Markham Remington Centre | ?m | 33s | Remington Group | Kohn

I hope this Chinese mall is way better and more Western influenced like the Aberdeen Centre then Pacific Mall, Dragon City, Chinatown Centre, etc which are all duds.
 
The project is ambitious but necessary...the gamble isn't huge. I hope traffic concerns don't scuttle it - GO service can be beefed up substantially and road improvements in the area are in the pipeline, like finishing Silver Star and (I think) connecting Milliken to Redlea.
 
I really like this project, hope it brings in more brands from overseas to give a wider range of taste.
 
I hope this Chinese mall is way better and more Western influenced like the Aberdeen Centre then Pacific Mall, Dragon City, Chinatown Centre, etc which are all duds.

Aberdeen Centre is more influenced by Hong Kong malls than anything else I'd say...

If we could get a mall of the magnitude of some of the higher end Hong Kong or Tokyo malls that would be excellent, although I doubt this location could support something so high end.

What would be really good, is if all the relatively undeveloped (or easily redevelopable land) in this area became a nice mid-rise/high-rise community. I think Chinese people would totally go for that even in the suburbs, especially immigrants who miss that kind of lifestyle of living upstairs, shopping/eating downstairs.
 
^ Those are pretty good ideas. Many young Chinese who came from Hong Kong to Toronto only look forward to going back to HK to get a job after they finish university in Toronto, partially because HK's urban lifestyle is to them so much more attractive than what is available in Toronto. Even many Chinese born in Toronto (the CBCs) find HK to be a more exciting place than Toronto... every young Chinese in Toronto can tell a story of a friend who went back to HK for the first time, and came back a Fob ("First off the Boat", a term for someone who is immersed in pop Asian culture, fashion, food, etc.). Developments like this could help to improve the urban lifestyle here in Toronto, and could even stem the exodus of Chinese back to HK (many of them are well-educated in professional fields, so it's beneficial to Toronto's economy if they stay).

I think that a mall design based on contemporary Hong Kong malls is a nice idea, but it has its problems. HK malls completed in recent years provide little in the way of street life (despite the city's reputation a one with amazing street life). Ground level is usually given to a transit terminal (a good idea) with a pair of escalators that suck pedestrians upstairs, where the real retail begins (not so good idea). HK is actually only starting to study the design of its urban fabric that has made it successful, while North America and Europe has been doing that and looking at what works and what doesn't for decades.

I'd like to see Remington partner with big-name Asian retail and dining brands in order to bring them to Remington Centre. Ajisen Ramen noodles is perhaps the most successful of such brands in Toronto. Perhaps we can seek out Asian companies that have set up shop in North America, but not in Toronto. For example Giordano (HK clothing chain, with locations in Vancouver's Aberdeen Centre and LA), Muji (Japanese retail chain noted for "minimalist" product designs, with one location at the base of New York's NYT Building), Hui Lau Shan (HK dessert chain which used to have a location in the Bay Area), and Yoshinoya (Japanese beef and rice bowl chain with locations in the Western US and New York).
 
and Yoshinoya (Japanese beef and rice bowl chain with locations in the Western US and New York).

If Yoshinoya was in Toronto, I'd go every day! Although I hear the one in NYC isn't nearly as good as the ones in Japan, probably cause the quality of beef is vastly in inferior.
 
First thing that came to mind upon reading the thread...Remington...Steeles...

What's Pierce Brosnan up to these days, anyway?

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I dunno, but a lot of recent developments up around Steeles look as obese as Keely Shaye Smith
 
If Yoshinoya was in Toronto, I'd go every day! Although I hear the one in NYC isn't nearly as good as the ones in Japan, probably cause the quality of beef is vastly in inferior.
No, the actual cooking tastes different. Not sure why, perhaps catering to a more "American" taste (given the number of Americans who can only accept Americanized Asian food and not the real stuff)?

Re: bringing Asian brands to North America. Personally I would think it's a great idea, but from what I know, Ajisen isn't doing particularly well in Toronto right now, and neither is the Giordano in Vancouver. Muji also isn't attracting the same size of crowd as their Asian stores, though that is from personal experience and I haven't heard about how they're actually doing.
 
We need to get past this racism thing and see a Chinese Mall not as a mall for Chinese people to the exclusion of all others, but a mall where Chinese is spoken and Chinese products are available.
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When the signs are in CHINESE ONLY, it is to the exclusion of others...
These mono-ethnic malls are just fueling ethnic and racial tensions in areas such as Markham.. There is nothing stopping anyone from going to a traditional mall, but these malls, with Chinese Only signs, dirty looks to non-Chinese, and discrimination only serve to fuel ethnic tensions..
Heck just the other day, in another Chinese Mall in Markham, I was questioned by a patron asking "What I was doing there?", strongly implying that I was not welcome because I was white!
That is not right..
 
really? I'm suprised you got that treatment in any 'Chinese' mall in Markham ... the vendors in these types of malls are well cultured / accustomed to main stream Canadian customers ... further, I am quite certain they are REQUIRED by law to have English store names displayed (in addition to the Chinese store name if they so choose)
 
^ Those are pretty good ideas. Many young Chinese who came from Hong Kong to Toronto only look forward to going back to HK to get a job after they finish university in Toronto, partially because HK's urban lifestyle is to them so much more attractive than what is available in Toronto. Even many Chinese born in Toronto (the CBCs) find HK to be a more exciting place than Toronto... every young Chinese in Toronto can tell a story of a friend who went back to HK for the first time, and came back a Fob ("First off the Boat", a term for someone who is immersed in pop Asian culture, fashion, food, etc.). Developments like this could help to improve the urban lifestyle here in Toronto, and could even stem the exodus of Chinese back to HK (many of them are well-educated in professional fields, so it's beneficial to Toronto's economy if they stay).

I know this is a value judgement on my behalf, but that attitude is stupid and immature. I would be a pretty sorry expat if I went to Hong Kong and demanded to see indie bands play in Victorian warehouses or wonder aloud why there's no place in Tsim Sha Tsui to sit in a leafy back patio on a Sunday afternoon nursing a Creemore for two hours.
 
really? I'm suprised you got that treatment in any 'Chinese' mall in Markham ... the vendors in these types of malls are well cultured / accustomed to main stream Canadian customers ... further, I am quite certain they are REQUIRED by law to have English store names displayed (in addition to the Chinese store name if they so choose)

No law requiring it.. Back in the mid 1990's the deputy Mayor of Markham proposed it and she was accused as a racist!!
 

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