyhI - A video of the Sears closing at the mall
Category:Canada
Category:North America
Category:Shopping Centers
Category:Shopping Malls
Category:Malls in Nova Scotia
Category:Dead Malls
Category:Sears-anchored Malls
Category:Zellers-anchored Malls
Category:Sobeys-anchored Malls
Category:Canadian Tire Locations
Category:Dominion-anchored Malls
Category:Crombie REIT-owned Malls