Preston Crossing is a big box shopping area (or " power centre") in

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as ...

, Canada. It is located at Preston Avenue North and

Circle Drive Circle Drive is a major road constructed as a ring road in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Its route constitutes both part of the Yellowhead Highway and Highway 11, signed as both along the entire length. It was first conceived in 1913 by the ...

History

Preston Crossing's development coincided with the construction of an overpass over

linking Attridge Drive to a realigned Preston Avenue North. of land, owned by the

University of Saskatchewan A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...

, was marked for commercial development. The university paid for the initial water, sewer and roadway construction; in exchange, it leases the land to retail tenants and the revenue goes into its Land Endowment Fund. Preston Avenue bisects the property and is its major access road; a secondary access utilizing the original north/south Preston roadway alignment, allows access from eastbound Circle Drive.

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

-based Rencor Developments formed a joint venture called Preston Crossing Properties Inc. with two Saskatchewan companies, Harvard Developments and TGS Properties. It completed all development, leasing and financing for the project; the architecture mirrored the gothic elements of the University campus buildings. In the fall of 2005, Harvard gained sole acquisition of the shopping center. Construction began in the spring of 2002 and the first stores opened in the fall of the same year Future Shop (now Best Buy) relocated from it original Circle Centre Mall Across The Street From The Centre Mall where Jysk stands today, in 2003

Canadian Tire Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited is a Canadian retail company which operates in the automotive, hardware, sports, leisure and housewares sectors. Its Canadian operations include: Canadian Tire (including Canadian Tire Petroleum gas stations a ...

Relocated from its Centre Mall Location which had been there since its 1986 relocation from its original

Market Mall CF Market Mall is one of the largest malls (by area) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada (900,490 square feet/83,658.3 m²). It is located in Varsity, a suburban neighbourhood in the city's northwest quadrant on Shaganappi Trail. The mall is jointly ow ...

location, it was announced back in 2004 that a new state of the art Wal*Mart would open on the north west corner of the mall replacing its Centre Mall location construction started in late August 2004 and completed in January 2005 the store opened and the one in Centre Mall closed after 10 and a half years. Development has continued in phases, although full build-out has not yet been reached. As of 2010, three building phases have been completed; a fourth phase was announced in June 2010. The shopping area had already lost one of its originating tenants, with the

Shoppers Drug Mart Shoppers Drug Mart Inc. (named Pharmaprix in Quebec) is a Canadian retail pharmacy chain based in Toronto, Ontario. It has more than 1,300 stores in nine provinces and two territories. The company was founded by pharmacist Murray Koffler in 1 ...

location going out of business in 2012, after 10 years of operation. By 2013, a booming economy and low retail vacancy rate prompted plans for Preston Crossing to expand further. The property developer asked for restrictions on the size and types of businesses to be lifted. The restrictions had been implemented over unrealized concerns that the big box complex would take business away from other commercial districts like 8th Street, Broadway Avenue and

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ...

. In 2014, a deal was signed to build the fifth and final phase of Preston Crossing, utilizing the last of the available land. The new buildings were completed by the spring of 2017.

Stores

Six stores are considered as anchors: *

Sobeys Sobeys Inc. is the second largest supermarket chain in Canada, with over 1,500 stores operating across Canada under a variety of banners. Headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, it operates stores in all ten provinces and accumulated sales of ...

(formerly Garden Market IGA) * Rona *

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

* Cabela's *

Mark's Mark's (known as L'Équipeur in Quebec) is a Canadian clothing and footwear retailer specializing in casual and industrial wear. Beginning in 1977 as Mark's Work Wearhouse in Calgary, Alberta, it evolved from an industrial accessories dealer ...

(formerly

)

References

External links

*
Preston Crossing - Rencor Developments
{{Shopping malls in Saskatoon Buildings and structures in Saskatoon Shopping malls in Saskatchewan Shopping malls established in 2002