You can blame Amazon all you want but in my opinion the retailers are more to blame. I spent full day driving around to a couple different malls with specific products I needed to buy. Best Buy didn't have the thing that they were advertising was on sale, but they told me they can order it online, I told them I can order online too, from Amazon, and cheaper. I ended up going to Indigo looking for a book, they don't have books at Indigo anymore, they have cutsie pencils wrapped in ribbons, they told me they can order the book I want online, I told them I can do that as well from Amazon and cheaper and quicker. I went to Canadian Tire to buy something I needed, again they don't have it in store I have to order it online. If they're going to push people like me away, that like shopping in person, then they are the ones to blame for closing down.
Retailers are arrogantly staying open with existing prices to trap the non-tech savvy consumer who has no clue on how to cross-compare prices or buy online. (i.e. a elderly or person who does not trust online shopping w/ a credit card). It boils my blood to see Customer Service treat their remaining in-store shoppers like idiots just because they can't and won't buy online.
Good point, and also the quality of customer service has gone down the toilet, even if you're not an elder, they are many times rude, or lack any knowledge of something you want to buy.
exactly, even close retailers dont carry all sizes anymore, they might have a small and a medium, the rest you have to order online. The point of getting it in store is that you can go and try it on, but if you cant even do that...
Totally agree with you. Amazon sells at the same price as Walmart, and I get free delivery. So as a senior this works for me. Like you, so many people like to get out and about, so sad.
@@Sunny-yg2pq Are you by chance attending Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson U?) The PATH actually gets significantly worse during morning rush hour between 7 - 8 am with all the students and workers clogging up the way from Dundas subway station. Even worse during the winter when almost nobody wants to take the street level exit due to the cold.
@@_Just_Another_Guy yes i do attend. i dont have much a problem with the morning rush, a portion of people take the ttc, and on very rare occasion i decide to walk the entire way. i have no complaints other than it being a very lonely isolated and boring environment to be in.
Woodbine Mall brings up some nice memories with me. I used to frequent this mall often in the 00s, and it's movie theater, was one of the go-to places for many different movies released around that time. It was a cozy type of theater. Going over this with the camera, especially in the basement around the cinema was nice to see the whole area again. Thanks for posting this video.
Woodbine Mall looks so bright and dark at the same time lol walk in and hope you don't get robbed in that first scene lol one of the more nicely kept malls in the city
Langham Square is a smaller version of Pacific Mall, it’s part of a complex that includes a condo, it’s not a dying mall at all. In fact you can never find parking when you go there. The time spent here could’ve been used on a truly dying mall, like cederbae, eglinton square etc.
@@Merglet ya when most shops open at 10-11 its odd coming in at 8-9am right when the doors open and complaining everything is closed is kinda weird LOL
On the other hand, the old Honeydale Mall across the street is definitely as dead as a doornail and should be torn down and replaced with an exstension of the subway from Kipling.
That's because there are no Chinese stores or Chinese owned off-brand mom and pop shops. Only main stream or high end stores. I see a muji sign or any Chinese writing on a sign and I abandon the whole mall.
The Malls that are doing well are Yorkdale, Scarborough Town Centre, Fairview Mall, Eaton Centre, Vaughn Mills, Bayview Village, Markville Mall, Square One and Sherway Gardens. Everything else in between will eventually be mostly gone.
No not really other major malls are doing good also such as Pickering town centre, BCC, Oakville centre, Erin mills town centre, upper Canada mall and others not mentioned!
Toronto doesn't really have many truly dead malls, like you'd see in the Buffalo area for example, more common are malls like Centrepoint that are actually still sort of doing OK but are doomed to be redeveloped anyway because of the value of the land they are sitting on
The Promenade opened as an upscale mall, with Eaton’s, Sears and Bretton’s as anchors. There was a lovely Harridge’s - the main store was on Bloor Street - and a fine restaurant, “The Daily Planet”, as well as a branch of the Pickle Barrel. There still is an excellent food court, and a theatre complex. There were, and are nice shoe stores and dress shops. Those little markets are lots of fun. The mall is extremely well kept, and a magnet for young families on Sundays. While it did not sustain its high-end aspirations, it is still delightful, with attractive retailers and a lovely, welcoming ambiance.
I remember when H&M, Aritzia, Old Navy, and more just to name a few still occupied the mall. Even a Starbucks, and it was very busy when I went in 2017-2019.. after Cadillac Fairview sold it, it died out a lot.
I remember Cumberland Terrace when it was an upscale mall decades ago. I used to work and shop downtown but I stopped going downtown when I moved to North York and got a job in Scarborough. In addition, I was busy with a young family and did not have the leisure to wander around. In the early 2000’s our offices moved downtown and I was shocked to see how Bloor Street had transformed. Maybe a few years later, I wandered into Cumberland Terrace and was again shocked to see so many empty stores. Now, it is practically dead. I don’t know why there are still the odd store there.
The Promenade has one of the worst front facades of any mall. All that brick work and little windows make it look like some sort of light industrial building. The first few times I've passed by the place I thought it was some sort of industrial complex.
Centerpoint- formally Town & Country, as a newborn this was my first mall, as we lived across the street. I miss the old movie theater where I saw countless movies, a Woolco with 2 floors. Shops on Steeles, formally known as Markham Place, also lived across the street and went to school in the area. I'm geeking out on the nostalgia here!
@@troillandford7679 yes it is. I said that wondering if OP moved away and it was a common memory with an internet stranger haha. Glad you know of it too. It is a Yonge and Steeles landmark!
Excellent video and channel content! Thanks and subscribed. It's good to see at least some locations like CenterPoint Mall are getting a healthy amount of traffic, but very sad to see the state of other dormant malls.
I mean, you're also coming during a time when the stores aren't open. Can't really call it failing malls, without seeing how they are during high traffic times.
Thank you for the nostalgia trip! I have some thoughts about these malls: Cumberland Terrace - it's been a slow, slow death for that mall. My friend's parents own the Asia Art and Interior that was having a retirement sale. King's Square - had some really bad timing, as I believe they were set to open in summer 2020. Glad you showed the sports centre there though - I thought they had dedicated pickleball courts but it looks like an all-purpose court. Langham Square doesn't really seem to be failing, if I'm being honest. It's just gonna be dead at 9am. If you go to Pacific Mall or First Markham Place it's the same way. Promenade used to be a pretty popular mall, with an Eaton's and a Sears. And they've basically never been fully able to replace it. The T&T is pretty big, and I do like that there's a Jollibee there now. Centrepoint is interesting because they've had a Target and a Lowes, which of course did not work out in Canada. And it's in a prominent spot - Yonge and Steeles, which you'd think would create a lot more foot traffic once the subway goes up there. I don't think the Shoppes on Steeles has ever been a big deal or anything. They had a Sears and (going way back) a Marks and Spencer, but that's basically it. It does have the OG Congee Queen outside though. Used to take my kids to Fantasy Fair. Not the greatest amusement park in the world, but I can't complain too much seeing as it's indoors and out of the elements. And the carousel is legit one of the nicest I've seen. Also used to work near here so I was for a while, rather acquainted with the food court.
