Dead/Decaying Malls of Greater Toronto

[Towered]

I've heard rumours that it will be torn down soon and turned into a expanded and wider space for the Gardiner and an expanded off ramp at Kipling, but these are rumours.

I certainly hope there's no truth to that. Society has made more than enough needless sacrifices to car culture.

 

[ShonTron]

I've heard rumours that it will be torn down soon and turned into a expanded and wider space for the Gardiner and an expanded off ramp at Kipling, but these are rumours.

I've heard that too, as the current Kipling off-ramp is substandard - a gentler and wider approach would be required to bring it up to modern standards, as it was originally a northbound-only ramp. But will only require a sliver of land - the rest of the property will most likely become condos and townhouses, like much of the rest of that section of the Queensway.

 

[Northern Light]

I've heard that too, as the current Kipling off-ramp is substandard - a gentler and wider approach would be required to bring it up to modern standards, as it was originally a northbound-only ramp. But will only require a sliver of land - the rest of the property will most likely become condos and townhouses, like much of the rest of that section of the Queensway.

The curved on-ramp portion (north to west) should be made a hard right, removing any on-street acceleration lane and making it safer for pedestrians. Ideally the south-to-west ramp would be similarly aligned, either a hard right or left to access the highway, removing the angled divergence/acceleration lane.

We can't waste opportunities such as this to fix the dangers to pedestrians and cyclists in our road system.

 

[innsertnamehere]

I've heard that too, as the current Kipling off-ramp is substandard - a gentler and wider approach would be required to bring it up to modern standards, as it was originally a northbound-only ramp. But will only require a sliver of land - the rest of the property will most likely become condos and townhouses, like much of the rest of that section of the Queensway.

It is indeed the plan and my understanding is that it is funded as a part of the Gardiner Expressway rehabilitation project, though that stretch of the Gardiner isn't scheduled to be reconstructed for another little while.

I believe they plan on adding an additional lane westbound from Park Lawn to the collector/express split as well as from the collector/express merge to Lake Shore eastbound to improve traffic flow, though that does not require any land takes like the Kipling interchange improvements do.

edit: here is the report:

https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2012/pw/bgrd/backgroundfile-45956.pdf

 

[thettctransitfanatic]

Here's the Zellers Outlet in the Kipling Queensway Mall, which closes soon. You almost have a "what year is it?" moment before walking in. And yes, I know the thread isn't specifically about the store but it's certainly "dead and decaying" in there!

 

[kade1064]

woodbine mall in Toronto is pretty much dead but the food court is FIRE

 

[JasonParis]

Eeek, not even matching furniture anymore.

 

[Towered]

Eeek, not even matching furniture anymore.

Yup - a quick stroll through the place clearly shows an ambivalent owner that gave up on the place years ago.

 

[Northern Light]

Not exactly pertinent to this proposal; but as I don't feel this merits its own thread, I'll stick it here:

Toronto Public Library has a signed a new lease, for a relocated, and drastically expanded library branch at Bridlewood Mall.

They will go from ~8,000ft 2 to ~20,000ft2.

In addition, they will be co-located (directly abutting) a large new lease by the City of Toronto's Employment and Social Services division (TESS), who are taking 33,000ft2.

So between the two agencies/departments they will have 53,000ft2 on the upper level of the mall.

Fixturing (subject to the relevant approvals) will be begin July 2021, with opening by September 2022.

Of note in all this is that it may has some relationship to broader plans for the mall.

First, the Library Board Report: https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca...h-relocation-new-lease-agreement-combined.pdf

From said report:

The new lease term is 20 years, suggesting that there is no intent to revisit the development of the portion of the mall to which the Library and TESS are moving in the near-term future.

 

[ShonTron]

The Walmart at Mississauga's Westwood Mall is going to close, along with five other stores in Canada:

Malton, ON, Hamilton (County Fair), ON, Calgary (Deer Valley) AB, Edmonton (Abbotsfield) AB, Kitchener East (ON), St. John’s South, Nfld

Part of a larger announcement that includes several conversions of existing locations to Supercentres, and some store reconfigurations:

Walmart Canada invests a record $500 million to modernize stores across the country

Mississauga, ON, March 15, 2021 – Walmart Canada is investing over $500 million this year in its store network, with a focus on refurbishing and refreshing stores in communities across the country. This is the largest yearly investment in store upgrades Walmart Canada has made as it continues…

www.walmartcanada.ca

The Hamilton-County Fair location is in a mostly unrenovated former Woolco on Mohawk Road, while Kitchener East is a smaller store at Stanley Park Mall. Westwood Mall is a full Supercentre that was a complete rebuild.

