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Downtown Toronto DEAD Mall | Shops at Aura Walk
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 มิ.ย. 2023
- I re-visit the Shops at Aura. A struggling and pretty much dead shopping complex in downtown Toronto that's just steps from College Park and the Eaton Centre.
Recorded in 4K at 60 FPS on Friday, June 9, 2023.
Sept 3, 2020 video of The Shops at Aura: • Downtown Toronto's Dea...
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This mall has “am I even allowed in here, I’ve gotta get out of here before I’m chased out” vibe to it.
Are you Jean, accustomed to being chased out often hat you are intimate with how it feels? Looking at this place, I'm confident the employees, what's left of them, out number the number of patrons on any given day. It reminds me of the Dragon City Mall in China Town where they also had a residential condo above it with shops on the first few ground floors. Absolutely desolate and baron.
I actually found it so sad.
Even sadder to see just one customer sitting/eating on an empty food court.
I think of all the small businesses that went under during the lockdowns.
That space would be better served if they turn it into a place to live or storage ...or find a company that needs that area.Obviously this mall never happened...I mean the food court is even dead.Hope those people find a solution.
@@davidrynberk1533 the only worth while project was the regent park initiative where they tore down the projects and rebuilt those afford homes for their former residents to buy in at a lower entry point. I heard some residents took the opportunity and bought in while others moved away for financial reasons.
Take this with a grain of salt but residents brought over their old habits and started trashing their new homes living like la visa loca like before. Must have been lease / renters basis because no self respecting home owner would willingly trash their homes but I digress.
Horrible spot. And the landlord doesn't help anybody by allowing three of the same kind of store. No advertising on the outside. Cheap looking storefronts. The Path was probably right in not connecting to this poorly planned, poorly managed project.
Had a friend with a small store in the Aura Mall. He was told that it would become part of the Path. After almost a year he had to shut down and is now part of a lawsuit by former owners. He almost lost everything because of it.
These Commercial Condos were marketed as an opportunity to earn income (either by running your own business or renting it out to someone else) and build equity. Anyone who bought into Aura lost money. I hope the Courts make the former owners whole somehow; civil justice in Canada moves at a snails pace.
@@Cerium398 "Anyone who bought into Aura lost money." This is only true of the basement units. The rest of Aura is commercially viable. For example, I shop at Aden Camera, located at ground level at Aura and it's a popular shop. And IKEA and Marshalls are doing fine.
Great location for a rub and tug super market
@@georgejetson1025What about tug only? No rub.
The Path is never going to get north of Dundas this century at least. Until those buildings are replaced with Condos it can't happen. The whole Aura retail is a pit of despair and broken dreams.
I've lived in Toronto my whole life. I still live in HIgh Park and work downtown. I didn't even know there was a mall there.
Downtown Toronto has become soooo depressing. The endless condo building has totally ruined downtown. Hundreds and hundreds of restaurants and retail closed to build condos. It is sad to walk down Yonge St now.
These days Yonge street between Bloor and Queen is a zombie land. Dirty and dangerous!
Downtown Vancouver is also pretty bleak.
Way too much of a population increase without the appropriate city size (Toronto has to deal with having no southern portion because of the lake).
And aggressive hobos everywhere.
The last few years was about destroying the middle class because there is only rich people and poor people.
I once took 'lessons' on successful mall development. This mall breaks all the rules and probably serves as a lesson on what not to do.
This mall would make good teaching material.
@@MetaView7 it would also make a good setting for a Lo fi house video
Please tell us more, I’m genuinely curious - I mean like it’s blatantly obvious it’s an awful design, cramped and subterranean, confusing exits/entrances that do not put you at ease made worse with no clear purpose, connections or meaningful access. My god the transformation into the still far from perfect college park was like emerging from an immersive horror experience for mall designers, it’s claustrophobic, the stores are small and so are the businesses so there’s no draw or destination… but I’d like to hear some rules, I find it fascinating they’d build this under one of the tallest towers in downtown Toronto
The whole city sets that example
they really should hire Asian mall people why are malls bustling in Asia but not here..