I used to work as a security guard at Cumberland Terrance 30 years ago. The management was very restrictive. The stores had to open and close at a certain time or get fined. Security was in charge of the checks. I thought it was ridiculous. How can you thrive as a business closing at 6-7pm and closed by 3 or 5 on weekends. But of course there were stories to tell about the place, especially stairwells and crack dealers. Not to mention the men’s bathroom that was monitored due to salacious activity. It looks like it’s the same way it was then, nothing changed. Don’t know why it took as long as it did to move everyone out. They should make it a recreational spot or theatre or even a place to shelter for the homeless. That mall is really dark too so imagining it converted to condos or office space would be depressing for many if they lived or worked there. It’s in a great downtown area though. It’s just in an odd void. And yes I remember the smell, a mix of grease, food & urine.
Ok, second comment as I got about halfway through the video and am turning it off. I'm not saying all of these malls have futures, but going to them either right when they open or in some cases before the stores open does not provide a fair picture. 10 AM on a Tuesday is great for what you want this video to be, but not a fair representation.
It would be good to include the day of week and time you are going. Some places like the PATH when you are there after 6PM or on a weekend are a total ghost town, despite being super packed during the week and business hours.
I used to live by woodbine mall 20 years ago. I think I last went there 15 years ago. They were just adding the kids section, (they only had the Ferris wheel and I don’t think it even worked) but it was a really dead mall even then. It’s nice to see all the kids and families enjoying themselves. Not sure many people really know that it has that. I also went to the movie theatre there. It’s small but nice. Love the flooring there too. That must have been done within the last decade because I don’t remember that. It’s probably the nicest mall from the whole video.
Stores in Asian malls almost always open late. Noon would be the norm for allot of stores. Langham does have lots of stores in the parking but u have to actually go into the garage to access them its wierd.
I miss Toronto. I went there in 2010 to pursue filmmaking…I miss those times. The culture and places there was awesome. Time have changed. I’m living back on the island..where there’s nothing. Way different than in Toronto. I miss it. I never thought the world would change so much since. The cost of living is so high now it would make living in Toronto very difficult. Retail is ending, because nowadays you can buy anything online. Which is good. But…we lost a lot along the way. And it’s sad. 😔
Toronto is suffering greatly from shrinking infrastructure thanks to unchecked residential development, and I hate seeing how it's impacting my city. I welcome anyone who wants to call Toronto home and I can stomach an increased population density across the city, but it's maddening to see our schools, grocery stores, public transport, parks and just public space in general getting stretched past their limits just to satisfy the greed of real estate investors
I think it has been a common thing that malls will open their exterior doors long before the stores do... I can remember a few times in my youth, going to Square One in Mississauga, before the stores were open (like 2-3 hours) and walking around the mall. That was more than 20 years ago.
For Centrepoint mall, where the No Frills is now, it used to be a Woolco. On the other end of the mall, it was a Loblaws. Walmart wouldn't take the Woolco space, so Loblaws (owner of No Frills) moved into the Woolco space, freeing up the Loblaws space, which became a Zellers (owned by the Bay) Sadly, when Target bought Zellers, it didn't help. Target left Canada anyway, leaving a hole to fill, so whatever is there now is whatever it is...I think it's the computer store? (Not Canadian tire-that has been there since the beginning of time, it seems...) *No Frills was a Loblaws for a short while before converting over to No Frills. *Also, the Woolco used to have an escalator. When Loblaws took over they must have decided not to use the second floor for customer use. The Bay has an escalator.
I have many fond memories of going to the now long-gone JJ Muggs at Woodbine for various childhood birthdays. I’m pleasantly surprised at how busy and well-maintained the Fantasy Fair is. I figured that most of the rides were gone or no longer in operation.
Woodbine was a really fun place at one point. The movie theater, arcade, plus fantasy fair. Like you said JJ Muggs. Now it's mostly just a bunch of discount type shops. Dollarama etc.
I’d love to see Woodbine make a full, true comeback. They’ve been teasing it for over a decade & it looks like it’s slowly coming to fruition, if they don’t build condos like you said. They’ve implemented stores, attractions & overall cleaned up the place to look a lot more appealing than it was pre covid that have kept it afloat. fantasy fair has also probably been the only reason it’s never gone under, including the improved theatre that I still go to occasionally for cheaper tickets & better seating. I’m also wondering if restaurants will be included in the near future if they stay, because they were once a staple at Woodbine. With the developments in that area I assume within the next 5 years it’ll be back to, or at the very least close to where it was in its prime. So many memories of Woodbine, lots of Saturdays spent there with the family. I still go there if I gotta pick something up that I know would be there, and the food court has always been a go to
i work very close to cumberland terrace, that food court has teriyaki open sometimes and a couple of the indian/jamaican places open during the week, though inconsistently. i've also seen the shawarma place open once in my 2 years in the area
Cumberland Terrace is still there? I thought that was supposed to be demolished a decade ago. I used to stop there and get lunch when I worked downtown.That glass thing tucked in the corner of the outside windows at 1:46 used to be a Korean restaurant.
For a dead mall, I spend a LOT of time in Cumberland Terrace, but it's just to get from Bloor-Yonge station to the Manulife Centre Indigo without going outside when it's cold.
so the very first mall (0:27 Cumberland Terrace) I actually visit very often. By which I mean if you find your way out, but not into the TTC, you'll find a DIFFERENT mall, with a holt renfrew , eataly, earl's , the cineplex, etc. I go there for dinner and movies often i think those bigger stores and the upstairs area ate all of the cumberland terrace stores :(
I used to work inside the woodbine center at Fantasy Fair. I worked operating the rides and working in the arcade there from 2003 to 2007 when I was a teenager. It really hasn't changed a whole lot, besides maybe the bumper boats being replaced by another ride and the additions of those dinosaurs and rock climbing. I used to go there all the time as a kid in the late 80s and early 90s as well, and I think most of the rides and appearance is even similar from back then as well. Most of these malls are probably still really busy on the weekend, i remember during the week these malls weren't as busy even in the early 2000s, but on the weekend, it'd be packed.
Thanks for the extensive video - how did you shoot it, like with what? To me, it's so surprising to see no one staring at you, especially while you're talking. What are your secrets? Please and thanks!
Some dying Toronto area malls I know of... "Shoppes of the Parkway" - it's hidden under a hotel convention center, nobody even knows it exists, and "The Shoppes on Steeles and 404" which died when Sears disappeared. In Hamilton, City Centre mall was a bright modern mall literally connected to the much older, darker, uglier Jackson Square mall. It died while Jackson Square somehow continues on (but I'd still call it half-dead). Also, Kitchener's Market Square is a very dead, dead mall.
These dead malls are kinda sad to think about it. The Amazon and online shopping and streaming of media albums, movies etc. made it so hard for these shops and malls to compete. Now it's click and next day you have it no need to go out and shop in person almost....
Buying music online like iTunes during the early to mid 2000's was what forced Sam The Record Man on Bloor St. to unfortunately shut down. That was the only big music store in downtown Toronto that specialized in selling vinyl records of quite a lot of variety of music.
