History
Place Versailles began in 1963 with Steinberg, Miracle Mart and some 30 small stores. The mall was originally known as Place Métropolitaine in its first months but was renamed Place Versailles by 1964. Place Versailles was the first indoor shopping mall in Montreal (as opposed to a strip mall). Today, the original section of Place Versailles roughly corresponds to the corridor extending from Zellers to Maxi.
Place Versailles went through several expansions throughout its history. Just in the 1960s decade, the mall has expanded twice. By the end of the 1960s, Place Versailles had a Pascal hardware store. In 1973, the Hudson's Bay Company opened a la Baie department store which was the first la Baie store on the island of Montreal that hadn't previously been a Morgan's store.
From 1973 to 1986, Place Versailles was anchored by la Baie, Miracle Mart, Steinberg and Pascal. In 1986, Miracle Mart was rebranded under the M brand name. In the late 1980s, Place Versailles expanded again and a new section was built with two floors, instead of one floor as in the rest of the mall. This new section eventually included a new Famous Players cinemas.
On May 16, 1991, the Pascal hardware chain went bankrupt and Rona - Le Quincailler, a SAQ store, and Fabricville took its place not long after. Other small tenants also took the former space of Pascal. In 1992, Steinberg was converted to Maxi and the M store closed down two months later; Zellers shortly replaced the M store.
From 1992 to 2003, it was anchored by la Baie, Zellers, Maxi, Rona- Le Quincailler and Famous Players movie theater.
Decrease in sales, coupled with the presence of a larger store in nearby Galeries d'Anjou, resulted in the Hudson's Bay Company closing its la Baie store at Place Versailles in 2003. La Baie's space has since been dismantled by Winners/Homesense, Globo, Style Exchange, Safari, Sports Experts, Dollarama, McDonald's, and Librairie Raffin.
Rona closed in 2005 and Bureau en Gros took its space a year later.
Famous Players closed in 2006 and was replaced in 2010 to La Cage aux Sports.
Zellers closed its doors in 2012.
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