Lord and Lady Grosvenor will open the $6,000,000 Mayfair shopping centre containing Woodward's department store and 26 specialty shops, in a ceremony at 10 a.m. today.
Saanich and Victoria police -- bolstered by auxiliary policemen on the city side -- will be out in full force to cope with large streams of traffic expected to converge on the area, said Insp. Brooke Douglass, superintendent of the city traffic division.
Trucks loaded with merchandise were still rolling into the shopping centre last night as storekeepers worked into the night getting their wares ready for the public.
Victoria Chamber of Commerce manager John Coppinger welcomed the Mayfair opening and predicted "it will make an important contribution to the economy and commercial life of Victoria and the surrounding district."
Consumers should benefit from lower prices brought about by the increased competition, he said. Asked whether downtown stores will suffer from development at the city's northern boundary, Mr. Coppinger said "a lot of people feel Mayfair will be a potential aid to Victoria by attracting shoppers from up-Island and the Gulf Islands who used to go to Vancouver."
But even before the new centre had opened, merchants throughout Greater Victoria were bracing themselves for competition and both the Hudson's Bay Company and the T. Eaton Co. announced they will be open Thursday and Friday nights until 9 p.m., starting this week.
-- Daily Colonist
