Bramalea City Centre

[Dan416]

I'd be really surprised to see CF give up their only mall in Mississauga, even if it is 2nd rate mall, they have been trying to improve as I outlined earlier with better tenants. But to get people excited about it again they need to do something along the lines of Bramalea or Mapleview with a big expansion and big, currently fashionable tenants (e.g. Forever 21).

 

[TOareaFan]

Yes, I believe Trinity Common (410 at Bovaird) is owned by RioCan, which is 100 times better than Shoppers World..

Yes they do and, at just over 1 million s.f., it is not much smaller than BCC....just with a different format and a different tenant mix.

 

[JasonParis]

Erin Mills had a great mini-putt course in the lower centre of the mall. Sad that the owners took it out.

Haven't been in about 10 years. Curious, what's their now?

 

[Dan416]

Haven't been in about 10 years. Curious, what's their now?

A café and a candy shop.

 

[doady]

When the very same chain stores appear in a mall that can be seen at a mall on the other side of the city, or in another city or country even, why bother traveling a great distance to shop?

Malls aren't meant to attract people from far distances. So I don't see how malls not attracting customers from far away is a problem.

 

[adma]

Malls aren't meant to attract people from far distances. So I don't see how malls not attracting customers from far away is a problem.

Back when they were more of a "novelty" (into the early 70s, at least), they *could* attract customers from far away--and they had the grand-opening newspaper-supplements to drive the case home. (And it's still been the case in recent times with arrays like Vaughan Mills.)

 

[Dan416]

Back when they were more of a "novelty" (into the early 70s, at least), they *could* attract customers from far away--and they had the grand-opening newspaper-supplements to drive the case home. (And it's still been the case in recent times with arrays like Vaughan Mills.)

I'm not sure Vaughan is quite attracting people from afar as much as it used to. When it first opened, everyone in Mississauga seemed to be making the drive out there. Now? Everyone I've talked to hasn't been there in a long time. I think Vaughan Mills' novelty wore off. Although I'm sure people from the northern GTA still head there.

 

[adma]

I'm not sure Vaughan is quite attracting people from afar as much as it used to. When it first opened, everyone in Mississauga seemed to be making the drive out there. Now? Everyone I've talked to hasn't been there in a long time. I think Vaughan Mills' novelty wore off. Although I'm sure people from the northern GTA still head there.

Well, with each new power centre (or hike in gas prices, or chink in the economy), a retail pilgrimage to Vaughan Mills becomes redundant--except maybe as an en-route-to-cottage-country shopping option. But my "recent times" point still holds--remember, 30+ years separates Vaughan Mills from Yorkdale/Sherway/Fairview/STC/Bramalea/Square One etc--and if you want an even more recent example of something spun as a "long-distance retail destination" (albeit of a different feather), there's Don Mills to consider. (Though with mixed success, as McNally Robinson proved.)

Generally speaking, Ikea locations also have that "long distance draw", as do ethno-malls a la Pacific Mall.

 

[Justin10000]

Back when they were more of a "novelty" (into the early 70s, at least), they *could* attract customers from far away--and they had the grand-opening newspaper-supplements to drive the case home. (And it's still been the case in recent times with arrays like Vaughan Mills.)

Indeed. Regional Malls also built attractions to lure distant customers. Woodbine Mall's indoor fair is probably the best example of trying to atttract far away customers. I remember Shopper's World Brampton even had a water slide complex in the 80's. I remember when every large mall had a cinema attached. That is not the case anymore. Only a few shopping centres have cinemas still accessible from the mall.

 

[adma]

Indeed. Regional Malls also built attractions to lure distant customers. Woodbine Mall's indoor fair is probably the best example of trying to atttract far away customers. I remember Shopper's World Brampton even had a water slide complex in the 80's. I remember when every large mall had a cinema attached. That is not the case anymore. Only a few shopping centres have cinemas still accessible from the mall.

Though there was something a little crutchy and self-conscious about those 80s-style waterslides and fun fairs (and Erin Mills mini-golfs) that may have inadvertently foretold the dead-mall rot to come. Like, if we're talking about malls in the purest "Victor Gruen" sense of being microcosms of Main Streets and High Streets all over, then cinemas fit--fun fairs and waterslides don't, unless your idea of Main Street is formed by Grand Bend or Wasaga...

 

[TOareaFan]

Though there was something a little crutchy and self-conscious about those 80s-style waterslides and fun fairs (and Erin Mills mini-golfs) that may have inadvertently foretold the dead-mall rot to come. Like, if we're talking about malls in the purest "Victor Gruen" sense of being microcosms of Main Streets and High Streets all over, then cinemas fit--fun fairs and waterslides don't, unless your idea of Main Street is formed by Grand Bend or Wasaga...

The best (IMO) complimentary/non-retail add on to a mall around here is what Morguard did when they renovated the Cambridge Centre, they took some dead space and met the town's need for a new hockey rink....built right into the mall but with a separate entrance for use in off-mall hours (and so people don't have to lug hockey equipment through the rink) but adjacent to food court areas.....it works well, kids skating/playing hockey and parents either shopping or watching while patronizing the food court retailers....probably has a lot more staying power than fairs and mini-putt and, as you said, more like something you would see on Main Street.

 

[junctionist]

I remember a news report from the 1990s that was making a big deal about how Canada hadn't seen a new mall built in something like 15 years. It was as though the proliferation of malls became an economic indicator, instead of just retail data. It's anti-urban, since it fails to take into account shifting preferences towards main street retail.

 

[ShonTron]

I'd argue that malls *can* be urban, or at least more sustainable than the craze that followed the mall boom, the power centre. At least malls were planned to be a suburban nexus, complete with high-density housing surrounding, a transit node, and civic and community functions. Square One, STC, Fairview and Bramalea are great examples. People can and will walk to a mall.

Power Centres have none of those attributes, apart from the transit terminal embedded in Trinity Common.

 

[doady]

Forget about transit and pedestrians. Even when people drive to mall, they can at least walk around from store to store after they have parked their car. People can't do that in a power centre. They almost always have to drive to each individual store in a power centre.

The death of malls has nothing to do with people disliking malls, or preference for urban retail. After all, power centres are the main competitor of malls, and power centres are way more anti-urban than malls. So if anything retail has become even more anti-urban the past 15 years.

The real reason malls are in decline is because of the death of department stores, i.e. the loss of anchor tenants of malls. Remember Eaton's? Malls are designed so that people walk in-between the department stores. With the loss of department stores or other anchor tenant, the mall has to be converted to a power centre (e.g. Meadowvale TC, South Common, etc.).

 

[gabe]

I remember when malls had department stores like Simpson's, Robinson's,Woolco, Kmart, Towers Department Store as well as Eaton's and smaller department stores like the high end store Bretton's and Marks & Spencer. Now all we got is Sears and The Bay, and lower end stores like Zellers, Winners and Wal Mart, yuck!

Now days grocery stores are being build as supercenters part supermarket and part department store. I would gladly take a mall over these supercenters and power centres, the maze like parking lots at these power centres are deadly! and not at all pedestrian friendly, like doady said retail has become even more anti-urban the past 15 years. And i can see it getting worse in the future.