Midtown Plaza (Saskatoon)

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Facts and statistics
Midtown Plaza
Midtown Plaza Main Entrance showing CN tower

Location	201 1st Avenue South - Central Business District, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Opening date	1968 renovated 1990
Owner	Oxford Properties
No. of stores and services	132
No. of anchor tenants	2
Total retail floor area	616,282 square feet (57,254.5 m²) / 96,883 square feet (8,996.1 m²) retail
Parking	1,000 surface North, south and sears lot and 796 underground
No. of floors	2
Website	http://www.midtownplaza.ca/ -

Midtown Plaza is a shopping mall in downtown Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, that is owned by the Oxford Properties Group. [1] The two main anchors are Sears Canada and The Bay and the shopping centre has a total store count of approximately 130 stores. The mall was built on the former site of the city's main railway station as part of a major inner city redevelopment project in the 1960s that also saw construction of a freeway, the Senator Sid Buckwold Bridge, and a major arts/convention complex (once called the Centennial Auditorium, but now called TCU Place). Midtown Plaza opened in 1969 as a single-level mall with approximately 60 stores, and in the 1980s underwent a major expansion that added a second floor as well as a main floor food court, roughly doubling its tenants.

The mall officially opened on July 30, 1970. Initially, the mall's anchor tenants were the department stores Sears Canada (then known as Simpson-Sears) and Eaton's. A Dominion grocery store and a branch of the Famous Players movie theatre chain were added to the mall in its early years. In the mid-1980s, Dominion closed its Saskatchewan locations and the space was used as special events show room for a time (best known for hosting extravagant Christmas season displays) before being renovated into a food court in the late 1980s; the redevelopment of this part of the mall sparked the full-scale renovation that resulted in the addition of a second floor in the early 1990s, as well as an alteration of the building's facade into a design based upon the lines of the original rail station.

The Eaton's store closed after that chain's collapse in the late 1990s and a few years later was replaced by The Bay, which vacated its five-storey location on 2nd Avenue North in favor of moving into the mall. The movie theatre closed in the late 1990s as well, but as of 2007 a permanent replacement tenant has not been announced.

Also part of the Midtown Plaza complex is CN Towers - renamed in 2006 "The Tower at Midtown", an office block that was for most of the 1970s the tallest building in Saskatoon. Besides professional offices, from the 1970s to the early 2000s it also housed the broadcast facilities for the city's Canadian Broadcasting Corporation affiliate, CBKST. On August 16, 1976, a one-ton piece of concrete fell off the side of the CN Towers, crashing into the mall below; the mall and the office block were subsequently closed for several days while engineers assessed the building's integrity.^[1]

The mall is serviced by the province's largest underground parking garage and two above-ground parking lots to the north and south of the mall.

In the early 1980s a small boutique-style shopping centre called Midtown Village opened adjacent to the west side of the mall on Idylwyld Drive. In 1989 it was purchased by Midtown Plaza but remained mostly vacant before being leased by Saskatchewan Property Management Corporation Community Services. It was demolished in 2007. Another addition to the complex was the construction of a Toys "R" Us store in the late 1990s. This store is not physically connected to the mall, being built on a section of the plaza's south parking lot and separated from the mall by 20th Street, but is still considered part of Midtown Plaza.

In 2007 the food court was renovated and expanded to include the old Cinema space.

List of Stores and Services as of March 2008: Food Services • A & W • Arby's Restaurant • Booster Juice • Edo Japan • Grandma Lee's Bakery Café • Kernels • Laura Secord • Manchu Wok • MMMarvellous MMMuffins • Mrs. Vanelli's • New York Fries • OPA! Souvlaki • Orange Julius • Starbucks • Subway • Taco Time • Tomas The Cook • The Berry Barn • Timothy's World Coffee

Women’s Clothing • Addition - Elle • Bryan's Fashions • Costa Blanca • Cleo • Fairweather • Garage Clothing Company • J. Michaels • La Senza • La Senza Express • La Vie en Rose • Northern Reflections • Motherhood Maternity • Mariposa • Reitman's • Ricki's • Sirens • Smart Set • Suzy Shier • Tabi International

Men’s Clothing • Randy River • Tuxedo Town • Tip Top Tailors

Men’s and Women’s Clothing • American Eagle Outfitters • Below the Belt • Bluenotes • Bootlegger • Boutique of Leathers • Danier Leather • Jock Sportswear • Jersey City Canada • F2 Fashions • Le Chateau • The Gap • Swimwear etc. • Mexx • Roots • Sonar • Urban Behavior • West 49 • LOL T-Shirts • Stitches

Health and Beauty • Shoppers Drug Mart • Sangsters Health Centres • Lush • The Body Shop • Angles Salon Spa • Hair Affair & Chatters • Midtown Stylists • Dr. Strelioff - Optometrist • General Nutrition Centre • Pearle Vision • First Lady Products • Fruits and Passion

Shoes, Bags, and Accessories • Aldo • Bentley • Buckle It Up! • CAPZ • Eddie Bauer • Claire's Accessories • Culture Craze • Ardene • Naturalizer • Footlocker • Feet First • Payless Shoe Source • Spareparts • Spring • Sterling Shoes • Xcetera • True Vision Sunwear • Unic • Sunglass Hut International

Telecommunication Services • Airsource • Elite Mobility (Fido) • Jump.ca • Shaw Cable Systems G. P. • Telus Mobility

Electronics, Music, Movies, and Games • CD Plus • EB Games • HMV • The Sony Store • The Source by Circuit City

Jewellers • Peoples Jewellers • South China Jewelry • Ben Moss Jewellers • Charm Diamond Centre

Children’s Clothing • Gap Kids • Mexx Kids • Please Mum • The Children's Place • Triple Flip • La Senza Girl

Greeting Cards and Books • Carlton Cards • Coles • Gateway Newstand • Hallmark Cards and Gifts • Marlin Travel • Metalsmiths Master Architects of Jewelry

Department Stores • The Bay • Sears

Banks • Scotiabank

Sports Equipment • SportChek

Toys • Toys R Us • Build-A-Bear Workshop

Misc. • A Buck or Two • Apple Art Works • Quarks • Quilts Etc. • Stokes • Stitch It • Sears Keys & Engraved Gifts • Things Engraved