I hope you have a partner with you on these trips, Tara. I was on the edge of my SEAT when you were traveling in what seemed like, deserted areas and not a soul in site. I was worried for you.
Langham Square is a little treasure for hobby lovers. There are around 5 stores that specialized in Japanese anime figure / TCG. The price is also reasonable. The stores are opened late and closed early in weekday. It is pretty crowed in weekend and not easy to find a parking spot.
I spent years in Cumberland Terrace, working in the area from the early to mid-2000s. It was never a great mall, but it had some decent places to pick up lunch, and I did some shopping there on occasion. The Holt Renfrew Centre was better, as was the Manulife Centre. It's sad to see it so desolate now... It's like a time capsule from the 70s.
I know you'd did t show Hillcrest Mall but I don't see the difference between Promanade Mall and Hillcrest. Can't see how Prmomenade and even Center Point is failing
to be fair she's showing them early in the morning by the looks of it. I've been to most of those malls in the past year and they're usually fairly packed after like 1pm especially on weekends.
I live right across King's square. Chinese developed I believe. It absolutely destroyed the evening sunset view over the park, causes a lot of light pollution in the peak of the night, and took years to build. It's still isn't fully completed after a decade or so starting and is underperforming and under financial scrutiny. The mornings are the only peak times of the day, lasting a couple hours.
Cloverdale was quite a nice mall. The gentrification of Sherway Gardens signalled the end of Cloverdale Mall. Woodbine seems to be suffering a similar fate with Yorkdale so close.
Make it into residential housing...Instead of closing down malls and tearing them down to make room for condos, which we don’t really need, why not consider transforming them like some malls have done in the US and around the world? For example, they could convert the interior of the mall into multifunctional residential spaces. This could include small to large apartments, schools, gyms, entertainment areas, and other amenities, but with a primary focus on residential use. It would be a more sustainable and cost-effective solution. Rather than building expensive condos that most people can’t afford, we could keep the existing mall infrastructure and create smaller, affordable apartments (around 25 to 50 square feet or more). These apartments could have easy access to essential services like restaurants, schools, and gyms, all within walking distance. This approach would revitalize the mall, increase community income, and offer affordable housing in areas like the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). In some malls, like those in the US, this model has been a success. By preserving the mall and turning it into a mixed-use residential hub, businesses thrive, and the local economy benefits. We could still keep the mall’s amenities intact and even enhance the space for a better living experience. And as for the parking lot, we could repurpose that or demolish it if necessary. But in the end, this would be a far more effective use of space than building another condominium, which many people can’t afford. Affordable small apartments within a mall could be a game-changer, offering convenience and a sense of community.
They are not designed for residential, and retrofitting would cost way more than tearing down and rebuilding. That's the problem with office buildings as well.
@@mukinfutch1645 The only problem is that people often ask for too much. These places generally already have electricity and plumbing. The staff don’t go to the mall’s bathroom or hunt down electricity. At most, the tasks involve re-plumbing, rewiring, and adding more walls and partitions. Try watching the videos that are already online, where people are happy with the small spaces they have. Stop thinking you need 1,000 square feet and everything that a house has. You only need a small area to do dishes, cook food, have a shower and toilet, think, have a small closet, some electricity, and some light-and of course, four walls and a door. It’s not that hard to accommodate.
You can read my thoughts? Awesome. Never said anything about need 1000sqft. I was just being realistic. Retrofitting is not as easy as you imagine it to be. Its called building code. Look it up before commenting how easy it would be. Way more involved in residential than throwing in power and water lines. Sheesh. Society is really dumbed down. Fantasy has become reality for too many.
@mukinfutch1645 Explain how it’s working in other cities then. Just because it takes a little more effort doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done. Condominiums aren’t necessary. Large houses aren’t necessary. What’s needed is community involvement, togetherness, and tempered expectations. But yeah, bureaucratic red tape always gets in the way. And tearing down perfectly good areas that could be used for multiple purposes-just to build giant condos that cost $4,000 a month? Absolutely worth it. Especially when they sit empty because no one can afford them.
Asian malls tend to open a bit later - most of the foot traffic happens in the afternoon - sometimes elderly folks take the bus to get there at a later time too
Langham Square is local to me so it does get more foot traffic during weekends for sure - there's sushi shops, nail shops and eyeglass stores that get decent traffic over the years those stores have been there for a while
I'm way behind on watching this - good video - But did want to say that you missed the entire "Bloor St" side of Cumberland Terrace - which is the part where there are still businesses, for now anyway! (If you'd kept going downstairs when you said "that way goes back to the subway", instead of going up the stairs to go out, you would've seen it. Not a lot there, but there are a number of expensive tea shops and salons etc, and I think still a Bell store and a Timmies, and the mall entrance to Holt Renfrew is there too across from the underground walkway to Manulife.) 😊
northumberland mall in coubourg is by far the saddest mall in all of north america, looks straight out a scary thriller movie, roof is literally caving in, there’s 4 shops, buckets of water everywhere, filled with crackheads
Hi Tara How are you doing Thanks for this great mall serious. It's a shame that a lot of Malls are dying its the same way here in Calgary we have a few malls here that are not doing good either. My Favorite Mall in this series was Woodbine Mall as i liked shiny the mall flooring was. Thanks again Tara i am catching up with your last few videos as once again i have been very busy with work. Looking forward to the next one .
The Cumberland Terrace opened in 1974. The food court on the lower level used to be more active than it is now. The Bay store at Yonge and Bloor Street closed last year.
Th Shops on Steeles was my local mall growing up in the area. Where the flea market is now, used to be a Sears, and when then that closed it became a Bobby's Liquidation outlet, which closed and ended up moving to Promenade (where it also closed).
pre covid all these malls where thriving, a lot of not at the moment due to the massive cost of living and rent since all the condos have gone in and displaced a lot of parking and affordable living spaces.
Cumberland Terrace... I remember going to the OCA open house decades ago and seeing an "art" project ripping the awful design of the place, and suggesting a remodel. I went through there after seeing that and couldn't argue with the criticism of the layout. It wasn't inviting from the street so there just wasn't much traffic. Unless you knew of a business there why go in? It did not look like a place to visit.
That gym at the Promenade has been there for a while, since I used to go there years ago when I lived in the area. ❤ Edit: Girl, you should have turned left and taken the elevator to the food court. 😂❤ That A&W restaurant was first there, they changed it into McDs, then back to A&W?! How strange. 😅
Oh my, Tara you visited Shops at Steeles and 404, not too far from Yoshi Land is at… And yea, some Malls I do think are not as good when it comes to not many people walking around, I’ve checked though most of them…
Actually, there is 1 other Mall that’s pretty much not very popular, the one that’s also somewhere near Yoshi Land, at Metro Square that one is very less popular since I walked around and not many people except the Food Court attracts a few people there…
The Fantasy Fair was such a badass place as a kid. I remember going into a ball pit arena that was essentially 2 Forts with plastic balls you'd whipped at each other alongside 2 air cannons that launched out the balls you put in. As I say that, It's at 58:56. Its the bottom area to the left of the twisty slide with the yellow hexagon in the wall, that used to have an air cannon. Kids would go into the middle and collect balls for the gun. It was great but it looks like they got rid of it for safety reasons which is lame. Though I remember getting and receiving boo boo's from the force of that cannon and also just attacking kids with plastic balls. Other than that everything else looks the samish, which is insane cause it was nearly 20 years ago.