I frequently walk past the AURA building, and occasionally would go into IKEA. Honestly I had no idea there's an underground mall...
Most Torontonians don't; the fact that the mall doesn't have a connection to the PATH system is a big problem for the unfortunate investors who bought into one of those Commercial Condos.
LMFAOO i live church carlton neighborhood for 9 years, i have no idea there is underground mall there LOL
Why would anybody go into IKEA voluntarily?
well as you can see. You were right. There is NOT an underground mall. There is underground retail space, unwanted.
The Cumberland mall at Yonge & Bloor is also another oddly vacant mall in the heart of downtown that fascinates the 'Dead Mall' lover in me.
Yeah the northern part is like a time capsule, it's never changed...
That's because it's slated for demolition for a massive condo development. In it's heyday, it was a vibrant retail space.
@@albinosquirlz It was a dead mall long before the redevelopment plans came out but yes I realize that is why nothing is currently moving into the space.
@@albinosquirlz That's sad when is that happening?
I think my friend's parents still have a store at the Cumberland.
When I was a ryerson student, I would go down there in the early afternoon for pretty decent Korean food. I would bring something along to read and it was quieter than the library. When you're downtown and want to escape the noise and relax with a hot meal and a book the aura food court is the place to go.
2주 된 음식을 좋아한다면 좋은 한국 음식
I like to go to 7 11, buy a bunch of food, then go to the Aura food court on a busy Saturday to sit at one of the tables and enjoy my food, knowing that nobody is ever really there...they're all over at Eaton centre food court or College Park.
It's nice to have a place to sit with no wait for a table...ever. It's often quiet too, which is also nice.
I was about to say, "why would you call this a dead mall? I ALWAYS go to IKEA and Marshall !!!". And ... I realised I didn't even know there's an underground mall LOL
This is what happens when they build these expensive buildings with these commercial condos...they sell them to cash buyers in China who can't lease these failures. What would have made sense is to have everything as leasehold and not have so many units. This is right in the heart of downtown on the subway and it has always been a ghost town
I go to College Park often but had no idea this place existed. I usually frequent Marshall’s and Winners. I think the problem here is that there isn’t signage outside to tell you how many stores exist inside and not enough advertising. This mall is no different than the Toronto Dominion Mall, which is busy.
Instead of "Aura" it should say "Aura Underground Shopping Mall" in big letters. The building owners need to invest in signage. Also the stores should've been on street level, not underground, what a dumb decision that was.
Morning from Montreal .. absolutely beautiful sharing Toronto city and as always beautiful spectacular gorgeous updated .. keep it up Sir and you nailed it again, have a wonderful blessing weekend to you Sir .. TQSM
*Everyone we knew has FLED Toronto* ...Maybe double the amount of Migrants (400k per year) should FIX PROBLEMS.
I visited Aura Walk recently. I was surprised at how dead it was, especially because it's located in such dense neighborhood with otherwise excellent amenities. It's quite sad. The food court looks otherwise decent.
I feel like every food court is always consistently mediocre and derivative. There's ALWAYS a Tim Hortons because there's a Toronto bylaw that nobody should have to walk more thn 2 and 1/2 minutes without seeing a Tim Hortons. And a Subway.
@@Genious. 🤣🤣🤣
One of the biggest impediments is the stupid connection to college park. It looks like a back area service corridor. There is no suggestion that it might connect to something useful.
@@Genious.Fast food, food court; places I don't typically associate with quality, nor should they ever be.
The car at the end of the video… it’s hilarious how drivers think turning on flashers makes illegal parking OK!
Wow 😮 when you entered College Park it suddenly was more lively. More people and music was playing
The vibe totally changed as soon as he entered College Park, it was like a totally different place even though its connected.