 

[Richard White]

The Walmart at Mississauga's Westwood Mall is going to close, along with five other stores in Canada:

Malton, ON, Hamilton (County Fair), ON, Calgary (Deer Valley) AB, Edmonton (Abbotsfield) AB, Kitchener East (ON), St. John’s South, Nfld

Part of a larger announcement that includes several conversions of existing locations to Supercentres, and some store reconfigurations:

Walmart Canada invests a record $500 million to modernize stores across the country

Mississauga, ON, March 15, 2021 – Walmart Canada is investing over $500 million this year in its store network, with a focus on refurbishing and refreshing stores in communities across the country. This is the largest yearly investment in store upgrades Walmart Canada has made as it continues…

www.walmartcanada.ca

I live next to the Scarborough West Supercentre location and their "upgrades" are a disaster. It is the busiest store in Toronto so they use it as a type of fulfillment center according to the staff I spoke to there.

They have closed off a large chunk of the back of the store where Electronics, Layaway, BIkes and some of the toys were to build a massive automated grocery fulfillment center. The also got rid of the Mr Lube and Garden Centre there.

It's a store I tend to avoid at all costs. I prefer the STC location over the Scarborough West location despite it being closer. If I wanted to go to a fulfillment center to shop I will go to Costco.

 

[MiExpress]

The Walmart at Mississauga's Westwood Mall is going to close, along with five other stores in Canada:

Malton, ON, Hamilton (County Fair), ON, Calgary (Deer Valley) AB, Edmonton (Abbotsfield) AB, Kitchener East (ON), St. John’s South, Nfld

Part of a larger announcement that includes several conversions of existing locations to Supercentres, and some store reconfigurations:

Walmart Canada invests a record $500 million to modernize stores across the country

Mississauga, ON, March 15, 2021 – Walmart Canada is investing over $500 million this year in its store network, with a focus on refurbishing and refreshing stores in communities across the country. This is the largest yearly investment in store upgrades Walmart Canada has made as it continues…

www.walmartcanada.ca

The Hamilton-County Fair location is in a mostly unrenovated former Woolco on Mohawk Road, while Kitchener East is a smaller store at Stanley Park Mall. Westwood Mall is a full Supercentre that was a complete rebuild.

Interesting to note that with the exception of the Westwood Square location, all 5 other locations were former Zellers locations that Target did not wish to take over when they acquired the Zellers leases. It would not be surprising if those locations didn't receive as much upgrades when being converted to Walmarts, and I think it's also an indictment on how bad some of Zellers store locations were.

I'm surprised the Walmart at Westwood is closing. It was a new build out that only opened in 2013 and given the demographics as well as the distance to other big box stores thought it would do well. The closest location for Malton residents would be the Rexdale and Islington location. MiWay route 30 goes there from Westwood but it (1) does a big neighborhood tour of Malton before going there and (2) doesn't run on Sundays. At least there is still a discount grocer (FreshCo) at Westwood Square so the area won't become a food desert.

 

[ShonTron]

Interesting to note that with the exception of the Westwood Square location, all 5 other locations were former Zellers locations that Target did not wish to take over when they acquired the Zellers leases. It would not be surprising if those locations didn't receive as much upgrades when being converted to Walmarts, and I think it's also an indictment on how bad some of Zellers store locations were.

I'm surprised the Walmart at Westwood is closing. It was a new build out that only opened in 2013 and given the demographics as well as the distance to other big box stores thought it would do well. The closest location for Malton residents would be the Rexdale and Islington location. MiWay route 30 goes there from Westwood but it (1) does a big neighborhood tour of Malton before going there and (2) doesn't run on Sundays. At least there is still a discount grocer (FreshCo) at Westwood Square so the area won't become a food desert.

The closest Walmart would be Airport Road and Queen Street, actually, via the 30 Airport Road bus (7 days/week) or the 5A Bovaird (weekdays).

 

[classicgxld]

Happy Westwood Mall was brought up, was listening to the radio this morning and caught wind of it. I’m actually not surprised that Walmart floundered, they had a good amount of theft constantly. I understand the idea of wanting to place a large supply chain in this area, but I also felt it took away from shop owners who have been there for years as well (I lived in Malton back in the early 90s to early 2000s).

If you remember what Westwood Mall used to look like, good luck at taking a look at it now, it’s the definition of a “upscale” flea market. $100,000 for a small square to purchase, that’s 158 Sq Ft to be exact.

 

[Johnny Au]

Though Canadian malls in general are in better shape than their American counterparts, we would need to be wary: