Lawrence Plaza

The Lawrence Plaza is a open-air shopping centre in the North York neighbourhood of Toronto. Its current anchors include Metro, The Shoe Company, Winners, among many other smaller tenants. 
== History ==
Before the construction of the Lawrence Plaza and surrounding areas, there was a cow pasture and farm land. In the early 1950s, the area began to be redeveloped into a new neighbourhood. With the development came the Lawrence Plaza. 
The Lawrence Plaza had an opening date of Oct. 29th, 1953 as one of the first suburban shopping centres in Canada. Its original anchors were Morgan's department store, F.W. Woolworth, Zellers, and Loblaws. The plaza included around 40 other smaller retailers and restaurants. The shopping centre became very popular over the next few decades as the primary shopping destination in the neighbourhood.
In 1972, the Hudson's Bay Company phased out Morgan's in favor of Hudson's Bay. Resulting in most locations, including the Lawrence Plaza location, to be turned into a Hudson's Bay location.
In 1978 or 1979 Loblaws was converted to No Frills, this was closed in the late 1980s. The space was later divided into Shoppers Drug Mart and The Shoe Company.
In 1989, the Lawrence Allen Centre opened for business down the road from the Lawrence Plaza. The opening of this mall resulted in some tenants such as Zellers to move to the much larger mall. 
By the early 1990s, Hudson's Bay closed. The space was split between Dominion and Winners. In 2008, Dominion was converted to Metro as part of the discontinuation of the chain. 
Today, the Lawrence Plaza is still a very popular shopping plaza with a large variety of stores and other tenants. 
== See also ==
* Lawrence Allen Centre
* Yorkdale Shopping Centre
* Metro
* Winners 
* Zellers
Category:Shopping Centers in Canada
Category:Shopping Malls
Category:Shopping Centers
Category:Plazas in Canada
Category:Plazas
Category:Malls in Ontario
Category:Former Zellers-anchored Malls
Category:Former Loblaws-anchored Malls
Category:Former Dominion locations
Category:Winners-anchored Malls
Category:Metro Locations
Category:The Shoe Company-anchored properties
Category:North America
Category:Malls that opened in 1953
Category:RioCan REIT-owned properties