All malls are turning into foreign import junk malls. Yes, the Horizon Mall Calgary is still virtually empty. Their big mistake was not stipulating that the units were owner occupied. What happened was foreign investors buying all the units expecting to charge shop owners high rent, or flipping the units to the next person at a huge profit. Potential shop owners either couldn’t afford the high rent, or couldn’t afford the resale price.
Another mistake is that Airdrie Calgary mall is close to the big outlet CrossIron Mills mall
Hong Kong style.Both are facing the same impact.
Yes Exactly,.....overseas investors bought all the retail and residential condo units,.....and now can't rent or even resell them.
Now with interst rates up, owners will just walk away.
YES to all comments.
I believe the units, even when operating, are some sort of money laundering scheme. Some are fully stocked… all they need is staff and the lights to be turned on. Yet somehow it’s more profitable to leave time stand still. No for sale sign even. No one bothers to show up for work. It’s like they’re trying to make the pretend-business fail. All too many barber shops and ‘salons’. Just screams scammy & tax loop hole. I’d love to see an investigative report with full forensics audits on these places. How do the owners even pay the rent.
I've been in Toronto for about 2 years now and had time to explore a few different underground locations - several parts of the path as well as this underground shopping mall. Both my girlfriend and I have commented on how freakishly creepy it all is. It's huge, always spotless clean, with plenty of businesses, but always empty of people other than the people working there. Gives off a post-apocalyptic vibe walking through most of these underground locations.
Even in the winter when you'd expect people to use the path, it's still mostly empty. Even at peak hours like weekend evenings. Even the homeless are nowhere to be seen! I have no idea how any business would stay afloat there. And it's mind blowing to think about how much money must've been spent on building it all.
well the last 2 years have probably been the worst period in the path's history..believe me, before covid, it was jumping
Coming from a rural area, I find it weird. No one speaks to you, You are in a crowd by yourself. The cost of keeping a roof over your head negates any luxuries such as eating out and socializing. Everyone is trying to pay down their massive mortgages.
@@carbidegrd1 Honestly you're right, that's what it's like. Main reason why we're thinking of moving back to Europe.
I almost bought a store there, but somehow the place is just bad feng shui & besides most ppl don't even know about it. Very little foot traffic. Not worth the investment.
Though what you say about the PATH and its shops may be apparent to someone taking it in the past two years, this is not how it was pre-COVID. True it’s pretty deserted on weekends but during weekdays it is increasingly returning to life as more office workers return and shop for primarily food but also more general goods.
As I live not far from the centre of the city and do a 5km walk each day, when the winter or summer weather is particularly severe, I walk it from Yonge to Metro Centre so have observed the epp and flow daily. It was sad through the COVID years to see it as empty as you observe, and businesses close their doors. Owners of the buildings above took advantage of the lull to redevelop or refresh their portions and life is returning albeit will never return to its pre-COVID years.
As for Aura ever be linked, I doubt it as the CBD has expanded westward and towards the waterfront, not north above Dundas where it currently ends in that direction. The poor shop owners (IIRC it’s a condo concept so not only did they lose money on their businesses but also on the property) were taken advantage of, most newcomers from China/Hong Kong who invested their savings. As I wrote initially, the basement “mall” resembles what is the predominant form or small shop retail found over there but is not common here. Nor are the ethnic Chinese consumers familiar with this style of retail anywhere nearby as most live many kms away with no incentive or need to shop here.
Normally such a large condo would have a small grocery/variety shop at ground level that is viable given the population of the building, but across the courtyard there’s a full service Metro (connected by a tunnel) and at the Bay St end, a Farm Boy (previously a Sobey’s Urban Fresh). The only draw today is the first city centre IKEA in Toronto and it’s escalator takes people up to the 2nd story with nothing to encourage people to go down to the basement. The only reason I discovered these shops was on a very cold day I spotted the tunnel link from College Plaza.
Ironically that complex should have been a portent as it was originally a second Eaton’s department store that never really caught on as the CBD never expanded north up Yonge as thought back in the 1920s. And the main store was slightly more than a km south.