I was just near yonge & bloor the other day, the subway broke again for the billionth time on my way to work - we gotta figure, almost everything on bloor to spadina that was there for a long time is gone, and I've noticed more and more shops near Yorkville are for rent- not sure where the rich are going these days, but it used to be pretty busy
Woodbine Mall looks just as busy as Yorkdale. They just don’t have common shops as you’d see at a Yorkdale or Sherway. Lol. I’m actually surprised to see how much foot traffic. I haven’t been in a longgg time. They redid the tiles. It actually looks good. All that mall needs is an Old Navy, Sephora, H&M, bring back Shoppers Drug Mart and maybe a shoe store like Call it Spring or Aldo and that mall will be alive like it was in the 90s and early 2000s. It’s just lacking stores that we all know. It doesn’t even need to be all of those stores, one or two of them will bring the mall back “alive” 100%.
Tara, you should explore Dufferin Mall next. Though its probably much busier than the malls in this video. It would be an interesting experience as it changed a lot since I used to go there in the late 90's and early 2000's. If you prefer smaller and less busier malls, Lawrence Square would also be great choice.
I heard Cumberland mall will be demolished and redeveloped. There are signs outside the building regarding the redevelopment. I guess the lease have expired, that is why the stores are gone.
I used to go to Fantasy Fair all the time! Favourite place. But oddly, never explored the mall much. It would have been nice to visit it once more before I moved out of the area....lots of amazing memories there. Closest thing to West Edmonton Mall we have, which doesn't even compare! I wouldn't miss Cloverdale, but this? Yes.
Between COVID and the fact that many of the Mall charge rediculous rates for rent, forcing ronovations if a store wants to renew(on the stores dime), as well as a percentage of profits. They also don't try to keep the long established tenants... profitable or not doesn't matter. They often also try to bring in lager stores, or stores that take up more "Units"... this cuts down on selection in the malls. FYI... CenterPoint is NOT 2 floors... it's closing due to greed. As are so many smaller malls and strip malls... if they are doing OK or not. Especially when the location is good, like CenterPoint for example.
Woodbine Mall looks busy. An architecturally hideous mall with a few empty units and flea shop-quality stores that reflect the neighbourhood for sure, but the food court and Fantasy Fair looked busy. I would say that malls are dying because of online shopping and the death of department stores, plus the fact that kids today have much more to do than hang around a mall. When I was a high school kid in Mississauga, the highlight was hangaing around Square One. Speaking of Mississauga, you missed Sheridan Centre, which fits the definition of a dying mall.
Other than Honeydale, which is 100 percent dead and no longer open to public, I would say Sheridan Centre (or Sherwood Village as they are trying to rebrand it) is probably the deadest mall in the Toronto area (if you exclude smaller malls like Cumberland Terrace)
This is the longest stretch of video detailing Toronto retail without a single obvious pot shop in frame that I've seen in years.
Agreed filmer did a bad job
facts!
Are they usually in malls? I can't say I've seen one inside a mall.
a lot of the malls in this video are in York Region, where cannabis stores are banned.
There was going to be a Tokyo Smoke inside Lime Ridge Mall, but they relocated elsewhere.
You can blame Amazon all you want but in my opinion the retailers are more to blame. I spent full day driving around to a couple different malls with specific products I needed to buy. Best Buy didn't have the thing that they were advertising was on sale, but they told me they can order it online, I told them I can order online too, from Amazon, and cheaper. I ended up going to Indigo looking for a book, they don't have books at Indigo anymore, they have cutsie pencils wrapped in ribbons, they told me they can order the book I want online, I told them I can do that as well from Amazon and cheaper and quicker. I went to Canadian Tire to buy something I needed, again they don't have it in store I have to order it online. If they're going to push people like me away, that like shopping in person, then they are the ones to blame for closing down.
Retailers are arrogantly staying open with existing prices to trap the non-tech savvy consumer who has no clue on how to cross-compare prices or buy online. (i.e. a elderly or person who does not trust online shopping w/ a credit card). It boils my blood to see Customer Service treat their remaining in-store shoppers like idiots just because they can't and won't buy online.
Good point, and also the quality of customer service has gone down the toilet, even if you're not an elder, they are many times rude, or lack any knowledge of something you want to buy.
exactly, even close retailers dont carry all sizes anymore, they might have a small and a medium, the rest you have to order online. The point of getting it in store is that you can go and try it on, but if you cant even do that...
Totally agree with you. Amazon sells at the same price as Walmart, and I get free delivery. So as a senior this works for me. Like you, so many people like to get out and about, so sad.
@@p_eople6789 Where do you live? I look forward to being your new local porch pirate, lol Thanks for the stuff!!
FYI, while Asian malls are opened in the morning, most the shop keepers will open their stores in the noon time or later.
agreed, King Square, while it is kind of dying, still gets some traffic when you go to the mall when shops are actually open.
@@downtrodder048 ikr the supermarket isnt even open yet in this video LOOL
These need to be explored at peak times like Saturday afternoon
try visiting the path on weekends :D
@@tsejrometerrifying experience. ive done that when i was familiarizing with my soon to be university commute route
Some literally aren't open on weekends.
@@Sunny-yg2pq Are you by chance attending Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson U?) The PATH actually gets significantly worse during morning rush hour between 7 - 8 am with all the students and workers clogging up the way from Dundas subway station. Even worse during the winter when almost nobody wants to take the street level exit due to the cold.
@@_Just_Another_Guy yes i do attend. i dont have much a problem with the morning rush, a portion of people take the ttc, and on very rare occasion i decide to walk the entire way. i have no complaints other than it being a very lonely isolated and boring environment to be in.
Woodbine Mall brings up some nice memories with me. I used to frequent this mall often in the 00s, and it's movie theater, was one of the go-to places for many different movies released around that time. It was a cozy type of theater. Going over this with the camera, especially in the basement around the cinema was nice to see the whole area again. Thanks for posting this video.
Woodbine Mall looks so bright and dark at the same time lol walk in and hope you don't get robbed in that first scene lol one of the more nicely kept malls in the city
fantasy fair and woodbine mall are a staple!
I share those same memories
Langham Square is a smaller version of Pacific Mall, it’s part of a complex that includes a condo, it’s not a dying mall at all. In fact you can never find parking when you go there. The time spent here could’ve been used on a truly dying mall, like cederbae, eglinton square etc.
From the looks of it, it was PRETTY early in the morning there. There were some LONG shadows being cast by the sunrise.
