Billings Bridge Shopping Centre

2025-02-10T20:08:31Z

66.207.206.194: Updated management to new company

{{Infobox shopping mall
| name = Billings Bridge Shopping Centre
| image = Billings Bridge 1.jpg
| caption =
| address = {{nowrap|2277 Riverside Drive East}}<br />[[Ottawa]], [[Ontario]]<br />K1H 7X6
| coordinates = {{Coord|45.3856|-75.6775|region:CA-ON|display=inline,title}}
| opening_date = October 1954
| developer =
| owner = Capital City Shopping Centre Ltd.
| manager = Salthill Property Management Inc.
| number_of_stores = 83
| number_of_anchors = 2
| floor_area = {{convert|488000|sqft|m2|abbr=on}}<ref name="property">{{cite web|url=http://www.20vic.com/propertypdfs/0710/billings_bridge.pdf|title=Billings Bridge Plaza Property Description|publisher=20 Vic Retail|accessdate=9 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714174726/http://www.20vic.com/propertypdfs/0710/billings_bridge.pdf|archive-date=14 July 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| floors = 2
| parking = 1341 spaces<ref name="property"/>
| publictransit = {{rint|ottawa|transitway}} [[Billings Bridge Station (OC Transpo)|Billings Bridge]]
| website = {{URL|https://billingsbridge.com/}}
}}

'''Billings Bridge Shopping Centre''' is a shopping mall located in the [[Billings Bridge]] neighbourhood of [[Ottawa]], [[Ontario]], Canada. It is a medium-sized community mall with 83 stores and services.<ref name="property"/> Roughly 7.5 million people visit the mall every year and sales are about $527/sq foot.<ref name="property"/> When built, it was the first [[strip mall]] in Ottawa, although it has since become an enclosed mall. It is located immediately south of the [[Rideau River]] on the corner of [[Bank Street (Ottawa)|Bank Street]] and [[Riverside Drive (Ottawa)|Riverside Drive]]. The mall's [[anchor stores]] are [[Walmart Canada|Walmart]] and [[Your Independent Grocer]].

Billings Bridge Shopping Centre opened in 1954 as "the first one-stop shopping destination to serve all of the City of Ottawa" according to its owners.<ref name="fifty">{{cite news|last=Goff|first=Kristin|newspaper=Ottawa Citizen|date=4 September 2004|title=Billings Bridge turns 50: From 1950s Strip Mall to Landmark}}</ref> At {{convert|65750|sqft|m2|abbr=on}} it was Ottawa's first strip mall.<ref name=retailers>{{cite news|date=6 January 2005|newspaper=Ottawa Business Journal|access-date=9 June 2014|title=Look Back: Retailers cash in on lucrative local market|url=http://www.obj.ca/Other/Archives/2005-01-06/article-2136738/Look-Back%3A-Retailers-cash-in-on-lucrative-local-market/1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714233445/http://www.obj.ca/Other/Archives/2005-01-06/article-2136738/Look-Back%3A-Retailers-cash-in-on-lucrative-local-market/1|archive-date=14 July 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> The mall originally consisted of just six stores, of which only [[Reitmans]] remains to this day.<ref name=fifty/> [[Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce|CIBC]] and Fairweather were also very early tenants which still remain.<ref name=community/>

In the years following the mall's opening, twenty stores in the mall were staying open past 6 pm on weekdays, the required time of closure by [[City of Ottawa]] by-law. As of 1956, the six units that took the municipality to court lost their appeal in court.<ref>{{cite news|title=Appeal Court Decision Enforces Early Closing|work=[[The Globe and Mail]]|date=20 April 1956|page=1}}</ref>

