It was 1979 when shopping changed on the west side of Portage with the opening of the Portage la Prairie Mall. The switch to metric in the country was on and gas was selling at the new station on the mall lot for 23.1 cents per liter. Big Macs also became available to people in Portage when McDonald's opened their first franchise beside the mall in October of that year. What had been an empty field was becoming what we see on the west side of the city today.
A couple of weeks ago, the few remaining mall merchants were informed the facility as we know it would be closing at the end of 2024 and last week it was made official with an official press release. People's first reaction was wondering what would happen to the merchants in the mall that still operate. While those places are currently looking at different options, one that will not be moving is Rona. That piece of the mall is considered a stand-alone location and will continue to operate as usual. Tim Horton's, which rents their piece of land from the malls owners will also continue with no interruptions. In facts plans are in place for a new restaurant to build on the east side of the parking lot in 2025 where the gas station used to be.
For now, there is no word on what will happen to the mall after it closes, and the facility does remain for sale.
The announcement of the closure resulted in a flood of memories for residents that remembered the "good old days" of the mall when a whole host of stores were sandwiched between anchor tenants like Safeway and Woolco.
Lynne Jonasson was the mall manager from 1998-2013 and remembers her time fondly.
"It was a great time for me and there are so many memories. Of course, it was all about the shopping but so many memories from lineups for pictures with Santa to all the Christmas trees and decorations, the fashion shows and the promotions. We outfitted an entire kitchen with the fridge and stove, cupboards and more. It was all set up and as we drew a prize, every month we added another appliance to that kitchen. At the end of the day, a name was drawn, and somebody won all those appliances. That was a big promotion and was very successful."
Jonasson says it wasn't uncommon for people to spend hours at the mall and for people to gather at the restaurants to get together.
"It was a real meeting place. That's one thing that I drew strength on. The fact that all those people were out there and enjoying themselves. It was absolutely a place where people came and got together whether to shop or eat at the food court."
Brandy Smith was the manager of Suzy Shier for many years and was a part of the team on opening day. Smith also has fond memories of the mall.
"As a young kid, my parents took me there either every Friday night or Saturday, and there was lots of shopping done in the mall as well as meeting your neighbors, friends and family. Opening day of Suzy Shier in the 90's was huge because not only were we opening, but Warehouse One was opening at the same time, so I think it was pretty rare to have two clothing stores open in our city at the same time. It was very exciting and the staff and merchants were like family."
Local musician Charlie Brennan has been a fixture on the music scene for decades, so it was only natural that he was involved with the music stores in the mall.
"I spent quite a few years with Top Forty and when they shut down and we're bought out, it became A.V.E. entertainment. The mall was such a great place in its heyday, it was a great spot to get all your shopping done under one roof, and also to, socialize with people. I just loved being in the music business out there. Music was consumed in a different way and we had a great selection of different genres of music. Lots of people would come and browse for a long time and there was always excitement when a big artist released something knew."
Speaking of big artists, one of Brennan's favourite memories of the store was when he "thought" he might meet a big name.
"One day I was working away and I got a call from Smitty's Lounge at the other end. They said there was a guy there from the band Chicago and everybody was buying them drinks and food. I was a huge Chicago fan so I told them to send him down. This fella came over and said I'm Lee Loughnane from Chicago. I thought he doesn't look like anybody from the band to me so I asked a question to maybe trip him up a little bit. When I asked the original drummer's name pretending I had forgotten he didn't know it, so I found out he was a fraud right there."
For Mayor Sharilyn Knox, she remembers shopping at the mall with her family as a kid and she even worked at the mall in her younger years. The mayor has high hopes for the future of the lot.
"We absolutely want to see it remain vibrant. It's actually written in our strategic direction to help move that along. We know that our economic development team is always working with things like this and we're hopeful that we can move that along. It's big for the businesses that are in there, but I wouldn't say it was a huge surprise to many of them because I think there's been lots of talk over time. We have the Portage economic response team that looks at situations like this and they will be reaching out and working with businesses that want help to look for transition at this time."
The 45-year-old mall the way we know it is slated to close at the end of December. Check out a gallery of photos below this 1995 mall directory showing how many stores there used to be.