Eglinton Square is dying? I swear it's still filled by the elderly every time I go to that food Court
@@Merglet ya when most shops open at 10-11 its odd coming in at 8-9am right when the doors open and complaining everything is closed is kinda weird LOL
Cedarbrae isn't that dead. Nearing noon and 3pm is when it picks up in my experience
Cloverdale Mall doesn't look like its dying. It just isn't very crowded and that is a good thing for shoppers.
On the other hand, the old Honeydale Mall across the street is definitely as dead as a doornail and should be torn down and replaced with an exstension of the subway from Kipling.
Was this recorded during covid or something?
I live near Cloverdale and it's rarely this empty.
I can barely find parking sometimes.
That's because there are no Chinese stores or Chinese owned off-brand mom and pop shops. Only main stream or high end stores. I see a muji sign or any Chinese writing on a sign and I abandon the whole mall.
@@Lornefs Seems like a Tuesday at 2pm type video - I agree that otherwise this mall has some decent activity usually.
Game Hoard left Cloverdale, but it still has many essentials and a comic book shop.
The Malls that are doing well are Yorkdale, Scarborough Town Centre, Fairview Mall, Eaton Centre, Vaughn Mills, Bayview Village, Markville Mall, Square One and Sherway Gardens. Everything else in between will eventually be mostly gone.
No not really other major malls are doing good also such as Pickering town centre, BCC, Oakville centre, Erin mills town centre, upper Canada mall and others not mentioned!
@codechrist This video was specifically about Toronto Malls.
@ but you have malls listed there that are not in Toronto 🤔… square one Shopping Center, Markville mall and Vaughan Mills mall.
Toronto doesn't really have many truly dead malls, like you'd see in the Buffalo area for example, more common are malls like Centrepoint that are actually still sort of doing OK but are doomed to be redeveloped anyway because of the value of the land they are sitting on
The Promenade opened as an upscale mall, with Eaton’s, Sears and Bretton’s as anchors. There was a lovely Harridge’s - the main store was on Bloor Street - and a fine restaurant, “The Daily Planet”, as well as a branch of the Pickle Barrel. There still is an excellent food court, and a theatre complex. There were, and are nice shoe stores and dress shops. Those little markets are lots of fun. The mall is extremely well kept, and a magnet for young families on Sundays. While it did not sustain its high-end aspirations, it is still delightful, with attractive retailers and a lovely, welcoming ambiance.
I remember when H&M, Aritzia, Old Navy, and more just to name a few still occupied the mall. Even a Starbucks, and it was very busy when I went in 2017-2019.. after Cadillac Fairview sold it, it died out a lot.
Man, I remember that Wolco. The videogames section right beside the escalator with the rad LED Nintendo sign.
Promenade is getting back on track now.
A lot of the Asian mall stores don't open their doors till 12pm. And they're usually closed by 6pm or 7pm
I remember Cumberland Terrace when it was an upscale mall decades ago. I used to work and shop downtown but I stopped going downtown when I moved to North York and got a job in Scarborough. In addition, I was busy with a young family and did not have the leisure to wander around. In the early 2000’s our offices moved downtown and I was shocked to see how Bloor Street had transformed. Maybe a few years later, I wandered into Cumberland Terrace and was again shocked to see so many empty stores. Now, it is practically dead. I don’t know why there are still the odd store there.
The Promenade has one of the worst front facades of any mall. All that brick work and little windows make it look like some sort of light industrial building. The first few times I've passed by the place I thought it was some sort of industrial complex.
Centerpoint- formally Town & Country, as a newborn this was my first mall, as we lived across the street. I miss the old movie theater where I saw countless movies, a Woolco with 2 floors. Shops on Steeles, formally known as Markham Place, also lived across the street and went to school in the area. I'm geeking out on the nostalgia here!
Do u happen to have photos of Markham marketplace?
@ClintScottFischer I grew up near Centerpoint too! Remember Zellers? The payphones? Laterna Greek food across the street?
@@TanyaKatherine laterna is still there
I used to work @ the theaters after school.
@@troillandford7679
yes it is. I said that wondering if OP moved away and it was a common memory with an internet stranger haha. Glad you know of it too. It is a Yonge and Steeles landmark!
Excellent video and channel content! Thanks and subscribed.
It's good to see at least some locations like CenterPoint Mall are getting a healthy amount of traffic, but very sad to see the state of other dormant malls.
I mean, you're also coming during a time when the stores aren't open. Can't really call it failing malls, without seeing how they are during high traffic times.
lol the fact that they aren't open on weekends and at night is failing
They only open 9-5 on weekdays 😅
It's less crowded but I really can't say it looks that much different from about 10 years ago when I had a brief summer job there.
Thanks for this video as it brought back so many childhood memories.
Thank you for the nostalgia trip! I have some thoughts about these malls:
Cumberland Terrace - it's been a slow, slow death for that mall. My friend's parents own the Asia Art and Interior that was having a retirement sale.
King's Square - had some really bad timing, as I believe they were set to open in summer 2020. Glad you showed the sports centre there though - I thought they had dedicated pickleball courts but it looks like an all-purpose court.
Langham Square doesn't really seem to be failing, if I'm being honest. It's just gonna be dead at 9am. If you go to Pacific Mall or First Markham Place it's the same way.
Promenade used to be a pretty popular mall, with an Eaton's and a Sears. And they've basically never been fully able to replace it. The T&T is pretty big, and I do like that there's a Jollibee there now.
Centrepoint is interesting because they've had a Target and a Lowes, which of course did not work out in Canada. And it's in a prominent spot - Yonge and Steeles, which you'd think would create a lot more foot traffic once the subway goes up there.
I don't think the Shoppes on Steeles has ever been a big deal or anything. They had a Sears and (going way back) a Marks and Spencer, but that's basically it. It does have the OG Congee Queen outside though.
Used to take my kids to Fantasy Fair. Not the greatest amusement park in the world, but I can't complain too much seeing as it's indoors and out of the elements. And the carousel is legit one of the nicest I've seen. Also used to work near here so I was for a while, rather acquainted with the food court.
I used to work as a security guard at Cumberland Terrance 30 years ago. The management was very restrictive. The stores had to open and close at a certain time or get fined. Security was in charge of the checks. I thought it was ridiculous. How can you thrive as a business closing at 6-7pm and closed by 3 or 5 on weekends. But of course there were stories to tell about the place, especially stairwells and crack dealers. Not to mention the men’s bathroom that was monitored due to salacious activity. It looks like it’s the same way it was then, nothing changed. Don’t know why it took as long as it did to move everyone out. They should make it a recreational spot or theatre or even a place to shelter for the homeless. That mall is really dark too so imagining it converted to condos or office space would be depressing for many if they lived or worked there. It’s in a great downtown area though. It’s just in an odd void. And yes I remember the smell, a mix of grease, food & urine.
I didn't even know I wanted this content. Thanks for this.
Ok, second comment as I got about halfway through the video and am turning it off. I'm not saying all of these malls have futures, but going to them either right when they open or in some cases before the stores open does not provide a fair picture. 10 AM on a Tuesday is great for what you want this video to be, but not a fair representation.
