The Bon Accord centre is the second-largest shopping centre complex in Aberdeen, Scotland and serves a large catchment area including the city and surrounding Aberdeenshire. The centre was constructed as two separate entities: the St. Nicholas Shopping Centre in 1985 and the adjacent Bon Accord Shopping Centre in 1990. Since opening, they have formed one of the most dense retailing areas in Aberdeen, having merged in the early 2000s. The two centres were co-branded until 2018 when the St. Nicholas name was dropped in favour of a unified brand across the property. Layout The centre is split into two buildings which effectively join the shopping streets of George Street and Union Street. It has three floors extending to . Parking is attached with around 1700 spaces. The Bon Accord centre was built in a serpentine shape to maximize shop unit frontage and is covered by a barrel vaulted glazed roof with a high glazed dome. The former St. Nicholas has a more dated, straight-through design with a mostly concrete urban open space on its roof, along with little-used first-floor entrances to some of the businesses. The northern entrance of the centre is located across the street from a former John Lewis & Partners department store, and the store is connected to the centre via a bridge on the first floor. The John Lewis department store opened on 4 October 1989 and closed in 2020. The bottom floor of the John Lewis department store was subsequently used as a vaccination centre. History Work began on the St. Nicholas centre on 26 October 1983, when the foundation stone was laid by the then Lord Provost of the city, Alexander C Collie. During construction, two coin hoards were uncovered, amassing around 7000 coins valued at the time at £35,000. The centre was officially opened on 3 October 1985 by Lord Provost Henry Rae with total retail space covering . The first store, Miss Selfridge, opened its doors three months earlier on 4 July 1985. The Bon Accord centre opened five years later in 1990. In 2003, British Land purchased the entirety of the St. Nicholas centre for £31 million, previously 40% owned by BL Universal (a joint venture between British Land and GUS plc.) with the remaining 60% held by a pension scheme. On 18 March 2004, British Land and Land Securities (owner of the Bon Accord centre) announced they had formed a