I see that a unit (#41) that has been listed for 4 months which operates as a beauty salon selling for $620,000; I also see a vacant unit (#11) less than 120 sq ft. on sale for only $87,000.
Why such a big difference
@@JJ-vp3bd The difference in square footage; the fact that one has a viable business operating in it while the other is vacant; and that the owner of unit #11 is desperate to get out and is probably selling for a loss.
good morning everyone
Good morning
I have lived in Toronto most of my life. In my younger days going Downtown was a weekly thing. Now as a senior venture in to the core has been very rare. As a numerous malls in Toronto grow. Going downtown has tampered back. All the stores in the core are also in the burbs. Free parking and less hassle getting in and out the core.
I miss cruising Yonge Street
Yes but many more and younger people live downtown than they did in the past, and downtown people would never drive out to the suburbs.
I also have lived in Toronto most of my life. 55 years now. I will say that downtown is rapidly becoming little more than a vertical suburb, but without parking.
We left the city last year and have little reason to return for any reason.
Mid '80's through '90's downtown Toronto (Dundas on Yonge St up to Bloor) was a vibrant and fun way to spend the day (food, retail stores, entertainment). I too live in the suburbs and in NO way want to travel to downtown Toronto these days.
Same as Windsor ontario, we got Devonshire in 1970,it was the death nell.for downtown Windsor over the next 20 yrs! And the punks took over in the early 90's!
Mall in Toronto are not dead in my opinion. I visited alot of countries and I'Ve seen a lot of new very big mall in asia that there with a small couple of people. Toronto in my opinion, has a very beautiful mall, better than what you see in USA
what city are you in?
I brought my friend here about a month ago for the first time. He has lived in this city his entire life and never knew this existed. It actually makes me quite angry that all these businesses suffer due to zero advertising of this mall. There are no signs on ground level indicating that there is anything at all underground. Even the one little arrow pointing to the staircase down is vaguely labelled. All these business owners are trying to make a living and there is no traffic. Which, there should be no reason that there would be no traffic in this part of the city.
There is a nice lady selling tea that competes with David's Tea. Her business is right near the bottom of the escalator in the video (@3:51) just a bit to the left.
She has good tea. Hopefully business is good for her. It's like a hidden gem. (She appears as "Clara's Tea" @9:05)
I like buying a cup at a time from her first, so I know what loose tea I am buying in bulk if desired.
Opening scene is peak modern toronto. Cookie cutter condos, a barren wasteland of a "park", what a souless sad state of affairs
The IKEA Pickup Store is probably the anchor tenant for the Underground Mall, ttherwise, it's always dead. I do appreciate the convenience of some of those mom & pop shops and I'm sure if I lived in Aura, I'd appreciate it even more .
TBH, They really screwed this up by not properly connecting this to College Park. the connection is completely barrier ridden and does not encourage people to walk through it at all!
Great video! Lol towards the end of the video, that driver just immediately parks his car without even noticing that it’s not ok to park there.
You videos are always great. Nice chill walk for when I am too chill to walk.
if this was a living space $800 a month would be gold considering the location
What a sad, sad place!
The Korean restaurant is great. The owners are amazing. I'm glad they've still survived.
There is your Toronto fashion scale (gone)Most Torontonians werenot millionaires in the 80's and 90's we were middle class who looked good and smelled good We came here to shop then go down the street to dine "full service" Canadian and American food then go dancing 😊❤🎉
Interesting video. Sad to see a dead mall. Although it's a popular place for barber shops.😊 Ending was hilarious.
I've only been in this mall a couple of times, I want to say mid 2010s. There's more stores than I remember, but that's not saying a lot. Gives me Splendid China Mall vibes (speaking of dead malls).
Nice to see that they finally have a connection to College Park, but like the mall itself, it seems very out of the way and you won't find it unless you're actively looking for it.
