Not to be confused with Halifax Shopping Centre
Dartmouth Shopping Centre is a shopping plaza just outside of Downtown Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. It was demolished in September and October 2024 for redevelopment. Its current anchors are No Frills, Shoppers Drug Mart, and Dollarama, which weren't demolished.
History[]
In April 1955, the MacDonald Bridge opened to traffic, before the bridge, Dartmouth was much smaller, and didn't have any shopping centres. Only a year after the bridge opened, Dartmouth Shopping Centre opened right next to the bridge entrance. It was the first shopping centre in Dartmouth, and the second shopping centre in Halifax Metro, only predated to Bayers Road Centre.
Its original anchors were Zellers and Dominion. There were two parking lots, the main one, and a back one. Zellers had two different entrances, a front one, and one for the back parking lot which had a stairwell going down to the salesfloor. In the main parking lot, an Esso was built, at the edge of the property, there was a large neon sign for Esso. Other tenants included Royal Bank, Handy Andy, and others.
In the 1960s, Dartmouth Shopping Centre continued to operate without much change. In the early 1970s, Dartmouth Shopping Centre was fully enclosed. This was one of the first enclosed malls in Dartmouth. But there was an issue, since malls like Mic Mac Mall and Penhorn Mall already had all of the national tenants, most national retailers didn't want to open a store in Dartmouth Shopping Centre, because of this, the mall didn't have much appeal to shoppers.
In 1985, Dominion was converted to IGA along with most other stores in Nova Scotia.
In the early 1990s, Dartmouth Shopping Centre had its interior section demolished, it was returned back into a shopping plaza. However, a part of the mall near IGA was kept intact, It featured a restaurant, a mattress store and an ATM.
In 1999, both anchors closed at Dartmouth Shopping Centre. IGA was turned into SaveEasy following Loblaws buying out the Nova Scotian IGA locations, and the Zellers was split between Dollarama and Shoppers Drug Mart. The stairwell that went to the upper parking lot was walled off, and continues to remain abandoned, and the upper parking lot was turned into a McDonald's.
In 2010, SaveEasy at the mall was converted to No Frills.
In 2018, the interior part of Dartmouth Shopping Centre was closed. Soon after, the mall entrances were blocked off.
In 2022, a proposal was made to demolish everything except the anchors and put towers that might be as high as 40 stories. 2 years later, stores started to close at Dartmouth Shopping Centre in preparation for the development. The last stores closed in July 2024, and the mall was soon fenced off.
In September of 2024, demolition started on the Dartmouth Shopping Centre. By the end of October 2024, demolition was finished. This excludes Shoppers Drug Mart, Dollarama, and No Frills which continue to operate.
Gallery[]
