LES RIVIÈRES, WITH YOU FOR 50 YEARS

On October 12, 1971, his birthday, Mayor Gilles Beaudoin took part in the pre-opening of the Les Rivières shopping center. The next day, a considerable crowd will storm, “in an enthusiastic and cheerful manner” what Le Nouvelliste calls “the largest shopping mall in the region.”

In office for less than a year, the mayor of Trois-Rivières is a man of the city center. His roots are there, his allies are there, and the revitalization of the city center remains one of his main objectives. However, we must face the facts: here, as everywhere, urban development is moving to the outskirts, in search of space and roads. In Trois-Rivières, this shift initially took place towards the west, along Boulevard Royal. But from the 1960s, with the annexation of the parish of Saint-Michel des Forges, there was hope that urban development would shift towards the northwest, along Boulevard des Forges, which would slow down the shift towards the suburbs.

Even before the shopping center opened, the city planners were hard at work. To the east of Boulevard des Forges, the brand new municipal housing office was busy relocating the residents of the Notre-Dame de la Paix neighborhood. To the west, along the axis of Boulevard Rigaud, new streets had been opened and dozens of houses had sprung up. Thirty years later, in 2001, the merger of the cities of Trois-Rivières and Trois-Rivières Ouest would make it possible to extend Boulevard Rigaud westward to give citizens new access to the Les Rivières Center.

From the moment it was built, Les Rivières Shopping Center has been under the protection of two retail giants, one at each end of the mall. To the north, the Simpsons-Sears department store with its warehouse on the distant Boulevard Parent. To the south, the components of the Steinberg empire, namely the food supermarket and the Miracle Mart store, in addition to the Pik-Nik fast food outlets.

Including these two giants, the shopping center is home to 52 shops and 730 employees, following an investment of 8 million dollars. There are two cinemas that will keep blockbuster fans happy for thirteen years.

In 1982, the country was in the midst of a recession and the economic climate was gloomy everywhere, but not at the Les Rivières shopping center. Expansion took place with the opening of the “north mall”, a 12 million investment: the Sears store became the central part of a complex that now has 105 stores and services.

Of note is the arrival of the retailer Zellers, which is leaving the city center, as well as the opening of “L’Entr’amis”, which will be “the” trendy bar for a few years, frequented by a certain economic and media elite.

The 2000s were also a time when the big-box store gave way to a new generation of shops and services. Goodbye Miracle Mart, Zellers and Sears… Hello H&M, Linen Chest, Imaginaire, Urban Planet, Hart, Archambault, Shaker restaurant… At the same time, the parking lot has been brought to life by the IGA market, which has been there since 1996, and a branch of the Société des alcools du Québec.

To the delight of the children, a Santa Claus village was built every winter and an Easter farm was set up every spring! Registration for municipal leisure activities has already begun. The Home Show was held and the regional Municipality Week was celebrated.

The media were well aware of all this activity and were always looking to get involved, with lots of publicity and live reports. The Les Rivière Center had its in-house announcer and its loyal event organizers, such as Antoinette Piquette, the grande dame of fashion, Jim Girard, the father of boxing in the Mauricie region, and Isaac Chevarie, the community police officer, who was also a judge on “Caution-Prison”.