Your video definitely reminded me of New Horizon Mall in Calgary, which you mentioned. Haven’t been to either place, but it seems like they are both large, mostly empty shopping centres that cater to an Asian-Canadian clientele, and they both have lease or sale models rather than rental models, with shops being quite small and close together. (On a side note, I can’t believe the residences above are renting for $3000 to $4000 per month!)
Another great video! Whenever we go to Toronto , we go to a Great coffee shop on the street level of Aura .
I parked there last week because I had go to to that outdoor food court. Shops there were mostly closed and washroom had the sign "Only for customers" and one of the shop owners (who was going in) told me to go away or ask some shop of which you are customer of. The shop near by (computer accessories one) was nice enough to give the keys to the washroom 😀
The Marshalls at AURA is my go to one among the Marshalls in DT.
It's a nice store. Huge.
I live in Scarborough and this is the store I frequent on a weekly basis. I take public transit.
The PLAN was to crush small business and flatten the economy. Mission accomplished. Thanks for the reminder.
Me and a bunch of friends used to play D&D here in the food court when we lost our original play space. They didn't mind us since it meant more people buying food there. I stopped going after the pandemic started but damn I miss that bimbibap place, happy to see they're still around.
Aura Mall’s only dead in the basement level. The upper levels with the IKEA and Marshalls is busy. And the camera shop at ground level, accessed from the courtyard is popular.
I was in that mall when it was under construction.
Our company did a lot of work in the food court area. It wasn't very long ago. The place look ancient.
Better architecture MIGHT have made a difference but truth is there is an oversupply of retail space everywhere in the GTA.
The Aura Mall looks like a good place to have a nap while watching this video.
I like how that guy in the yellow shirt just parked there to go into the mall smh 🙄
These are "office malls" eventually being occupied by small businesses in overpriced tiny stalls that don't always work with the downtown demographic.
It was risky even BEFORE a global pandemic.
Yeah I agree people need to pay bills and buy food so overpriced items at these small business don't really help out with one financial situation especially in Toronto and Vancouver where I'm from two of the most expensive cities in the country.
@@RC30018
Stuff is overpriced b/c the ppl that buy/lease these tiny stalls are losing their shirts on extremely high overhead without a clue about how Canadians shop and forever dead areas of the city.
I mean it's hidden I didn't even know this wxisted😊
Their entire customer base were officer workers and now with WFH they lost all their customers because there is no more foot traffic through the PATH. I still use the path in the winter to get around downtown which is great though.
@@riseofazrael
I don't work downtown anymore.
Is the path really dead compared to pre pandemic?
That mall feels claustrophobic with the narrow walkthroughs and low ceiling. It looks more like a hospital ward. Most people would prefer wide open, spacious malls. I think the era of malls is dying anyway. However, $800 a month ($200 a week) lease is quite cheap considering the cost of inflation these days, if there were actually people frequenting the place.
Aesthetics aside, the developers inadvertently created a unique space in Toronto where prime location has rock bottom rent. Sure there is no immediate foot traffic, but the remaining stores do get customers and clients. It all depends on your business.
We have similar malls like this in the Chicago area. Thanks for your work.
It's wild how much more people there are in the College Park mall and it's just separated by a small path now.
College subway station needed to install elevators to give access to people with mobility issues. It was a missed opportunity not to include them in the planning of the Aura. It would have been faster. That would have brought traffic to the shops in a timely manner.
This summer (2023) marks the third summer builders are working on the west side of the street to install those elevators. I've been informed that once that is complete, Yonge Street will be closed on the west side and work will begin on the east side. IF the work is done this summer and the builders take the same amount of time to complete the work, it will have taken 6 years to put in the elevators!!
Yikes, I thought this was it for the work!
Not surprised, these type of malls don't work in Canada with on exception, Pacific Mall. There are many reasons. 1. it looks like a dungeon, 2 many of the shops are just repeats (cell phone accessories, nail salons, little snack stores that fit the small space) 3. just not an attractive place to hang around. Pacific mall at least has an open airness to it, was first to market, considered a minor tourist attraction has a decent food court and some unique stores. Also centered in a large asian community. There's a similar mall in Calgary or Edmonton but has no stores or customers mostly because it's situated beside a traditional western mall in not a densely populated area. It's not meant for the market there. Another reason Pacific mall is successful is that it's fairly close to many schools, some can be biked to or by bus. So you see alot of kids hang out there.
This has been the saddest underground mall I’ve ever come across in all my travels to major cities around the world. It reminded me of small underground malls in Chinese cities, though those had customers and through traffic. In pre-COVID walks through from the old Eatons College St I would cringe and feel bad for the merchants who operated these shops with no customers.
BTW Cumberland mall was still vibrant pre-COVID but now only a few business remain, though it’s not as devoid of passers through as the Aura.
one of the problems is, Canadian people have little disposable income. The taxes are high. Housing is expensive. The food is expensive. The gas is expensive. Cars are expensive. Everything is expensive!
@@MetaView7 Actually Canada has more retail per capita than the US but locations are more concentrated or situated according to nearby community zoning. The Aura had/has a major anchor retailer but it had no affinity to those small service shops in the basement. This was no true mall with things to attract a variety of customers and create pedestrian traffic. Even if it was linked to the PATH there’d still be limited foot traffic since it lacks the office worker flow of areas south of Queen.
The developers who I suspect used investor money from China, (not a racist statement but based on the whole model of basement retail that is considered the norm over there) and the mix of shop owners and their merchandise did not reflect the potential consumers in this part of the city. It may work on Spadina/Dundas and Markham but it’s just not downtown Toronto retail.
While many suburban malls across the US have closed or are on the verge of closing, I am not aware of a single such mall in Canada closing.
Canadians have money to spend but on things they want or need. Just look at the rebound of air travel post COViD. Outside of Bed, Bath & Beyond replaced by IKEA, there was no other retail to bring people into the basement. Just a bad concept all round.
@@davidbalcon8726 I was surprised to see the low-end Chinese-style shops. I agree with you that the merchandise did not reflect the potential consumers in this part of the city.
@@MetaView7 I do feel for those businesses and feel this is a case study in how not to develop a multi-use condo. Just glad IKEA moved in to keep the building somewhat viable. But I have little hope for the basement’s future. It depresses me on so many levels when I have taken that underground link from College Park. I’m just wondering if there are issues up too with the residential condos and their owners.
To wrap this up, must say when I go out on my balcony at night, I can look north west and enjoy the light show on the top floors of Aura! (Nice to civilly exchange views with you. Means the video had an impact! Good show.)
Winnipeg has a sadder one, but everything is sad in Winnipeg, but I get the point
Found this mall while exploring years ago. Fun to get lost in. It connects to a 1980s era mall with totem poles
Imagine how much it costs to rent one of those units. I feel sorry for the store owners in that location.
Johnny? You’re bang on about the plaza north of Calgary here called Horizon Mall. Asian styled plaza that has never caught on. Essentially dead all the time. A real bust after promising to be super great.
The Path is also dead on weekends. Only a fraction of the shops are open. It is really dead on Sundays. All the money goes to the Eaton Centre . But I suspect the Monday to Friday traffic makes up for that.
I work just steps away at Minto Plaza, and I had no idea this place was there. Maybe I'll try their food court, or what there is of it. I might even get a haircut.
I think it’s safe to say that downtown malls do not attract traffic from outside the core due to high parking charges and high fuel costs .Add in the drug scene and crime and it’s a no brainer why people don,t shop the same way and it was already changing before COVID hit
I don't think people driving into the city is the target market for downtown shopping centres...
@@JohnnyStrides I think they counted on yuppies and white collar workers. They prefer to live North of Steels these days, where they can park their Jags, Bentleys and Porches. Also they may look young and well dressed, but are not classic yuppies, working in IT, or hi-tech. They are rather speculative investors. I am afraid they just wanted to dump the money somewhere safe, even if they lose some. The Canadian Government resorted to desperate measures to boost the economy, like money laundering.
