Westgate Shopping Centre is a small scale shopping centre in West Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

 bordering Carling Avenue

Carling Avenue

Carling Avenue is a major east-west arterial road in the west end of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs from March Road in Kanata to Bronson Avenue in the Glebe...

, Merivale Road

Merivale Road (Ottawa)

Merivale Road is an arterial road in the western part of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It starts at Island Park Drive just north of Highway 417 and continues south until it ends at Prince of Wales Drive in Rideau Glen...

, and Highway 417, owned by RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust.

The mall opened May 12th 1955 and is considered Ottawa's first shopping centre. The anchor of the mall was Freiman's department store

Freimans

A.J. Freiman Limited, or Freimans, was a landmark department store on Rideau Street in Ottawa, Canada, founded in 1918 by Archibald J. Freiman.Archibald Jacob Freiman was born in Lithuania in 1880, and emigrated to Hamilton, Ontario...

, owned by Lawrence Freiman who already had a department store on Rideau Street. In advertising for its grand opening

Grand opening

Grand opening is a term used when a business, public office, or private association wishes to announce the official opening of a new location. This differs from just opening the doors on the first day, in that a grand opening is more of a celebration event, not just the first day having the doors...

 Westgate boasted that it had parking for over 1200 cars, weather-protected shopping and music for its customers.

At its opening some of the stores that were in the mall were Freimans

Freimans

A.J. Freiman Limited, or Freimans, was a landmark department store on Rideau Street in Ottawa, Canada, founded in 1918 by Archibald J. Freiman.Archibald Jacob Freiman was born in Lithuania in 1880, and emigrated to Hamilton, Ontario...

, Steinberg's

Steinberg's

Steinberg's was a Canadian grocery store chain that mainly operated in the province of Quebec. In addition to its flagship supermarket chain, the company operated several subsidiaries across the country...

, Tip Top Tailors

Tip Top Tailors

Tip Top Tailors is a Canadian retail clothing chain, selling primarily menswear: suits, tuxedo rentals, casual wear, sportswear and outerwear; as well, each store has an in-house tailor...

, Reitmans

Reitmans

Reitmans Limited is a Canadian retailing company, specializing in women's apparel, that was founded in 1926 by Herman and Sarah Reitman, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada...

, Kiddytown and a branch of Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada

The Royal Bank of Canada or RBC Financial Group is the largest financial institution in Canada, as measured by deposits, revenues, and market capitalization. The bank serves seventeen million clients and has 80,100 employees worldwide. The company corporate headquarters are located in Toronto,...

. The Royal Bank

Royal Bank

The terms Royal Bank, Banque Royale, Banco Real can connote several different things,* Royal Bank * Royal Bank of Canada** Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, a subsidiary of RBC* Royal Bank of Scotland...

 is the last original tenant, while other stores such as Kiddytown have relocated to other areas.

Current tenants include Dollar Plus

Dollar store

A variety store or price-point retailer is a retail store that sells inexpensive items, often with a single price for all items in the store...

, Blockbuster Video, TD Canada Trust

TD Canada Trust

TD Canada Trust is the personal, small business and commercial banking operation of the Toronto-Dominion Bank in Canada. TD Canada Trust offers a range of financial services and products to more than 10 million Canadian customers through more than 1,100 branches and 2,600 ATM Green Machines...

 and Shoppers Drug Mart

Shoppers Drug Mart

Shoppers Drug Mart Corporation is Canada's largest pharmacy chain with more than 1,241 stores operating under the names Shoppers Drug Mart in nine provinces and two territories and Pharmaprix in Quebec as well as in Hawkesbury, Ontario....

 which is in the location which was once the Steinberg's

Steinberg's

Steinberg's was a Canadian grocery store chain that mainly operated in the province of Quebec. In addition to its flagship supermarket chain, the company operated several subsidiaries across the country...

 / Your Independent Grocer

Your Independent Grocer

Your Independent Grocer is a supermarket chain based in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is a unit of National Grocers, itself a unit of Loblaw Companies Limited, Canada's largest food distributor. Stores are typically operated by a franchise owner. Many of the stores were originally...

.

Former tenants include Biway, Cineplex Odeon

Cineplex Odeon

Cineplex Odeon Corporation was one of North America's largest movie theatre operators, with theatres in its home country of Canada and the United States...

, Consumers Distributing

Consumers Distributing

Consumers Distributing was a catalogue store in Canada and the United States that operated from 1957 to 1996...

, Steinberg's

Steinberg's

Steinberg's was a Canadian grocery store chain that mainly operated in the province of Quebec. In addition to its flagship supermarket chain, the company operated several subsidiaries across the country...

, Home Hardware

Home Hardware

Home Hardware is a privately held Canadian home improvement, construction materials, and furniture retailer. Co-founded in 1964 by Walter Hachborn and headquartered in St...

, Leishman's and Freimans

Freimans

A.J. Freiman Limited, or Freimans, was a landmark department store on Rideau Street in Ottawa, Canada, founded in 1918 by Archibald J. Freiman.Archibald Jacob Freiman was born in Lithuania in 1880, and emigrated to Hamilton, Ontario...

.

External links

• Westgate Shopping Centre