It is slated to be Canada’s largest open-air outlet mall, and it will be right here in the Niagara Region in Niagara-on-the-Lake. The new Niagara Outlet Mall (under construction by Ivanhoe Cambridge), called the “Outlet Collection”, will feature 100 retail stores, including only one of three Bass Pro Shops in Canada. That store alone will be 80,000 square feet of space within an outlet mall that will expand over 520,000 square feet of space at Glendale Avenue and Taylor Road, right across from White Oaks Conference Resort & Spa.

Niagara-on-the-Lake Lord Mayor David Eke, told the St.Catharines Standard that “When we’re shopping here, the Outlets of Niagara will be the item that puts Niagara on the map”. There is no doubt that this particular Niagara outlet mall will be a magnet for visiting tourists, with its estimated cost at $200 million and with a wide selection of some internationally popular retail stores on board — those such as Forever 21, Banana Republic,Bench Outlet, Brooks Brothers Outlet, Calvin Klein, Gap Outlet, Izod, Michael Kors Outlet, Naturalizer, Osh Kosh, Tommy Hilfiger and Van Heusen. The mall’s stores and food operations will create 1500 Full and Part-Time jobs.

The mall will also feature a farmer’s market in which local Niagara region and International produce will be presented, to maintain the reputation of being one of the world’s already most popular destinations, seeing as Niagara Falls alone draws an estimated 12 million tourists to the city alone. This addition will stabilize that familiarity encouraging those tourists to stay within the Niagara Region. It’s close proximity to the Niagara Falls and its hotels and attractions , will most surely be a major tourist draw.

According to David Baffa, the senior vice president of retail development for Ivanhoe Cambridge, the design of the mall’s open-air concept would sit nicely with the Niagara-on-the-Lake’s climate. The region gets little snow and the covering between the buildings will keep the shoppers weather protected.

Here is a video of the anticipated final outcome of this Niagara outlet mall:

Ivanhoe Cambridge expects the “Outlet Collection” to bring between 6 to 8 million visitors per year and is expected to reduce cross-border shopping. The wide variety of selection that this mall will have, will feature many of the stores that Canadians head over the border for — thus encouraging locals and not just tourists, to keep the shopping local.

Lord Mayor David Eke also stated “Not only will it create thousands of jobs and generate more tax revenue for our area, it has the potential to make the Glendale interchange at the QEW a major commercial hub for both the Southern Ontario and Northeastern U.S. markets.”

The Outlet Collection is planned for an opening date of May 15, 2014.