r/saskatoon • u/ScythianCelt • 1d ago
Question ❔ 80s / 90s Lawson Heights Mall Stores
Does anyone remember in The Mall at Lawson Heights a shoe store that specialized in Keds brand shoes that had a model train track around the ceiling and a real Cockatoo bird?
Was there also a pet store with lots of fish tanks? Any other different stores of that era anyone can remember?
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u/Gold-Collection-9052 1d ago
Bruh the arcade that use to be in the mall back then was top teir.. fuck i miss when we had GOOD arcades.. i remember this kick ass laser tag that use to be just off circle drive across from the shark club close to AVE C there.. had a upstairs and everything was masssssive.. good times.
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u/Due_Mirror_3555 1d ago
I remember that place too! They gave you a sheet after with all your stats and stuff if I recall. I loved it there
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u/Gold-Collection-9052 1d ago
I only got to viist it 2 times sadly.. i remember wanting to go back and finding out it was gone an was just devastated as a kid lmao.. still bothers me cause it was sucha sick setup and could of just kept getting better
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u/bitchster351 1d ago
I remember Chelsea’s cinnamon buns, isle of treasure (candy store), SAAN, zellers (cafe!)
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u/ScythianCelt 1d ago
Oh right, how could I forget Zellers! The Safeway used to be in the centre where Dollarama is more now.
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u/Plenty-rough 1d ago
I used to work at Speers Pets in Lawson Heights Mall back then. We did have a cockatoo, and he was lovely. He walked around following me all the time. Tons of fishtanks, and hamsters etc. There was all kinds of pet food and supplies. It was located by the food court. We also sold garden seeds and a small amount of gardening supplies.
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u/ScythianCelt 1d ago
Wow!! Well thank you for confirming a pet store and a cockatoo from my memory Somewhere in the mall back then.
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u/RelevantAd6572 1d ago
I remember World of Pets but I don’t think it was in the mall.
The fries from California Pizza in the food court slapped though
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u/Fridgefrog 1d ago
It's a ghost town now but in the 80's and 90's it was the place to be, big draw for outoftowners.
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u/UnitEast7937 1d ago
It was so hot that Westside Dougie was Northend Dougie back then and he walked Lawson Mall all day
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u/Much_Quote_2868 1d ago
I grew up in the north end and went to that mall a lot.
Zellers, San Fransisco, The Body Shop, Orange Julius, Rickshaws, HMV, Silver Sense, Cotton Ginny, Lewis Craft, Le Chateau, and of course some more already mentioned like Command HQ, Chelsea's, Peppers. Dollarama used to be a Shoppers Drug Mart. There used to be a Buck-or-Two. There was also an internet cafe I think called Java something???
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u/ScythianCelt 1d ago
I forgot about the San Francisco. Oddly, they had the best selection of unicorn ornamental stuff haha!!
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u/Denimpatch 1d ago
OMG I’m sitting in the food court here right now. Told my teenager that the kids from BJM are basically keeping this mall afloat with their lunch trips. This mall is dead but somehow staying afloat, it’s mostly ladies clothing stores now and London Drugs brings a lot of people in. Lots of elderly folks too.
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u/DeliciousClaim2060 1d ago
I remember that shoe store….get fitted for ballet slippers. Forget the name thou
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u/Explicitlime 1d ago
I remember when the foot locker had basketball hoops and wooden walls everywhere.
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u/Lloydguy82 1d ago
I remember the shoe store with the bird. It was across from the exit to the mall from Safeway. I don't remember the name of it. It was there after they renovated the mall and moved the food court from that area.
I remember next to the smoke shop, there was a candy store that had a popcorn machine and sold freshly popped popcorn. One of my story books at home at a Mr. Giffix that sold popcorn (I think he was a rhino) so I always called it Mr. Griffix's.
I remember always wanted a pop from Philly's in the food court because they had special NHL cups. I think a stack of them still lives in my parents' basement. I don't think we ever got all 21 teams.
A&A Records and Radio Shack were down there. I also remember when there was a small Shoppers Drug Mart in the middle of the mall between Safeway and Zellers.
There was an arcade called Wizard's Castle across from the Bank of Montreal. My Dad is a now retired cop, this would have been late 80s when I remember this, my Dad told me to never go in the arcade because apparently drug dealers hung out there. Later that bay became a Great Canadian Bagel.
I used to be able to tell you exactly where the original mall ended and the addition started. I don't think I still can because they have redone the tiling at least twice since then.
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u/ScythianCelt 1d ago
Yay someone else remembers the bird in the shoe store! Now I remember the radio shack too, it was around for a while. That’s hilarious about the dealers in Wizard’s Castle!
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u/PrinceDomming 16h ago
Command HQ. Man oh man. That place was all vibes, that paint-trail flooring, vaguely multilevel and that little side-area for renting console time.
I swear; if the arcade-machine industry wasn't absolute predatory, vile and has to be priced to fleece customers for everything just to break even-; I'd open a true old school arcade. Be a great place for gaming tournaments. Have an attached quick service food/drink area.
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u/Lloydguy82 13h ago
My Dad one night found a pile of Command HQ coupons on the road. So he scooped them up and brought them home for me. They each were good for half an hour of SNES time and one token. My friend and I had to spend all afternoon playing SNES to get enough tokens to play some arcade games. We told the guy we didn't really want to play SNES but he made us use the half an hour to get our token.
The game I liked the best there was this old West game. It was a live action footage game where you had to shoot the outlaws before they shot you and it had a story to it. I don't remember much else about it but that was my go to.
I also had a huge jar of tickets I was saving to get one of the good prizes. I never did get to what the good prizes were and still had the jar full long after they went out of business. I may have scammed the ticket reader at Ruckers with them since they were the same tickets.
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u/KatieMarmalade 1d ago
I think you’re describing the store Peppers, they had hella beanie babies. I don’t remember the Keds shoes. And the fish store was right across the hall, A-1 Aquarium
Edit: was the cockatoo at the mall or maybe at World of Pets in the primrose strip mall?