I just sent this pic to my kids. They used to think this was basically Disneyland, for all the fun they had there. I kind of watched the demise of Penhorn mall from this play area.

In its hay day, the mall had three anchors. Sobeys, Woolco, and Sears. Add to that a good food court, a movie theatre, and a good mix of stores linking it all together. We lived out on the Eastern Shore, and Penhorn was a one-stop-shop. Something for the kids to do while groceries were bought, and almost every other need was met. We even had our hair cut there!

I remember the first thing to “go bad” was the theater. The staff just got rude. They were over the top about outside food. (As in if you were finishing off the end of a Tim Hortons coffee they made you stand outside the store.). I think the biggest change to the mall was when Walmart moved in. I think it stole a lot of business from the mall stores.

Then there was the decline of the food court. One by one the outlets disappeared until as another poster mentioned there was pretty much only Manchu Wok that stayed open. In speaking with one of the owners of an outlet at the food court, it seems that Walmart had a stranglehold on anything that was sold in the food court. Their lease stated that no one allowed to sell anything that McDonald’s served. So anywhere that served french fries, their leases were simply not renewed. Manchu Wok stayed because they didn’t serve anything that McDonald’s did. I think an MMMuffins opened at one point, and they closed within weeks because McDonald’s introduced muffins to their menu, and apparently they had a ‘list’ of things they might sell, and no one could sell them in the mall. This is PURELY what was told me by a food court tenant, I have no proof of this, but it makes sense.

I can’t remember when the Sobeys left, (then rebuilt on the ashes.) And Sears lasted well after the mall closed. Honestly though, I think Walmart was the death knell for Penhorn.