It would be good to include the day of week and time you are going. Some places like the PATH when you are there after 6PM or on a weekend are a total ghost town, despite being super packed during the week and business hours.
Parkview Mall (Vic Park and Ellesmere), Eglinton Square ( in the Golden Mile), Gerrard Square (Gerrard and Pape) are a few that could be mentioned.
I used to live by woodbine mall 20 years ago. I think I last went there 15 years ago. They were just adding the kids section, (they only had the Ferris wheel and I don’t think it even worked) but it was a really dead mall even then. It’s nice to see all the kids and families enjoying themselves. Not sure many people really know that it has that. I also went to the movie theatre there. It’s small but nice. Love the flooring there too. That must have been done within the last decade because I don’t remember that. It’s probably the nicest mall from the whole video.
Stores in Asian malls almost always open late. Noon would be the norm for allot of stores. Langham does have lots of stores in the parking but u have to actually go into the garage to access them its wierd.
Agincourt mall was my childhood. Crazy to see it in the wild in a video like this
What time are you exploring these malls? Most malls (even Eaton Center) don't pick up in foot traffic until the noon-ish time.
I miss Toronto. I went there in 2010 to pursue filmmaking…I miss those times. The culture and places there was awesome. Time have changed. I’m living back on the island..where there’s nothing. Way different than in Toronto. I miss it. I never thought the world would change so much since. The cost of living is so high now it would make living in Toronto very difficult.
Retail is ending, because nowadays you can buy anything online. Which is good.
But…we lost a lot along the way. And it’s sad. 😔
Toronto is suffering greatly from shrinking infrastructure thanks to unchecked residential development, and I hate seeing how it's impacting my city. I welcome anyone who wants to call Toronto home and I can stomach an increased population density across the city, but it's maddening to see our schools, grocery stores, public transport, parks and just public space in general getting stretched past their limits just to satisfy the greed of real estate investors
I really enjoy your touring videos! The book stores were very interesting ... I would love to see tours that demonstrate Toronto's eclectic nature :-)
I hate having to leave Toronto, I visit all the time but work in Moncton. It's nice that people record walking around.
This was an interesting and very well done video of Toronto's dying malls ! 😊
Weirdly, I go to King Square Shopping Centre a lot just for the Thai curry pizza place in the back. Noticed it right away in the thumbnail lol
It's snowy and rainy today in Markham so I'm glad this got recommended to me - feels like I'm out :)
I love dead mall videos
I think it has been a common thing that malls will open their exterior doors long before the stores do... I can remember a few times in my youth, going to Square One in Mississauga, before the stores were open (like 2-3 hours) and walking around the mall. That was more than 20 years ago.
For Centrepoint mall, where the No Frills is now, it used to be a Woolco. On the other end of the mall, it was a Loblaws. Walmart wouldn't take the Woolco space, so Loblaws (owner of No Frills) moved into the Woolco space, freeing up the Loblaws space, which became a Zellers (owned by the Bay)
Sadly, when Target bought Zellers, it didn't help. Target left Canada anyway, leaving a hole to fill, so whatever is there now is whatever it is...I think it's the computer store? (Not Canadian tire-that has been there since the beginning of time, it seems...)
*No Frills was a Loblaws for a short while before converting over to No Frills.
*Also, the Woolco used to have an escalator. When Loblaws took over they must have decided not to use the second floor for customer use.
The Bay has an escalator.
@@KW-hr8rp That store was empty for a while, then became a Lowes, then Canada Computers.
Woww, so fascinating. Thank you for doing this!
I have many fond memories of going to the now long-gone JJ Muggs at Woodbine for various childhood birthdays. I’m pleasantly surprised at how busy and well-maintained the Fantasy Fair is. I figured that most of the rides were gone or no longer in operation.
Woodbine was a really fun place at one point. The movie theater, arcade, plus fantasy fair. Like you said JJ Muggs. Now it's mostly just a bunch of discount type shops. Dollarama etc.
We used to go to JJ Muggs for birthday parties in the mid 90s with our friends. We had some great memories.
I’d love to see Woodbine make a full, true comeback. They’ve been teasing it for over a decade & it looks like it’s slowly coming to fruition, if they don’t build condos like you said. They’ve implemented stores, attractions & overall cleaned up the place to look a lot more appealing than it was pre covid that have kept it afloat. fantasy fair has also probably been the only reason it’s never gone under, including the improved theatre that I still go to occasionally for cheaper tickets & better seating. I’m also wondering if restaurants will be included in the near future if they stay, because they were once a staple at Woodbine. With the developments in that area I assume within the next 5 years it’ll be back to, or at the very least close to where it was in its prime. So many memories of Woodbine, lots of Saturdays spent there with the family. I still go there if I gotta pick something up that I know would be there, and the food court has always been a go to
I've been to the Woodbine recently and I don't see any clean ups
i work very close to cumberland terrace, that food court has teriyaki open sometimes and a couple of the indian/jamaican places open during the week, though inconsistently. i've also seen the shawarma place open once in my 2 years in the area
Cumberland Terrace is still there? I thought that was supposed to be demolished a decade ago. I used to stop there and get lunch when I worked downtown.That glass thing tucked in the corner of the outside windows at 1:46 used to be a Korean restaurant.
For a dead mall, I spend a LOT of time in Cumberland Terrace, but it's just to get from Bloor-Yonge station to the Manulife Centre Indigo without going outside when it's cold.
so the very first mall (0:27 Cumberland Terrace) I actually visit very often. By which I mean if you find your way out, but not into the TTC, you'll find a DIFFERENT mall, with a holt renfrew , eataly, earl's , the cineplex, etc. I go there for dinner and movies often
i think those bigger stores and the upstairs area ate all of the cumberland terrace stores :(
I used to work inside the woodbine center at Fantasy Fair. I worked operating the rides and working in the arcade there from 2003 to 2007 when I was a teenager. It really hasn't changed a whole lot, besides maybe the bumper boats being replaced by another ride and the additions of those dinosaurs and rock climbing.
I used to go there all the time as a kid in the late 80s and early 90s as well, and I think most of the rides and appearance is even similar from back then as well.
Most of these malls are probably still really busy on the weekend, i remember during the week these malls weren't as busy even in the early 2000s, but on the weekend, it'd be packed.
As I live right down the street from the Promenade Mall, it failed big time.
The Flea Market at Shops 404 & Steels
WAS A SEARS
Was a full line Sears then converted to furniture outlet, then outlet store
@@cyyzlucas Yes I Remember 🙂
@@davidbrowne3761 do u happen to have old photos of it?
@@davidbrowne3761 Nobody remembers the short lived liquidation store that was there? It wasn't all that great, so maybe that's why it is gone. 😆
I completely forgot about Cumberland Terrace! Didn't they have a theater too?
25:25 did not expect to see Promenade
Ah good ol' high school memories in that mall
Same it’s nostalgic, perhaps we’ve met each other?
@@julianstone1192 Graduated StE in 2015 so- who knows :D
Wow Cloverdale mall has improved! How ever it's been 27 years since I was there last.
