Upper Canada Mall is celebrating 50 years this year as Newmarket, Ontario’s community hub.
And it continues to evolve to meet the growing needs of a burgeoning region.
“The region has expanded dramatically in the past 50 years and Upper Canada Mall has been keeping pace with this growth with a 100,000-square-foot expansion in 2008 and a 40,000-square-foot expansion in 2018 when we welcomed Market & co. We can’t wait to see where the next 50 years take us as we continue to bring the brands people love closer to home,” said Ryan Da Silva, Upper Canada Mall’s Director and General Manager.
“Upper Canada Mall has definitely been the heart of the community. There’s been a lot of growth within the York region and it continues to be one of the fastest growing regions. So the mall has adapted and evolved over the many years to meet customer needs and desires. We brought in a number of new retailers.
“As things change, as tenants come and go, we continue to evolve and bring in new retail brands that definitely help boost the mall’s traffic. Where a lot of malls are finding they may be down in traffic and sales, we’re actually up. We’re up three per cent in our customer traffic and our sales trends are aligned with that as well (compared to last year) . . . We’re back to pre-pandemic traffic and sales.”
Upper Canada is the premiere shopping destination in Newmarket, Ontario located just 30 minutes north of Toronto. On May 1, it celebrated 50 years. Co-owned by Oxford Properties Group and CPP Investment Board (CPPIB) and managed by Oxford Properties Group, Upper Canada is an award-winning shopping centre featuring more than 200 stores in one million square feet of retail space, including Zara, lululemon, Apple, Aritzia, Sephora, MAC Cosmetics, Michael Kors and Market & Co. – a 40,000-square-foot market concept with fresh, local and convenient food and dining offerings.
This year’s new openings have included:
- Windsor (one of five opened in Canada)
- Guess
- Sukoshi Mart
- Ever New
- H&M expansion
- Lovisa
- The Sweet Oven (buttertarts, Market & Co.)
Opening later this year inside Market & Co:
Da Silva said the mall does have plans to build residential on the property in the future.
“Being at the corner of Yonge and Highway 9, Yonge and Davis, it’s an ideal location in the heart of Newmarket. Transit is flowing up north on Yonge Street. So there’s new transit that’s currently under construction and will allow people to flow quickly and easily. So that’s where we are looking at aligning with the growth of Newmarket. Our northeast corner would probably be the first phase of future development but we’re probably five years plus in terms of all that,” explained Da Silva.
“We don’t have any definite plans in the works. We continue to work with the city on master planning but no shovels in the ground planned as of yet. We’re still a few years away.”
As part of its 50th anniversary and philosophy of giving back to the community, earlier this year Upper Canada Mall donated $50,000 to the Southlake Foundation. Since opening in 1974, Upper Canada Mall has prioritized a commitment to the community having long supported Southlake Regional Health Centre and other partners such as Easter Seals, the York Region chapter of Girls Inc., York Pride, Ontario SPCA and Humane Society.
“We’ve been very fortunate at Southlake to be supported by long-standing organizations, like Upper Canada Mall, who have shared in our vision of access to leading edge care, close to home for our community,” said Jennifer Klotz-Ritter, President and CEO of Southlake Foundation. “We’re honoured to receive this generous and thoughtful gift from Upper Canada Mall in celebration of their 50th Anniversary. Upper Canada Mall has been a long-time partner of the hospital, and we’re so grateful for their continued support.”
Established in 1960, Oxford and its portfolio companies manage approximately C$82 billion of assets across four continents on behalf of their investment partners. Oxford’s owned portfolio encompasses office, logistics, retail, multifamily residential, life sciences, hotels and credit in global gateway cities and high-growth hubs. Oxford is owned by OMERS, the Canadian defined benefit pension plan for Ontario’s municipal employees.
