Eaton Centre - Ontario Downtown Renewal Programme (ODRP)

Ontario Downtown Renewal Programme (ODRP)

Commencing in the early 1970s, Ontario's provincial government poured millions of dollars over the course of a decade into the ODRP program in order to revitalize the downtown retail areas of smaller communities throughout the Province. Typically, this involved the construction of new downtown malls to compete with growing suburban shopping opportunities.

However, there was no business case or market analysis to justify the construction of these downtown malls. Typically, this involved the construction of new downtown malls to compete with growing suburban shopping opportunities. Many residents noted that the enclosed facilities represented the antithesis to the one unique aspect of downtown shopping: street-related stores.

Nonetheless, in a highly criticized business decision, Eaton's became a partner in the program, and its stores served as the anchor tenant in many of these malls. As stated in The Globe and Mail newspaper, "The history of retailing is filled with tales of merchants who were brilliantly prescient in their location choices, and others who totally misread their markets and fell flat. In the 1970s, the T. Eaton Co. became a textbook example of the latter when it built huge department stores in the increasingly empty downtowns of small Canadian cities; far from reviving the cores, the stores failed as consumers kept taking their business to suburban malls."

None of these malls ever enjoyed the success of some of the Eaton Centres in larger cities, and their failure contributed to the demise of the entire Eaton's chain.

• Hamilton Eaton Centre, Hamilton: Unlike most communities subjected to ODRP projects, Eaton's had been present in Hamilton's downtown for many decades. Despite Eaton's years of business in downtown Hamilton, this mall was never successful. Now renamed "Hamilton City Centre", the majority of the mall houses the temporary city hall.
• Guelph Eaton Centre, Guelph: With the departure of Eaton's, this mall was redeveloped as the Guelph Centre. The site of the Eaton's store now houses the Sleeman Centre, which is a large ice rink. The rest of the mall was converted to a galleria style pedestrian street called 'Old Quebec Street', with offices above the shops.
• Eaton Market Square, Brantford: Eventually renamed simply "Market Square", much of this mall has been converted to non-retail uses.
• Peterborough Square, Peterborough: The former Eaton's store now contains movie theatres.
• Sarnia Eaton Centre, Sarnia: This mall opened in 1982 but suffered from stiff competition from the existing suburban Lambton Mall. Eaton's departed in 1997, 5 years short of its intended 20 year lease, followed by the closing of the A&P supermarket in 2000. Renamed the Bayside Mall after the departure of Eaton's, much of this mall has been converted to office space.
• Kitchener Market Square, Kitchener: The former Eaton's store (moved in 1977 from former location at 276 King Street West - now Eaton's Lofts) and later Sears store has since been converted to offices, as has much of the remainder of the mall.