Thanks for the extensive video - how did you shoot it, like with what? To me, it's so surprising to see no one staring at you, especially while you're talking. What are your secrets? Please and thanks!
Centrepoint mall still gets PACKED during holidays, its crazy.
Parkway mall in Scarborough also has a Home Hardware store in it.
The subway entrance you saw at Cumberland Terrace also leads to the bottom level.
Some dying Toronto area malls I know of... "Shoppes of the Parkway" - it's hidden under a hotel convention center, nobody even knows it exists, and "The Shoppes on Steeles and 404" which died when Sears disappeared. In Hamilton, City Centre mall was a bright modern mall literally connected to the much older, darker, uglier Jackson Square mall. It died while Jackson Square somehow continues on (but I'd still call it half-dead). Also, Kitchener's Market Square is a very dead, dead mall.
These dead malls are kinda sad to think about it. The Amazon and online shopping and streaming of media albums, movies etc. made it so hard for these shops and malls to compete. Now it's click and next day you have it no need to go out and shop in person almost....
Buying music online like iTunes during the early to mid 2000's was what forced Sam The Record Man on Bloor St. to unfortunately shut down. That was the only big music store in downtown Toronto that specialized in selling vinyl records of quite a lot of variety of music.
I've been to that place. It's scary and sketchy, minus the food court. You can just enter and exit that part.
I hope you have a partner with you on these trips, Tara. I was on the edge of my SEAT when you were traveling in what seemed like, deserted areas and not a soul in site. I was worried for you.
Langham Square is a little treasure for hobby lovers. There are around 5 stores that specialized in Japanese anime figure / TCG. The price is also reasonable. The stores are opened late and closed early in weekday. It is pretty crowed in weekend and not easy to find a parking spot.
I remember when Centrepoint Mall used to have a movie theater back in the 90's, right by the food court
I spent years in Cumberland Terrace, working in the area from the early to mid-2000s. It was never a great mall, but it had some decent places to pick up lunch, and I did some shopping there on occasion. The Holt Renfrew Centre was better, as was the Manulife Centre. It's sad to see it so desolate now... It's like a time capsule from the 70s.
Woodbine Mall was the place to be as a kid back in the 80s.
Are you there on a weekend? It's probably busier during rush hour
Seems to be that he is there early morning on the weekdays.
Shoppes at Steeles and 404 was previously known as Markham Place. The anchors were Sears and Miracle Food Mart.
I REALLY miss Miracle mart! That was a great place to shop! Looked like a Metro, but acted (price wise) like a Basics. It truly was a miracle. lol
I know you'd did t show Hillcrest Mall but I don't see the difference between Promanade Mall and Hillcrest. Can't see how Prmomenade and even Center Point is failing
One sided view for them not seeing the whole thing
to be fair she's showing them early in the morning by the looks of it. I've been to most of those malls in the past year and they're usually fairly packed after like 1pm especially on weekends.
I live right across King's square. Chinese developed I believe. It absolutely destroyed the evening sunset view over the park, causes a lot of light pollution in the peak of the night, and took years to build. It's still isn't fully completed after a decade or so starting and is underperforming and under financial scrutiny. The mornings are the only peak times of the day, lasting a couple hours.
Cloverdale was quite a nice mall. The gentrification of Sherway Gardens signalled the end of Cloverdale Mall.
Woodbine seems to be suffering a similar fate with Yorkdale so close.
Make it into residential housing...Instead of closing down malls and tearing them down to make room for condos, which we don’t really need, why not consider transforming them like some malls have done in the US and around the world? For example, they could convert the interior of the mall into multifunctional residential spaces. This could include small to large apartments, schools, gyms, entertainment areas, and other amenities, but with a primary focus on residential use. It would be a more sustainable and cost-effective solution.
Rather than building expensive condos that most people can’t afford, we could keep the existing mall infrastructure and create smaller, affordable apartments (around 25 to 50 square feet or more). These apartments could have easy access to essential services like restaurants, schools, and gyms, all within walking distance. This approach would revitalize the mall, increase community income, and offer affordable housing in areas like the GTA (Greater Toronto Area).
In some malls, like those in the US, this model has been a success. By preserving the mall and turning it into a mixed-use residential hub, businesses thrive, and the local economy benefits. We could still keep the mall’s amenities intact and even enhance the space for a better living experience. And as for the parking lot, we could repurpose that or demolish it if necessary. But in the end, this would be a far more effective use of space than building another condominium, which many people can’t afford. Affordable small apartments within a mall could be a game-changer, offering convenience and a sense of community.
They are not designed for residential, and retrofitting would cost way more than tearing down and rebuilding. That's the problem with office buildings as well.
@@mukinfutch1645 The only problem is that people often ask for too much. These places generally already have electricity and plumbing. The staff don’t go to the mall’s bathroom or hunt down electricity. At most, the tasks involve re-plumbing, rewiring, and adding more walls and partitions. Try watching the videos that are already online, where people are happy with the small spaces they have. Stop thinking you need 1,000 square feet and everything that a house has. You only need a small area to do dishes, cook food, have a shower and toilet, think, have a small closet, some electricity, and some light-and of course, four walls and a door. It’s not that hard to accommodate.
You can read my thoughts? Awesome. Never said anything about need 1000sqft. I was just being realistic. Retrofitting is not as easy as you imagine it to be. Its called building code. Look it up before commenting how easy it would be. Way more involved in residential than throwing in power and water lines. Sheesh. Society is really dumbed down. Fantasy has become reality for too many.
@mukinfutch1645 Explain how it’s working in other cities then. Just because it takes a little more effort doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done. Condominiums aren’t necessary. Large houses aren’t necessary. What’s needed is community involvement, togetherness, and tempered expectations.
But yeah, bureaucratic red tape always gets in the way. And tearing down perfectly good areas that could be used for multiple purposes-just to build giant condos that cost $4,000 a month? Absolutely worth it. Especially when they sit empty because no one can afford them.
Asian malls tend to open a bit later - most of the foot traffic happens in the afternoon - sometimes elderly folks take the bus to get there at a later time too
At the same time it's also not that packed when it's open
Langham Square is local to me so it does get more foot traffic during weekends for sure - there's sushi shops, nail shops and eyeglass stores that get decent traffic over the years
those stores have been there for a while
I'm way behind on watching this - good video - But did want to say that you missed the entire "Bloor St" side of Cumberland Terrace - which is the part where there are still businesses, for now anyway!
(If you'd kept going downstairs when you said "that way goes back to the subway", instead of going up the stairs to go out, you would've seen it. Not a lot there, but there are a number of expensive tea shops and salons etc, and I think still a Bell store and a Timmies, and the mall entrance to Holt Renfrew is there too across from the underground walkway to Manulife.) 😊
I live at king and Yonge. The path is full of stores. So I never notice this.
northumberland mall in coubourg is by far the saddest mall in all of north america, looks straight out a scary thriller movie, roof is literally caving in, there’s 4 shops, buckets of water everywhere, filled with crackheads
Promenade is still alive it has a T&T Supermarket , DollarRama
Sherway mall in Mississauga was pretty busy today.
