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Woodbine Centre

Guys guess what I have found online, an old picture of the "woodbine mall theatre" in 1986.
Here is the link to the post: https://library.humber.ca/collections/archive/photo/1986-2536

1986-2536.jpg
 
Guys guess what I have found online, an old picture of the "woodbine mall theatre" in 1986.
Here is the link to the post: https://library.humber.ca/collections/archive/photo/1986-2536
My mom dragged me as a kid to see Out of Africa at Woodbine Centre. I fell asleep. This picture was likely taken the same month.
Thanks for the great photo, Kade. Definitely brightened up a crummy day for me.
And, there should be a plague next to Imagine Cinemas memorializing that day, Jason.

P.S., what was the store to the right? I'm guessing this is before Zellers moved in. Makes me also wonder when the Towers
became a Zellers at Rexdale Plaza.
 
Thanks for the great photo, Kade. Definitely brightened up a crummy day for me.
And, there should be a plague next to Imagine Cinemas memorializing that day, Jason.

P.S., what was the store to the right? I'm guessing this is before Zellers moved in. Makes me also wonder when the Towers
became a Zellers at Rexdale Plaza.
This was the store, maybe Zellers came in the '90s?
HB-207.jpg
 
The mall is currently in its saddest state ever. There are so many vacant units, that the owner of the mall has started to fill them with unwanted liquidation merchandise just to create the illusion that the units are rented (for example, one unit is filled with cheap clocks, another is filled with stuffed animals, another is filled with Christmas trees, etc). They recently installed new floor tiles throughout the mall, but it is clear that they were defective and not installed properly because they are already cracking and coming off. The lower level is completely empty (except for the pharmacy/optometrist near Hudson Bay) and the escalators have been turned off. Oh, and now there is a security guard who roams the mall and will stop and ask you if you're in the mall for "shopping or walking?", and if you say walking he will ask you to leave the mall immediately.

Do yourself a favor, and do not visit the mall. Better to remember it the way it was.
 
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To the left is Sears back when it was simply called Simpsons, surprised Humber had an office at Woodbine next to the old
Cineplex (which was eventually boarded up and now displays movies currently playing).

It's interesting to see the old Cineplex with the ticket booth on the left (pre-ramp, I believe) instead of the right.
Nowadays, you can only buy tickets from the concession stand.

From the hallway shot, I think I saw a Hallmark - which may still be in operation at the Woodbine. It's destination I think would
become Hakim optical. There also looks like a La Vie en rose to the left, a candy store next to it (but the writing is hard to make out
...for all we know, it could be a comic or game shop) and Hudsons Bay in the back.

Bottom right of the hallway shot (--ATHER) is most likely a leather store.
 
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The mall is currently in its saddest state ever. There are so many vacant units, that the owner of the mall has started to fill them with unwanted liquidation merchandise just to create the illusion that the units are rented (for example, one unit is filled with cheap clocks, another is filled with stuffed animals, another is filled with Christmas trees, etc). They recently installed new floor tiles throughout the mall, but it is clear that they were defective and not installed properly because they are already cracking and coming off. The lower level is completely empty (except for the pharmacy/optometrist near Hudson Bay) and the escalators have been turned off. Oh, and now there is a security guard who roams the mall and will stop and ask you if you're in the mall for "shopping or walking?", and if you say walking he will ask you to leave the mall immediately.

Do yourself a favor, and do not visit the mall. Better to remember it the way it was.
That's just sad, at least Westwood square mall is not that way.
 
To the left is Sears back when it was simply called Simpsons, surprised Humber had an office at Woodbine next to the old
Cineplex (which was eventually boarded up and now displays movies currently playing).

It's interesting to see the old Cineplex with the ticket booth on the left (pre-ramp, I believe) instead of the right.
Nowadays, you can only buy tickets from the concession stand.

From the hallway shot, I think I saw a Hallmark - which may still be in operation at the Woodbine. It's destination I think would
become Hakim optical. There also looks like a La Vie en rose to the left, a candy store next to it (but the writing is hard to make out
...for all we know, it could be a comic or game shop) and Hudsons Bay in the back.

Bottom right of the hallway shot (--ATHER) is most likely a leather store.
Interesting.
 
I never did get my prize ticket to an undisclosed location next to Disney World!
Oh, well. It looks like there's only one store left that can save Woodbine.

....

Maggiano's
 
When Cineplex Odeon had its grand opening back in 1985, one of the first movies that played there was Rambo First Blood Part II.

large.jpg


Back in 2019 (pre-pandemic), my father and I went to see Rambo Last Blood (billed as the final Rambo movie) at Imagine Cinemas at the Woodbine. There was
only one other person in the movie theatre with us (as usual on a Tuesday afternoon) and by the credits (At the time) I felt like I was witnessing a historic moment
in Canadian history. The legacy of a once-great mall that was ushered in and bowed out by none other than: Sylvester Stallone.
 

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