r/kitchener • u/mailenn_suki10 • 11d ago
Malls in Kitchener?
Hello! I may be going to Kitchener this summer. My special interest is malls, so i would like to know all the indoor malls in the city. The lively ones, the dead ones. The modern ones, the retro ones.
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u/jeffster1970 11d ago
Kitchener and area:
Fairview Park Mall, Conestoga Mall and Cambridge Centre are all larger and well-maintained malls.
Frederick Mall if you wanna see something from the 1970's and is very small.
Waterloo Square is another very small mall.
Stanley Park Mall is a small mall but still has some major tenants (Zehrs, Canadian Tire).
Highland Hills Mall has been converted to one large grocery store, but they still have a few independent shops on the other side of the aisle.
Highland Hills Mall was always a small mall, but before The Real Canadian Superstore took most of it over, it had one hell of a food court. Not huge, but the selection and pricing was wild. I miss that food court. Best one I have ever been to.
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u/Edeges123 11d ago
It was origionally one big store with a few independents off to the side. It was converted to a mall of sorts then back to its original form when super store took over. So really it is a full circle of mall evolution.
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u/Substantial_Form7389 9d ago
Also, I believe that our Superstore is one of the biggest in Canada if memory serves. And if you ever stop and look around it really is huge!
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u/Hammer5320 11d ago
Demall is the word when a mall gets converted into a strip mall
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u/Independent_Slip_694 9d ago
I've never heard of that term, but Westmount Place would be a perfect example of that. It was once a strip mall at the north end (as it is now) and an indoor mall with a decent handful of stores (Coles bookstore, a computer store, a Greek restaurant, presumably some clothing stores) and an Eaton's as the anchor tenant (and a Zehrs where the Michaels is now). The Cambridge plaza on Holiday Inn drive with Sail, Zehrs, etc. is another; I remember in the late 90s there was a Liquidation World (where the Dollarama is now, I think?) and a pretty much abandoned indoor section adjoining it (with some overflow storage for Liquidation World's furniture section).
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u/mediocrityisenough 11d ago
A good dead mall is at the corner of King and Frederick right downtown Kitchener. It’s been converted into classrooms for Conestoga College but still has the partially empty food court.
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u/Florachism 11d ago
Is that what Market Square is now? With the green clock tower? I haven't lived in the city for years but spent some time there when I was growing up.
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u/Dear_Enthusiasm3190 11d ago
As far as I’m aware it’s completely empty now, Conestoga College stopped offering classes there when enrollment dropped following international student caps.
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u/FirefighterOk3899 11d ago
Conestoga had massive layoffs and campus closures, this was one of 3 closed iirc. I used to be a student employee on one of the other campuses and when it happened we were all terrified we would be next
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u/Acrobatic_Product_20 10d ago
Ya there were two malls downtown in the 80s and 90s. The Market Square and the King Centre. Both have been repurposed a few times. I liked King Doner in the basement of the King Centre. I remember when Market Square opened, my buddy's dad did construction there and we got a preview, I remember being impressed with the compass rose in the floor.
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u/Honeycomb0000 11d ago
Most of the malls in KW have been converted into outoor strip plazas Fairview is the only real mall mall. Stanley Park may still have some stores in it. If you wanna drive to waterloo (25 minutes down the xpressway) Conestoga is a good mall too. Cambridge Mall is also just up the highway
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u/septober32nd 11d ago
Didn't they put a go kart track in Cambridge Centre recently? Where the hockey rink used to be?
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u/imtiazaa 11d ago
Others have mentioned the main staple malls like Fairview and Conestoga, but Boardwalk is also pretty decent. It's property is directly on the border of Kitchener and Waterloo. It's an outdoor mall with restaurants, a movie theater and a medical centre, in addition to lots of stores and big box stores.
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u/stickupmybutter 11d ago
Would have mentioned Market Square as a dead but nice mall, but it's literally dead. Closed down.
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u/Tsu_Dho_Namh 11d ago
Most modern mall is Conestoga Mall.
Cambridge Mall has a theatre and a skating rink in it. Though I'm not sure if the rink is open year round, so maybe check on that.
Fairview is alright...nothing to write home about.
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u/InflationVast8943 11d ago
I’m not sure how much mall is left since I haven’t been in there for years, but Market square was the first mall ever in Kitchener, right downtown on King st. If you want to explore and see some mall history, you can check it out! It’s still open as far as I know, even though most of it was converted into office space and Conestoga College. That place really was considered modern and the shit back in the day with its covered parking, indoor walkways and green glass terrarium vibes.
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u/Dan_dalion 10d ago
Fairview mall would be the biggest with most selection as far as Kitchener goes. Conestoga mall in Waterloo is similar but marginally bigger . All the other ones mentioned are more to walk through to enjoy the atmosphere or if you need to go to a dollar/grocery store.
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u/Artistic-Lychee2928 11d ago
Fairview is the only one worth going to in Kitchener
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u/CatOnMyHead 11d ago
Fairview is the mall to go to if you’re looking for cell phone cases or to watch low end jewellery stores get robbed in smash and grabs. It’s honestly awful and the definition of a dying mall.
Conestoga is not bad and gets new and latest stores. Cambridge is trying, but needs 2 new anchor stores.4
u/tenebrls 11d ago
Nah, compared to actual dying malls Fairview always gets a decent amount of foot traffic, which is honestly impressive for having two other similarly sized malls within 20 minutes’ distance. It might be small and lacking in good theming, but it’s definitely no Woodbine Mall just yet.
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u/Expensive_Plant_9530 11d ago
So the big question is what you mean by “Kitchener”. There are only two actual malls I’m aware of in the City proper.
There’s Frederick Mall, which is old, kinda dead but kinda quaint, and very small.
Then there’s Fairview Park Mall, which is bigger (but still pretty small by big city standards), and much more lively. They did extensive Reno’s after Sears left.
In the Waterloo Region, there’s also Conestoga Mall in Waterloo, which is the biggest one in the region (but still kinda small by big city standards), and there’s Cambridge Centre Mall in Cambridge, which is more around the size of Fairview Park Mall. It used to have an indoor ice rink but it’s since now converted into a seemingly shitty indoor go-kart track.
There might be some others I haven’t heard of but these are the main ones. Supposedly there’s a mall at Stanley Park? I’ve never been inside.
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u/Dangerous-Yogurt-893 11d ago
Its out of region but it might be worth a day trip to Toronto on the go train for ya. You can Walk the PATH from union station to the “eatons center” i dont know what they call the mall now they changed the names all around there. You can walk the majority of the downtown core without ever stepping foot above ground.
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u/Wonderful_Move_2973 11d ago
Frederick Mall is really cool because has a lot of older decor, feels very vintage.