Coquitlam Centre is 45 years old this month.
And it’s celebrating with a special contest.
Until Aug. 15, the regional shopping mall is inviting people to share their favourite memory of the centre or post it to its Instagram or Facebook pages.
The winner of a $250 shopping spree will be chosen in a random draw on Aug. 16.
Developer Ira Young first presented his proposal to build a mall to a special meeting of Coquitlam council on April 12, 1976. He said it would be a “catalyst” for the future development of the city’s town centre.
Just over a year later, ground was broken to begin construction of the $50-million project that would comprise 130 retail stores plus anchor tenants like Eatons, Woodwards and The Bay.
When the mall opened in Aug. 14, 1979, its expansive 4,200-stall parking lot was still mostly surrounded by bush, a trailer park and just a few houses.
Still, the Columbian reported the following day, the parking lot quickly filled to overflowing and traffic “backed up in all directions since 10 a.m.”
The two-storey structure featured more than 1,000 tropical plants like weeping fig and cocoa palms on the inside, 20 works of sculpture by local artists and 10-foot wide stained glass panels that ran the length of the mall’s roof.
In 1980, the mall received a merit award from the International Council of Shopping Centres and two years later it was awarded the Governor General’s Award for Architecture.
In 2001, Coquitlam Centre underwent a massive expansion to over 914,000 sq. ft.
Over the years it’s been featured in films like Juno and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and the mall has hosted famous visitors like Olympians Nadia Comenici and Mark Tewksbury, fashion designer Bob Mackie and hockey player Phil Esposito.
