On Nov. 6 the largest mall in Prince George will turn 40. Pine Centre Mall was actually called "the largest shopping centre in Canada's northland" when it first opened in 1974 anchored by Super-Valu grocery store and Woolco department store, and then it expanded again in 1976 with phase two that brought in Sears.
It all started with a 9:30 a.m. cannon blast that morning. It was such an event that the Delta Inn (now the Coast Inn) had a $20 special on rooms because it was an event drawing from the entire northern region. Many of the details are available in today's special supplement available inside The Citizen.
Of particular note are the businesses that were born that day and still celebrate birthdays alongside the Pine Centre Mall itself. The surviving originals include CIBC, Shopper's Drug Mart, Coles Books, People's Jewellers, Ricki's (it left for awhile and returned), London Optical (due to a merger, it's now called Iris Optical), and Charlie's Girl (then and still a Prince George independent company).
There were 45 merchants at the time. The claim of the day in The Citizen was "if you were to spend only 15 minutes in each of the new and exciting stores at the Pine Centre Mall you would be there more than 10 hours." Today that number is about 100 stores.
The mall manager on Day 1 was John Lemckert. The mall manager on day 14,610 (close approximation) is Sonya Hunt.
"We've had a whole community experience in here, in this world of ours," Hunt said. "We've seen new stores come in, old stores leave, some have come back again, some have downsized, some have grown and renovated. Right now we are seeing a lot of positive energy."
According to Hunt's market research, the public interactions inside the mall are almost 50-50 between men and women, and all age groups are substantially represented in the daily averages.
"If you look at shopping centre statistics, we are definitely not part of the normal breakdowns. We are a true regional community shopping centre. Just sit and watch. There is such a dynamic of mixed walks of life," she said.
"I hear all kinds of stories. 'I met my wife at Pine Centre' or 'I got my first job at Pine Centre.' It's great to hear about these connections people have to this place. A lot of lives have been touched in interesting ways in here over 40 years. People tell me all the time that they feel safe in here, they feel like complimenting us on how clean it is. People consider Pine Centre Mall a pleasant place to go. And so do I - I love Pine Centre, I feel happy inside these walls."
The secret to achieving another 40 years is to work as a team by building relationships between all the stakeholders in the mall, said Hunt, from the stores, the mall staff, mall management, the public and the service providers and safety personnel, etc.
"Inside here, everyone plays an important role," she said. "We are all in this together. No role is more important than the others. If any one of those roles isn't firing on all cylinders the whole mall operation starts to sputter. We are firing on all cylinders right now. We have a really good team - I mean really good. I pick up garbage if I see it, and so does the security staff. That effort to help each other is critical to feeling respected and valued and appreciated, so I'm happy to do it and I'm impressed to see others doing it too. That's what builds a sense of family in a big group like this."
