Hillside Shopping Centre, also referred to as Hillside Mall, is a commercial shopping mall in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

, Canada. It was built in 1962 and has recently completed a major renovation. The centre is home to 100+ shops and services including a spacious food court with 14 vendors. Stores include

Marshalls Marshalls is an American chain of off-price department stores owned by TJX Companies. Marshalls has over 1,000 American stores, including larger stores named Marshalls Mega Store, covering 42 states and Puerto Rico, and 61 stores in Canada. M ...

Sport Chek Sport Chek is the largest Canadian retailer of sporting clothing and sports equipment, with 191 stores throughout Canada as of 2020. It is the only national big box sporting goods retailer in Canada, although it is absent in the Northwest Terri ...

/ Atmosphere, Bolen Books,

Thrifty Foods Thrifty Foods (often shortened to Thrifty's) is a chain of supermarkets located in British Columbia, Canada. Background Thrifty Foods was founded by Alex Campbell and Ernie Skinner in 1977 when the first store was opened in Victoria's Fairfie ...

, and

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 ...

, with one vacant anchor last occupied by

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

, which became a

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 ...

on June 16, 2022.

Location and Neighbourhood

Hillside Centre is located in the northeast corner of the Oaklands neighbourhood of the City of Victoria on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The shopping mall is bordered by major traffic routes including Shelbourne Street (on the east) and Hillside Avenue (on the south). Hillside Centre is located less than one kilometre west of the Lansdowne campus of

Camosun College Camosun College is a public college located in Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The college has two campuses, Lansdowne and Interurban, with a total enrollment of around 14,000 students (including Professional Studies and Industry Training) ...

and is about 3 kilometres south-west of the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary insti ...

campus. The mall has parking space for over 1,000 vehicles, and the

Victoria Regional Transit System Victoria Regional Transit System provides public transportation in the Greater Victoria region of British Columbia, Canada. Its operations are governed by the Victoria Regional Transit Commission in association with BC Transit. There were more ...

has several bus lines connecting the mall to Downtown, Esquimalt, Oak Bay, and Saanich.

History

In the 19th century, the area that would later become Hillside Centre was rustic forest through which flowed Bowker Creek. Swedish immigrants Andrew and Palla Ohlson came to British Columbia in 1875 when the surrounding area began to be used as rural farmland. The Ohlsons established Oaklands Nurseries on the site soon after they arrived. Even after the death of the Ohlsons in the 1930s, the nurseries, including several large greenhouses, remained in operation until the 1950s. The land was later approved for retail space, and, in 1962, Hillside Mall hosted its official opening with more than 30,000 people in attendance. The mall reportedly cost 10 million CAD to construct. The mall has undergone numerous changes over the decades. In 1985, an enclosed, farm-style market was added that included food vendors and glass patio seating. This replaced a Safeway grocery store that had been in that location since the 1960s. Renovations in 1996 converted the market into the current space for Bolen Books, and a new, more traditional, food court was added Hillside Centre underwent another round of renovations beginning in 2011 which would involve the construction of two-storey structures to accommodate the addition of US-based retailers such as

. These renovations also involved improving the landscaping of the mall's exterior areas by increasing the number of trees and other vegetation in previously paved areas of the parking lot.

Tenants

Hillside Centre has been home to various anchor stores over the decades.

, a long-time anchor, closed its doors on January 9, 2018, for the last time. The space is now occupied by a Walmart, which opened on June 16, 2022. Other anchor stores include Canadian pharmacy chain

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 ...

, Marshalls, SportChek / Atmosphere, Thrifty Foods,

Dollarama Dollarama is a Canadian dollar store retail chain headquartered in Montreal. Since 2009 it is Canada's largest retailer of items for five dollars or less. Dollarama has over 1400 stores and has a presence in every province of Canada; Ontario has ...

and Bolen Books.

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...

had a store at the mall before they closed in 2015 and the lease has now been acquired by

. Canadian Tire opened its second-largest store in November 2016 at the Hillside Centre. Other businesses located at Hillside Centre include numerous clothing and shoe stores, a BC Liquor Store, banks, and dental/medical offices.Hillside Centre website: http://hillsidecentre.com/shopping/store-directory

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://hillsidecentre.com/ Buildings and structures in Victoria, British Columbia Shopping malls in British Columbia Tourist attractions in Victoria, British Columbia Shopping malls established in 1962 1962 establishments in British Columbia