Promenades Saint-Bruno

History

A Steinberg's supermarket was there between 1978 and 1992, around 50,000 sqft. Steinberg's, through Ivanhoe, had owned 25% of the mall and also operated a Miracle Mart store side by side to the supermarket. The latter was renamed to M in August 1986. Both businesses closed in 1992. It was announced that Zellers would open by November 1993 in the space formerly used by Steinberg's and the M store. Zellers left the mall in 2012 and retailer Target occupied its space from 2013 to 2015. After five years of unoccupancy, the former Target location got transformed into a 130,000 sqft public market named "CF Marché des Promenades" consisting of 40 tenants including a grocery store of 35,000 sqft.

Hudson's Bay Company closed its Simpsons location at Promenades St-Bruno in early 1989. The existing The Bay store relocated in Simpsons' vacant space on June 22, 1989. The Bay's original location stayed empty for over a year. A new mall wing was then created with 57 shops which opened during the spring of 1991 anchored by a Sears store that inaugurated on April 3. This increased the size of the mall to nearly 200,000 sqft.

Sears closed on January 14, 2018. The space that Sears occupied was dismantled to welcome a relocating Sports Experts, Winners and Imaginaire. On May 1, 2019, Sports Experts/Atmosphere left its previous location above Simons to relocate on the second floor of the former Sears store. Winners opened on September 10, 2019, in the first floor of Sears. Imaginaire, a retail chain from Quebec City, opened its first Greater Montreal location during the fall of 2019, using 15,000 sqft of the former Sears.

During the 1990s, big box stores arrived around the mall, which continued well into the 2000s. While some of these stores (e.g., Best Buy, Old Navy) are tenants of Promenades St-Bruno, the majority of them have no relation with it.

Simons picked the first floor of former Eaton's in 2001. Sport Experts/Atmosphere and five boutiques took over the second floor of Eaton's. Simons doubled its size in 2021 by expanding on the second floor formerly occupied by Sports Experts. Despite Simons having only one floor during its first 20 years at Promenades Saint-Bruno, the exterior of the location has always been two-story high since the store's inception because it was originally designed with the idea that it could potentially expand.

An anchor of Promenades St-Bruno dating from its debut in 1978, Hudson's Bay closed in 2025.

The original major tenants were Eaton's (130,000 sq ft), Simpsons (135,000 sq ft), The Bay (125,000 sq ft), Miracle Mart, (130,000 sq ft) and Steinberg's (50,000 sq ft). Les Promenades St-Bruno was the first shopping centre in Canada to house at the same time the three upscale department stores: Simpsons, The Bay and Eaton's. At 900,000 sqft upon inauguration, it was the second largest mall among all of Cadillac Fairview's properties across the country in 1978, surpassed at the time only by fellow Quebec shopping centre Galeries d'Anjou. Concomitantly, Les Promenades Saint-Bruno was the second largest mall among all shopping centres in the Montreal area after Galeries d'Anjou. In Quebec as a whole, Promenades St-Bruno was the third largest shopping mall behind Place Laurier and Galeries d'Anjou in terms of rentable space, and its number of stores was higher than Anjou's. Promenades Saint-Bruno was originally the joint property at 51% of Cadillac Fairview, 24.5% of Ivanhoe Corporation and 24.5% of Eaton's. The mall was developed by Cadillac Fairview at $45 million and opened on August 23, 1978, with 170 stores. Its history dates back to 1968 when Steinberg's Ivanhoe Corporation purchased the 200 acres site at the corner of Autoroute 30 and Route 116 in St-Bruno. Eaton's became co-owner in the early 1970s and Fairview Corporation (a predecessor of Cadillac Fairview) followed suit in 1973. In October 2025, Primaris acquired Promenades St-Bruno from Cadillac Fairview for $565 million.

A deadly mid-air collision occurred above the Promenades St-Bruno on March 17, 2017, with the wreckage of one of the planes landing on the roof of the mall and the other on its parking lot.

Note

References

References

1. (21 August 1986). "Miracle Mart stores get new name, concept". [[Montreal Gazette]].
2. (26 March 1993). "Zellers department store to open". [[Montreal Gazette]].
3. (6 September 2021). "Cadillac Fairview Unveils 130,000 Square Foot CF Marché des Promenades Food Hall Near Montreal [Interviews/Photos]".
4. Fairview, Cadillac. "Cadillac Fairview continues major investment in CF Promenades St-Bruno with unique food and beverage marketplace".
5. (29 January 1989). "End of an era: Simpson closes doors; 84-year-old landmark will open for last sale in March". [[Montreal Gazette]].
6. "HBC Annual Report 1989".
7. (22 June 1989). "The Bay advertising". [[Montreal Gazette]].
8. (27 February 1990). "Les Promenades to expand". [[Montreal Gazette]].
9. (4 April 1991). "Sears opens store in St. Bruno". [[Montreal Gazette]].
10. (12 January 2018). "Final Sears stores close Sunday, marking the end of an era | The Star". The Toronto Star.
11. "Cadillac Fairview continues major investment in CF Promenades St-Bruno with unique food and beverage marketplace".
12. "CF Promenades St-Bruno | Mall Map | CF Malls".
13. (18 September 2001). "A Different Store for the South Shore served by the South Shore". [[Montreal Gazette]].
14. "Archived copy".
15. (19 July 2018). "La Maison Simons to Expand St. Bruno Store".
16. "HBC Annual Report 1978".
17. "As Hudson’s Bay prepares to close most stores, shoppers chase its iconic striped blankets | Montreal Gazette".
18. (29 August 1978). "Cadillac opens major centre". [[The Globe and Mail]].
19. (16 August 1978). "Last of the red-hot shopping malls". [[Montreal Gazette]].
20. (May 20, 1978). "St.Bruno mall opens Aug.23". [[Montreal Star]].
21. (July 12, 1979). "Business slow in St.Bruno". [[Montreal Gazette]].
22. (June 25, 1977). "Eaton firmly committed to Quebec market". [[Montreal Star]].
23. (22 August 1978). "45$ million complex opens Wednesday". [[Montreal Gazette]].
24. (22 August 1978). "Centre is co-owned". [[Montreal Gazette]].
25. Toneguzzi, Mario. (October 6, 2025). "Primaris REIT announces $565 Million acquisition of Promenades St-Bruno shopping centre".
26. "Plane crash in St-Bruno: One person dead, another critically injured {{!".