The mall opened an expansion in November 1961, and another in March 1962, the latter bringing it to 33 stores. This made it one of Ottawa's largest shopping centres. The parking lot also expanded from 500 spots to 1400.<ref name="ultimate">{{cite news|last=Walshe|first=Olga B.|title=New stores achieve ultimate in modern design trends|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/42220548/?terms=billings+bridge+shopping+plaza|accessdate=7 March 2018|work=The Ottawa Journal|format=[[Newspapers.com]]|date=19 March 1962}}</ref><ref name="fifty"/> The 1962 addition added an [[Ogilvy's]] department store, the first location in a shopping centre,<ref name="alldepartments">{{cite news|title=Ogilvy's: All departments are represented|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/42220548/?terms=billings+bridge+shopping+plaza|accessdate=7 March 2018|work=The Ottawa Journal|format=[[Newspapers.com]]|date=19 March 1962}}</ref> [[Steinberg's (supermarket)|Steinberg's]],<ref>{{cite news|title=Steinberg's Limited|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/42220552|work=The Ottawa Journal|date=19 March 1962|page=22|format=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> and a [[F. W. Woolworth Company|Woolworth's]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Woolworth's ad|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/42220551|work=The Ottawa Journal|date=19 March 1962|page=21|format=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> A 1961 ''Ottawa Citizen'' article covering a mall expansion claimed "the new centre by its accessibility to through highways, will become not only one of the largest shopping plazas in the district but one of the finest in the country."<ref name="fifty"/> The Ogilvy's store was rebranded as a [[Ogilvy's|Robinson's]] in 1984 after which it was replaced by discount retailer [[Zellers]] in 1996,<ref name="fifty"/> by [[Target Canada|Target]] in 2013 and then by [[Walmart Canada|Walmart]] in 2016.<ref>{{cite news|date=12 July 2012|work=Ottawa Business Journal|access-date=9 June 2014|title=UPDATE: Four Ottawa Targets to open in 2013|url=http://www.obj.ca/Local/Retail/2012-07-12/article-3029752/UPDATE%3A-Four-Ottawa-Targets-to-open-in-2013/1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015093638/http://www.obj.ca/Local/Retail/2012-07-12/article-3029752/UPDATE%3A-Four-Ottawa-Targets-to-open-in-2013/1|archive-date=15 October 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Billings Bridge Shopping Centre was converted into an enclosed mall in 1972. A twelve-storey office tower was also added during an expansion in 1975.<ref name=journal>{{cite news|date=8 September 1999|newspaper=Ottawa Business Journal|access-date=9 June 2014|title=Billings Bridge|url=http://www.obj.ca/Other/Archives/1999-09-08/article-2261925/Billings-Bridge/1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714233121/http://www.obj.ca/Other/Archives/1999-09-08/article-2261925/Billings-Bridge/1|archive-date=14 July 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Billings Bridge Station]] opened on November 2, 1996, providing bus service via the southeast [[Transitway (Ottawa)|Transitway]]. It continues to serve as a major hub for [[OC Transpo]] bus services.

In the late 1990s, a "remerchandizing program" brought in a number of new stores to replace old ones and "provide the proper tenant mix to suit this particular trade area and the shopping centre's customer base."<ref name=journal/> In 1998–99, a {{CAD|7 million|link=yes}} renovation was carried out to add a two-storey glass [[Atrium (architecture)|atrium]] as a main entrance and a new food court on the second floor.<ref name=journal/> In July 2006, another major renovation program was started which expanded the mall by {{convert|25000|sqft|m2|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.20vic.com/propertypdfs/0710/billings_bridge.pdf|title=Archive of Billings Bridge Plaza Property Description|accessdate=9 June 2014|publisher=20Vic Retail|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714174726/http://www.20vic.com/propertypdfs/0710/billings_bridge.pdf|archive-date=14 July 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2004, Brian Card, president of Corporate Research Group said, "Billings Bridge's proximity to public transit, office buildings and growing population centres has helped it to withstand competition from big-box power centres when other shopping centres have been hard-hit." Barry Nabatian, general manager of Market Research Corporation, argued that the [[South Keys Shopping Centre]] had taken the role as 'regional mall' in the south of Ottawa, as it was larger, more popular, and had higher sales/sq foot.<ref name=community>{{cite news|date=6 September 2004|newspaper=Ottawa Business Journal|access-date=9 June 2014|title=Billings Bridge comfortable with community role|url=http://www.obj.ca/Other/Archives/2004-09-06/article-2234308/Billings-Bridge-comfortable-with-community-role/1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714125356/http://www.obj.ca/Other/Archives/2004-09-06/article-2234308/Billings-Bridge-comfortable-with-community-role/1|archive-date=14 July 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="fifty"/> A 2005 article by ''[[Ottawa Business Journal]]'' said that the "lack of a major anchor department store has kept it from becoming a regional centre."<ref name=retailers/> Today the mall is considered a 'community' shopping centre.<ref name=retailers/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*{{Official website}}

{{Ottawa shopping centres}}

[[Category:Shopping malls in Ottawa]]
[[Category:Shopping malls established in 1954]]
[[Category:1954 establishments in Ontario]]

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Billings Bridge Shopping Centre