So scary! Actually Montréal also has some dead sections of the massive underground mall. I would say to architects and urban planners: if you ever design something that ugly and tiny I won't go.
It should look like Singapore airport with or without natural lights but not as an hospital.
Looks like malls in Shanghai ... and Pompeii.
I grew up in Toronto. It used to be a very cool city. Now, I wouldn't give you a plugged nickle for it. It's also interesting to note that all the real estate agents listed in this mall are Chinese.
The future Black Rock customers
It might not be a bad idea to consult all of the people working at the shops in Aura, just to have an idea of whether they need to be put under a suicide watch because that place seems dreadfully depressing.
Canada supports suicide now, and does not prevent it.
Aura would make an ideal setting for a Lo fi house video
Aura condos at the 79th floor are really nice and big and 2.5 million . Maintenance fees are 800 a month to 3500 a month.
I go there to Metro often, and it looks just as busy as anywhere else
That Mall was a particularly dangerous place for years. I had a group of three guys catch me at the top of the escalator there and demand I take them to the bank for money. One of them went to grab me. I slipped around him and pushed him down the escalator and ran into the store at the top right into the security guard they keep at the entrance and got behind him. He notifed security and the two guys took off. I don't know what happened to the guy I threw down the escalator.
Yikes!
That, is happening anywhere in the GTA and is expanding, sadly.
Do more downtown videos...I loved it!! ❤
I used to go down to the food court to play D&D with an Adventure's League group. If it wasn't for that, I would have never gone down there. I stopped going when the group stopped having sessions there. I literally forgot it was down there until I saw this video.
Hey Stride 👋 this was a good hearty walk you did through Toronto's kinda boring dead mall, last time browse around into tere sometime in 2019, nothing bout it captures the eye
I always thought that "Shops at Aura" looked like a great place to have something nasty happen to you, It has a slightly sinister feel to it. Even in the middle of winter I would not consider using that underground connection to College Park as it is a lot easier just to go the short distance between them above ground.
I am often at the building checking out Marshalls and Ikea but I have only ventured to the below ground area once ( which was definitely enough!) Another interesting walk, Johnny!
You’re like the 10th in the comments to describe it as if it was an immersive horror experience… it’s that bad 🤦🏻♂️
@@comptont23 Hi Tyler , are you asking or have you been there? I was there again on Saturday and it was dire. Plenty of foot traffic in the area.The whole set up of the lower level is not inviting to the curious and those that have ventured down will find nothing there to make them want to return, sadly..... I understand that there have been lawsuits brought against the developers by disappointed store owners who were "sold" on the promise of a vibrant retail experience ( not!) As each store is owned individually , it is hard to get agreement on changing anything radically . Definitely, one for the lawyers to deal with.
Thank you for this. I barely even knew this existed. I'll check it out for the sake of checking it out.
What I find interesting is that there isn't a single dollar store or convenience store considering it's under a condo building.
I've walked past this area, and I had no idea this was here. The underground entrance is awkward, and difficult to notice. From outside, it looks like just an apartment building.
Every Canadian city has this style of Asian Mall. Over half contain dead or dying businesses. Most stores do no attract, or draw western customers.
I mean to call it a mall is stretching it. It's basically a very crappy version of Pacific Mall which on its own is already crappy but it just happens to be big.
Seems like some better signage at street level could help a lot.
I think that $800/month is expensive if there is no foot traffic in the mall.
a shoe store with a claw machine in it to win a pair of shoes is kinda unique!! sad to see such a mall in toronto tho... you would assume that more people would be there walking around. :( maybe a tim hortons or a mcd's would bring in more people --- to the food court.... that food court looks kinda meh....
one thing that struck me was how much effort went into the construction and making everything look nice. a dead mall will have the same architecture design, safety guidelines, material science, decorations, etc as a lively mall, yet almost no one will see it. honestly pretty sad.
