Mall Profile #5: Capilano, by Justin McElroy

Capilano Mall
Location: North Vancouver City
Opened: 1967
Approximate number of stores: 70
Anchor tenants: Walmart, Fairgrounds Public Racket Club
 
(To listen to our podcast on Capilano, click here)

Of all the midsized and slowly decaying suburban malls in North America, Capilano Mall is definitely one of them.

There’s a long abandoned Sears. A grand atrium centred around a glass elevator that denoted a certain status in the 1980s. A food court anchored by a Dairy Queen and Taco Time. A mix of quirky stores that sell gems or trading cards, endless phone companies, dollar stores and more than a couple shuttered shops. Most of the recent social media chatter has less to do about what’s in the mall, and more on how it could be redeveloped into condos.

It’s not exactly dying, because Walmart is always going to bring in traffic and enough of the outlets have a loyal following, but it’s definitely in purgatory, a liminal space in search of a greater purpose in the 21st century.

The story of North Vancouver’s Capilano Mall is the story of so many malls, but within the generic lie specific stories worth talking about.

Like the pickleball complex! Inside the old Sears lies the region’s largest indoor place to paddle, and while we certainly lament the loss of the bike park that previously occupied the space, it’s still an innovative use of space made for a dead retail empire, and both uses are emblematic of the type of third space community building that malls should be making a better effort cultivating.

Khaghan Persian Restaurant is an institution in the community, Visions Electronics is still going strong, we did very much like Trishna Rock & Gems and Pastime Sports & Games, and the wide walkways and split level design is functional without being showy.

But overall, this mall has the same story as so many: built in 1967 and centred around a Woolco department store and a SuperValu grocery; working class beacons in working-class North Vancouver. There’s a couple of redevelopments, but as North Vancouver becomes less working class and the surrounding area becomes swamped with somewhat higher-end strip malls, its original lustre and appeal slowly but surely diminish.

The current owners, QuadReal Property Group, first proposed doing an Amazing Brentwoodesque transformation in 2019; those plans got put on hold during the pandemic. They put forward a revised plan last year, but the tide has definitely turned in the region’s real estate market since it was first proposed. The aspirational ads inside the mall say they’re “creating a new urban fabric for the North Shore,” but it’s an open question how many of these ambitious plans — the ones you see renderings of in a Daily Hive article — will actually go ahead in our current era, or whether their owners will sit on their properties for as long as it takes for more profitable market conditions to reappear.

Until then, Capilano will persist. Big brand outlets likely won’t be joining any time soon, but there will always be people looking to sell gems or cards, or have a scheme for an abandoned Sears, or just be one of our three giant telecoms that by law must have a kiosk in every mall across this blessed nation.

We can’t necessarily recommend someone outside the area visit, because again, it’s generic. But if you take a ride down the elevator, grab something at Taco Time and wander around the pickleball courts, you’ll get a good reminder of what malls were, and maybe, if you squint, still can be.

TOTAL SCORE

Small Stores: 5.7/10 (Honestly, it’s a perfectly okay mix of discount clothing options, dentists and hair salons, and those aforementioned gem and trading card spots, along with more random things like a showroom for Jeeps. Not a lot to get excited about, but interesting and eclectic enough that it’s hard to give a failing grade)

Anchor Tenants: 4/10 (The Walmart is a Walmart, the pickleball complex is legitimately needed, but it’s hard for the general populace to be excited about either)

Food Court: 3.1/10 (Probably the most “starter pack” food court we’ve come across so far: an A&W, Edo Japan, Manchu Wok, Subway, Tim Hortons. Skip all those, go to one true small business option in Pine Sushi, and be grateful most malls have advanced past 1992)

Design/Accessibility 5.7/10 (Basically four hallways, plenty of bright lighting and benches, and a grand atrium with a couple of totem poles that doesn’t really show you anything or create its own energy.)

X-Factor: 4.7/10 (There’s some charm and some effort, mixed with the depressing food court and the reality that this mall is a quarter or so empty and explicitly looking to become a bunch of shiny condos as soon as it can. It’s not a massive failing grade, but it fails to spark joy.)

OVERALL: 23.2/50 (Which is the overall vibe of Capilano in 2026, unless you’re a pickleball player or go here for a couple of specific purposes. There’s still some value, but there’s very little to heartily recommend.)