Midtown (mall) facts for kids
Midtown main entrance showing the tower
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| Coordinates | 52°07′39″N 106°40′03″W / 52.127500°N 106.667500°W |
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| Address | 201 1st Avenue South Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7K 1J9 |
| Opening date | 1968 (Simpson-Sears only); July 30, 1970 (full mall); renovated 1990, 2004, 2019 |
| Management | Terry Napper |
| No. of stores and services | 154 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 1 |
| Total retail floor area | 616,282 sq ft (57,254.5 m2) / 96,883 sq ft (9,000.7 m2) retail |
| No. of floors | 2 (mall) 11 (tower) |
| Parking | 1,000 surface north, south and Sears lot and 800 underground |
Midtown (once called Midtown Plaza) is a large shopping mall in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. It's located right in the heart of the city's downtown area. The main big store there is Hudson's Bay. The mall has 154 stores in total.
Midtown was built on the land where Saskatoon's main train station used to be. This was part of a big plan in the 1960s to make the city center better. Other new buildings from this time include the Senator Sid Buckwold Bridge and TCU Place, which is a place for arts and conventions.
Contents
A Look at Midtown's History
Midtown officially opened its doors on July 30, 1970. It started with 51 stores and services. It also had a large underground parking garage for cars.
Early Stores and Changes
One of the first big stores, Simpsons-Sears, opened in 1968, even before the rest of the mall. This store later closed in January 2018. Another major store was Eatons, but that chain closed down in the late 1990s. After Eatons left, The Bay (now called Hudson's Bay) moved into the mall.
When the mall first opened, it had a walkway that connected directly to the nearby auditorium. This made it easy for people to go between the two buildings.
Growing Bigger: Adding a Second Floor
Midtown mall was originally only one floor tall. But by 1990, a second floor was added! This big change cost $24 million. The outside of the mall was also updated to look like the old train station from the 1900s.
Soon after this update, Saskatoon's first Toys "R" Us store opened. It's a separate building on the mall's south parking lot, but it's still considered part of the Midtown shopping area.
New Stores Join the Mall
In the spring of 2015, two popular stores, Bath and Body Works and Victoria's Secret, opened their doors at Midtown. Later, in December 2020, Saskatoon's first H&M store also opened in the mall.
Midtown Tower
The Midtown complex also includes an office building called Midtown Tower. It used to be known as CN Towers. For many years in the 1970s, this 12-story building was the tallest office building in Saskatoon. It stands about 57 meters (187 feet) high. From the 1970s to the early 2000s, the fifth floor of the tower was home to the local CBC Television studios.
The Gordie Howe Statue
From 1993 to 2005, the mall had a statue of famous hockey player Gordie Howe. It was displayed at a corner near the mall. In 2005, the statue was moved to the SaskTel Centre, which is a larger arena in Saskatoon.
Future Plans for Midtown
After the Sears store closed, the mall started to change that space. They are creating a new area with a new food court, which opened in July 2019. In November 2018, it was announced that the old food court area would become a new MEC store. This would be the first MEC location in Saskatchewan. It was planned to open in 2020, but it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other reasons.