Toronto *
@@nicholash1758 Yes. Toronto has a much higher population than Mississauga, so it is slightly weird they have less ppl in the malls.
Hi Tara How are you doing Thanks for this great mall serious. It's a shame that a lot of Malls are dying its the same way here in Calgary we have a few malls here that are not doing good either. My Favorite Mall in this series was Woodbine Mall as i liked shiny the mall flooring was.
Thanks again Tara i am catching up with your last few videos as once again i have been very busy with work. Looking forward to the next one .
Wow i haven't been to Promenade mall in years...i use to work in Old Navy 2002-2005ish ....looks like its now Designer Row?
Centerpoint looks pretty busy. There is a plan to redevelop the land into mixed-use, though.
The Cumberland Terrace opened in 1974. The food court on the lower level used to be more active than it is now. The Bay store at Yonge and Bloor Street closed last year.
I didn’t know The Bay a Bloor Yonge closed.
Th Shops on Steeles was my local mall growing up in the area. Where the flea market is now, used to be a Sears, and when then that closed it became a Bobby's Liquidation outlet, which closed and ended up moving to Promenade (where it also closed).
Do u have photos of the old mall when it opened or back then? I have a couple of when the Sears opened, but looking for interior shors
Cumberland Terrance actually leads to the many life centre if you kept walking and it’s just the path south down to union mostly underground
pre covid all these malls where thriving, a lot of not at the moment due to the massive cost of living and rent since all the condos have gone in and displaced a lot of parking and affordable living spaces.
I have lived in Toronto for a long time and never heard of some of these.
Try the Vietnamese bun place at the second mall, its good. The wonton place next to it is also good too. At 6:30
Cumberland Terrace... I remember going to the OCA open house decades ago and seeing an "art" project ripping the awful design of the place, and suggesting a remodel. I went through there after seeing that and couldn't argue with the criticism of the layout. It wasn't inviting from the street so there just wasn't much traffic. Unless you knew of a business there why go in? It did not look like a place to visit.
I think Cumberland Terrance will be developed soon
That gym at the Promenade has been there for a while, since I used to go there years ago when I lived in the area. ❤
Edit: Girl, you should have turned left and taken the elevator to the food court. 😂❤
That A&W restaurant was first there, they changed it into McDs, then back to A&W?! How strange. 😅
Oh my, Tara you visited Shops at Steeles and 404, not too far from Yoshi Land is at…
And yea, some Malls I do think are not as good when it comes to not many people walking around, I’ve checked though most of them…
Actually, there is 1 other Mall that’s pretty much not very popular, the one that’s also somewhere near Yoshi Land, at Metro Square that one is very less popular since I walked around and not many people except the Food Court attracts a few people there…
This reminds me of the sad situation at the South Shore Plaza in Braintree, Mass. A lot of stores have closed there.
Good watch, thanks for sharing 😊❤ I'm from Toronto too
Some of the dying malls. Could be useful for filming in for up coming movies. Hoping that the filming company will use them.
The Fantasy Fair was such a badass place as a kid. I remember going into a ball pit arena that was essentially 2 Forts with plastic balls you'd whipped at each other alongside 2 air cannons that launched out the balls you put in.
As I say that, It's at 58:56. Its the bottom area to the left of the twisty slide with the yellow hexagon in the wall, that used to have an air cannon. Kids would go into the middle and collect balls for the gun. It was great but it looks like they got rid of it for safety reasons which is lame. Though I remember getting and receiving boo boo's from the force of that cannon and also just attacking kids with plastic balls. Other than that everything else looks the samish, which is insane cause it was nearly 20 years ago.
I always used to enjoy the Cumberland Terrace. Shame to see it so desolate.
According to Google maps, there is a sign on the wall suggesting change-big tall buildings coming to the land Cumberland Terrace occupies.
I was just near yonge & bloor the other day, the subway broke again for the billionth time on my way to work - we gotta figure, almost everything on bloor to spadina that was there for a long time is gone, and I've noticed more and more shops near Yorkville are for rent- not sure where the rich are going these days, but it used to be pretty busy
Woodbine Mall looks just as busy as Yorkdale. They just don’t have common shops as you’d see at a Yorkdale or Sherway. Lol. I’m actually surprised to see how much foot traffic. I haven’t been in a longgg time. They redid the tiles. It actually looks good.
All that mall needs is an Old Navy, Sephora, H&M, bring back Shoppers Drug Mart and maybe a shoe store like Call it Spring or Aldo and that mall will be alive like it was in the 90s and early 2000s. It’s just lacking stores that we all know. It doesn’t even need to be all of those stores, one or two of them will bring the mall back “alive” 100%.
Tara, you should explore Dufferin Mall next. Though its probably much busier than the malls in this video. It would be an interesting experience as it changed a lot since I used to go there in the late 90's and early 2000's. If you prefer smaller and less busier malls, Lawrence Square would also be great choice.
Is Galleria Mall officially dead?
@@EmmaBadOneI think it’s been demolished 😢
Just waiting for them to say that Vaughn Mills Mall or the PATH (Worlds largest underground shopping complex) is a dying mall as well.
The clown is from 'Killer Klowns From Outer Space'. The other statue is a Martian from 'Mars Attacks!'
I heard Cumberland mall will be demolished and redeveloped. There are signs outside the building regarding the redevelopment. I guess the lease have expired, that is why the stores are gone.
I love cloverdale, so many childhood memories.
I used to go to Fantasy Fair all the time! Favourite place. But oddly, never explored the mall much. It would have been nice to visit it once more before I moved out of the area....lots of amazing memories there. Closest thing to West Edmonton Mall we have, which doesn't even compare! I wouldn't miss Cloverdale, but this? Yes.
Towne & Country aka Centre Point was always one floor never two outside of a dental office and administrative.
Between COVID and the fact that many of the Mall charge rediculous rates for rent, forcing ronovations if a store wants to renew(on the stores dime), as well as a percentage of profits.
They also don't try to keep the long established tenants... profitable or not doesn't matter.
They often also try to bring in lager stores, or stores that take up more "Units"... this cuts down on selection in the malls.
FYI... CenterPoint is NOT 2 floors... it's closing due to greed.
As are so many smaller malls and strip malls... if they are doing OK or not. Especially when the location is good, like CenterPoint for example.
Woodbine Mall looks busy. An architecturally hideous mall with a few empty units and flea shop-quality stores that reflect the neighbourhood for sure, but the food court and Fantasy Fair looked busy. I would say that malls are dying because of online shopping and the death of department stores, plus the fact that kids today have much more to do than hang around a mall. When I was a high school kid in Mississauga, the highlight was hangaing around Square One. Speaking of Mississauga, you missed Sheridan Centre, which fits the definition of a dying mall.
Was better in the 80s
Other than Honeydale, which is 100 percent dead and no longer open to public, I would say Sheridan Centre (or Sherwood Village as they are trying to rebrand it) is probably the deadest mall in the Toronto area (if you exclude smaller malls like Cumberland Terrace)
@@sacvideo1998 yeah that one looks as dead as a lot of malls just across the border in buffalo.