Princes Mall (formerly Waverley Market and later Waverley Shopping Centre) is a shopping centre in Edinburgh, Scotland.
It is located at the east end of Princes Street in the City Centre, next to Edinburgh Waverley railway station. Once home to independent retailers, it now houses mainly high street chain stores, as well as a large food court.
Designed in the early 1980s, it was built with its roof at the street level of Princes Street, with a landscaped plaza at that level, in order to preserve the view from Princes Street across to Edinburgh Castle and the Old Town. It opened as Waverley Market in November 1984, the name referencing the food market that once occupied the site. An official opening by Queen Elizabeth II took place on 25 July 1985.
In the centre's early years the atria were adorned by luxuriant planting and water features, with shoppers descending on escalators from Princes Street through a canopy of trees to the underground plaza.
Major refurbishment in the early 1990s coincided with a change of name to Waverley Shopping Centre. A prominent and popular aspect of the mall introduced at this time was the large water feature which dominated the main atrium and incorporated the 11ft high Herons Dream sculpture. This was removed during refurbishment in the early 2000s when the centre adopted its current name.
The mall suffered a decline in popularity in the early 2000s with 12 of the retail units empty at one stage. Major new lettings to fashion retailers CULT and AB10 may indicate the reversal of this decline helped by the improvements carried out by Network Rail to the Waverley Steps access to Waverley Station by the installation of new stairs and escalators, with a glazed roof, and lifts.
Edinburgh's main tourist information centre is located within the same development. It is accessed through a separate entrance on top of the mall.
Famous quotes containing the words princes, mall, shopping and/or centre:
“Athletes are American princes and the locker room is their castle. Some of them behave in princely fashion, become legitimate heroes to us all. And some are jerks.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“A father ... knows exactly what those boys at the mall have in their depraved little minds because he once owned such a depraved little mind himself. In fact, if he thinks enough about the plans that he used to have for young girls, the father not only will support his wife in keeping their daughter home but he might even run over to the mall and have a few of those boys arrested.”
—Bill Cosby (20th century)
“If Los Angeles has been called “the capital of crackpots” and “the metropolis of isms,” the native Angeleno can not fairly attribute all of the city’s idiosyncrasies to the newcomer—at least not so long as he consults the crystal ball for guidance in his business dealings and his wife goes shopping downtown in beach pajamas.”
—For the State of California, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“The great God absolute! The centre and circumference of all democracy! His omnipresence, our divine equality!”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)