The PATH is a real nightmare. i got lost once, due to the bad indication. I didn’t even know about the mall and my work was like 5 minutes from it
There used to be a great Japanese curry katsu place (Kaiju) in the food court, which closed up more than 5 years ago. It was the only reason I even knew about this place. Sadly, looks like not much else in this mall has changed over the years.
I walked through this mall today on my way to Marshall's and Canadian Tire. It was, as always, dead, dead, dead. Has been for years.
I went there for an Ikea pick up. Most of the shops I passed by were closed so I didn't bother to check the entire floor. I didn't know there's a food court down there. I wonder how these stores actually profit. It seems like people aren't really aware this place exist.
We have something very similar here on the North East end of Calgary called the New Horizon Mall which is referred to as the big money losing pit, it's very obvious that this concept of shopping was and is a huge failure but to make things worse is that this mall is located right beside the Cross Iron Mills mega shopping mall which does very well. Some things work and others turn out to be big flops !!
I like visiting there. There’s always people in the green space. It’s an oasis.
Privately owned stores in a strata mall are one of the world's worst investments. There are several examples in the Vancouver region that can be cited. There is a defunct Surrey Public Market, A Richmond Public Market, and The Crystal Mall in Burnaby. The markets are all operated as a separate Strata within a larger organization. The ownership can become lopsided within the strata causing decisions to be made by the strata that benefit some but not all of the owners. When the malls get to the point that this one is the only way to restore it is to have an investor buy up all the units, remodel the whole mall area and then lease out new the units. Private ownership of commercial strata units is a disaster waiting to happen.
The IKEA online orders pickup is down there and I wouldn't be surprised if they expand that a bit further to have more storage space. I'm sure this will join the PATH eventually, but it will take some time for neighbouring buildings to get on board.
Been living downtown for about 4 years now, and if I hadn't seen this video I would never have known about this mall.
The selection of shops down in the underground reminds me of a sketchy uptown mall way out in Oshawa or Richmond Hill, not a downtown one right next to the PATH.
I just discovered this mall 2 months ago after living in the area for 5 years lol. From what I've seen the food court gets decent traffic as tons of uber eats workers are picking up orders.
Thank you for the video, I got more clients recently due to people watching this video got a glimpse of the little Pokémon Center store at unit 69.
Hey Johnny thank you for sharing it is very sad indeed
Unusual to see a mall that's mostly for hair or nails, so many stores offering the same thing - a mall cannot do well if mostly only one service is offered - should have diversified stores.
itz for business immigration and investment passport purposes & $ laundry.
I did a quick watch through to see if this is the one, and yes it was. I've inly been in here once to the print shop to get my VSS application done "correctly" for TPS HQ across the street. The quotations are there because it wasnt done properly despite following the exact instructions the TPS officer game me before I went. This was like 8 years ago, and its just as lively back then as it seems now.
The best part of Toronto is looking at in the rear view mirror
that's weird.. usually shops surrounded by condos makes an easy market.. good to see Aden Camera still around... just got something from them.. online.. sad to say downtown Toronto looks like many US cities on the decline before the 2000's... Toronto leaders took the money and ran with condo developers instead of building something really interesting...
I used to work at Pogue’s at the base of this building. Spent many hours walking around through the malls in there.
Nice Walk Mr Johnny
I find it sad that some small stores owners likely lost a lot of money in this, but in another way, it always warms my heart when some crappy developer wants to reinvent the wheel and fails miserably, especially in a big city like Toronto, where people always look down upon the rest of the country.
I never knew this existed. They should advertise it better. Just getting inside looks kind of sad seeing basically no one there.
There's a mall close to the Calgary airport. The planners forgot to build on a bus route and so the mall never flourished. Occupancy is small just like this mall.
While I knew about the Marshalls and Bed Bath and Beyond (later IKEA), along with the outside stores like Aden Camaera, I had know idea about the underground shopping mall. They've clearly failed at advertising it to outside foot traffic or even to the people inside College Park mall.