Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith P.
Yes, Scotia Square Cinema was accessed from Duke St and was across from the entry to Woolco. Technically it was in the Upper Mall although the size of those two places tended to move them away from the other stores on the upper level.
The cinema was of modern design and to my mind a bit plain, although pleasant enough. I remember when I first visited it in 1969 or 1970 that it was the first movie theater I had been in around here that did not have the old mohair or velour upholstered seats - theirs were a textured vinyl or nylon material. It was quite large, and it had a very gradual slope to the floor compared to most other movie theaters here. I think it closed in the late '80s or early '90s. The last movie I saw there was Good Morning Vietnam.
There was indeed a Sobeys when SS first opened , in the Lower Mall, roughly where the food court is now. My memory was that it did not last long, although there may have been a transitional arrangement from a full supermarket to a smaller "Express" type of outlet before it went away completely.
|
Yeah, it's interesting that as maligned as Scotia Square is, it actually once contained a lot of the services right in the middle of the downtown that a lot of people are wanting today, as if it's some kind of new "urban format" philosophy.
The "old timers" could probably say this better than me, but at that time the downtown as a shopping destination was still very vibrant. However, I suspect that Scotia Square drew enough customers away from the older mom and pop shops (and larger ones, like Zellers - in the The Discovery Centre building for you young folk) to cause a lot of them to close down, which led to the area becoming a little more desolate and run-down during the eighties and nineties.
As for movie theatres, remember there also were a couple on Barrington and Gottingen in addition, so one did not have to go very far to see a movie in the downtown (this is in the early days of cable TV, and before the time of VCRs, DVD players, or "streaming movies"....