[lrt's friend]

I agree. The opening of the Rideau Centre was the death knell of Sparks Street shopping. Many stores moved from Sparks to the Rideau Centre. For example, the long-standing Birks store. W.H. Smith Books also moved to the Rideau Centre. They greatly reduced their store on Sparks and eventually closed it. Eatons also had an impact on Sparks although a few blocks away. Eatons had been at Bank and Laurier.

The other major killer was the Hudson Bay mergers. They had bought out Montreal's Morgan's and Toronto's Simpson's, both of which had stores on Sparks. The merger brought the closure of both stores. Of course, Simpson's had been previously local retailer Murphy-Gamble's.