Penhorn Mall

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Penhorn Mall was an enclosed shopping mall located in Dartmouth, NS, Canada. It was the second most popular mall in Dartmouth until its closure in 2010. At its peak, It had three anchors: Woolco (Later Walmart), Sobeys, and Sears. There was also a Famous Players (Later Empire Theatres) cinema in the mall.

History[]

Penhorn Mall opened on April 3rd, 1974 with Woolco and Sobeys Food Village (this was the first Food Village location) as its original anchors, there was also a 3-screen Famous Players theatre. Originally, the mall ended at the theatre.

The Pop Shoppe also had a standalone location in the parking lot by Sobeys.

In 1979, Sobeys added electronic cash registers and food scanners to their Penhorn Mall location. This was the first Sobeys store to use this technology.

In 1982, a major expansion commenced at Penhorn Mall. The hallway was extended to form a U shape and Sears was added as a new anchor. Famous Players was expanded from 3 to 5 screens. A seven stall food court was also added.

In 1989, the mall underwent a renovation, the floor was redone with new tile, and the 7 stall food court was adorned with neon lights on the ceiling. The mall entrances were also redone. Mark's moved from Mic Mac Mall into Penhorn Mall. During this time, The Pop Shoppe closed and Moore's moved into the space.

In March 1994, the Woolco at Penhorn Mall was converted to Walmart.

At its peak, the food court had Manchu Wok, A&W Restaurants, Orange Julius, Chicago Fries, and Chicos Pizza. By 2007, Manchu Wok was the last remaining food stall in the food court, which closed in 2008. A Pretzel Maker was located outside of the food court and was across from the theatre. A Tim Hortons was located near the Woolco / Walmart

In the parking lot, there is a Halifax Transit Bus terminal called Penhorn Terminal. It still remains in use today. The current routes that serve Penhorn Terminal are: 161, 165, 168A/B, 58/158, 63 and 5.

Some other stores that were in the mall include: Mark's, Home Hardware, Dollarama, A Buck or Two, Bentley, Radio Shack / The Source, BiWay, Eclipse, and Cole's.

In June 2004, the 5-screen Famous Players was sold to Empire Theatres.

Penhorn Mall directory — Directory of Penhorn Mall from 2003

In the 2000s, the mall began to decline. This is because people started shopping at the much larger 3 story Mic Mac Mall which was just down the highway from Penhorn Mall, Mic Mac Mall had stores such as Eaton's, Zellers, and Hudson's Bay. For many years, Mic Mac Mall overshadowed Penhorn Mall, but the mall still remained successful as a local community mall, as Penhorn Mall hosted things such as a Sunday flea market to try and attract more customers.

On January 18th, 2007, the Walmart at Penhorn Mall permanently closed and moved about 3.5 kms away to the Dartmouth Crossing power centre. Penhorn Mall was unable to fill this space, so many tenants ended up closing their stores in mall because they couldn't get the business they used to.

The opening of Dartmouth Crossing had a major effect on the mall, the standalone Moore's closed and moved to the power centre, and foot traffic decreased in the mall since customers of Penhorn Mall started shopping at Dartmouth Crossing instead.

On May 17, 2007, Empire Theatres permanently closed their location at Penhorn Mall, the theatre sat vacant until the malls closure.

Penhron mall demo — Aerial shot of Walmart demolition, 2008.

In 2008, The vacant Walmart space was demolished to make way for a new standalone Sobeys store. This new store made the old store close and sit vacant. Since the Sobeys - Walmart corridor was now fully vacant with no stores left, they closed off the corridor, leaving the Food Court - Sears corridor as the only open part of the mall. But as the food court was now empty and all the tenants surrounding it closed. In 2009, they closed off the food court, meaning the only part of the mall left was the Sears court, and when the last store, Charm Diamond Centres closed in 2010, they officially closed the mall, and started demolishing everything but the Sears later that year, and into 2011.

Present and Future[]

Penhorn Plaza, near where Walmart was.

After the Mall was demolished, they used part of the former mall space to make Penhorn Plaza, which was a small plaza with stores like Mark's and Little Caesars. A Sobeys Fast Fuel gas bar and Starbucks were also constructed in the parking lot. On September 21, 2017, the now standalone Sears closed. The next year, it was turned into Sobeys offices and various other stores.

In 2022, construction started on the rest of the site for Opal Ridge, a housing development that includes various condos and townhouses. It will be complete by 2026.

Gallery[]

Photos[]

Videos[]

Penhorn Mall's Slow Decay

Sears Canada Closing- Penhorn Mall

Stores[]

Main article: Penhorn Mall/Stores

Penhorn Mall

Contents

History[]

Present and Future[]

Gallery[]

Photos[]

Videos[]

Stores[]

See also[]