Westgate Shopping Centre (Ottawa)


Westgate Shopping Centre is a small scale shopping centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located southwest of downtown, bordering Carling Avenue, Merivale Road, and Highway 417, owned by RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust.
The mall opened May 12, 1955, and is considered Ottawa's first shopping centre. The anchor of the mall was Freiman's department store, owned by Lawrence Freiman who already had a department store on Rideau Street. In advertising for its grand opening, Westgate boasted that it had parking for over 1200 cars, weather-protected shopping and music for its customers.
At its opening some of the stores that were in the mall were Freimans, Steinberg's, Tip Top Tailors, a movie theater, Reitmans, Kiddytown and a branch of Royal Bank of Canada. The Royal Bank is the last original tenant.
A proposed reconstruction plans to have the mall demolished and replaced in phases with high-rise commercial and residential buildings. The first phase began in November 2019 with the demolition of Monkey Joe's Restaurant on the south-east corner of the property.

Transit services

Westgate Shopping Centre is served by the following routes: 55, 80, 81, 85.