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Since the Bay Concourse Hall opened at Union Station in Downtown Toronto nearly a year ago, the shops that populate its promenade have remained behind walls of hoarding, advertising what would be soon to come. Recently, announcements have been made about when some of these new shops will be opening, with some openings having recently taken place, while others are just around the corner.
The Bay Union Samples Kiosk opened recently on June 4th, as it awaits the opening of the promenade's stores. The kiosk offers a way for vendors to put new products into the hands of potential customers by offering them free samples of their offerings, whether the vendor eventually opens within the station or not. You can find out more about the program here.
France-based cosmetics retailer Sephora will be the first store to open its doors next week, on Friday, June 17th. The store will be 4,175 ft² in area, and on opening day shoppers are promised a free gift with a purchase of $100 or more.
Another France-based retailer, Decathlon will be opening up across the promenade hallway from Sephora, sometime in July. The 'Decathlon City' store will be the first of its kind in Canada, and will offer all kinds of sporting gear within its city-sized shop, in addition to nearly 7,000 products via same-day Click & Collect services. Decathlon has shared a rendering of what we can expect for their Union Station location.
The promenade will also include the first Canadian location of Japenese café chain % Arabica, an LCBO, a TD Bank branch, a Cinnabon, a Studio Dental location, a bar called The Queenston from the company behind the Union Chicken and Amano restaurants in the York Promenade, and another bar, sports themed, all for which we do not know opening dates. A foodie aisle soft-opened briefly in December in the Bay Promenade, offering a few food counters from local chains, like in the larger main food court, but it was closed soon after opening by a Covid lockdown, and will presumably reopen when other Bay Promenade stores open and foot traffic has built up again there. Several more spaces are still to be announced.
The Bay Promenade connects to the Front and York Promenades, and the main food court. Between with Bay Promenade and the main food court, another retail area has yet to open; it will feature smaller vendors in a Fresh Market environment. More retailers and food vendors populate with upper floor as well in the Great Hall and East Wing, with only a couple open up there so far and only a few more to come. Each retail area has been completely redeveloped by Osmington and filled with new tenants in a mix curated by Beauleigh through the Union Station Revitalization Plan, which has been underway for a number of years now.
Areas which are now fully open and operational are the York and Front Street promenades, the York Concourse, and the main food court. In total, the station will eventually have about 170,000 ft² of shops. Local brands have been made a feature of the station retail, including cafes like Pilot Coffee, clothing stores like Peace Collective, and beauty shops like Detox Market, and more.
Similarly, in addition to the grab-and-go food kiosks and sit-down restaurants within Union Station, the main food court offers 11 unique food options showcasing the diverse flavours of Toronto, and a large seating area.
More information on the station's offerings will come soon, but in the meantime, you can learn more from our Database file for the project, linked below. If you'd like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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