Woodbine Centre

[J-M-Z]

The immediate area around the Woodbine Centre has tried its hand at live music for decades. The Ascot Inn's live venue (Spats) was once billed as "Toronto's Top Rock Club" in the 70's and 80's.
The Inn has since been repurposed into condominiums. Before the Law office on Westmore & Carrier rd. was a strip club (Manhattan Strip), the establishment (the name of which escapes me...
Westmore Knights?) brought in Jazz and adult contemporary acts.

The Woodbine Racetrack itself has put on concerts in the past as the "Woodbine Concert Hall". Some of the more recognizable names were the Pointer Sisters, Billy Ocean and Shaggy. Looking online,
the last event at the Woodbine Concert Hall was in 2017.

Personally, I don't think a potential upgrade to the Racetrack's concert hall is going to inspire a lot of people to flock to the area just to see live music. Let alone visit
the Woodbine Centre during their visit. The area is just too out of the way from the rest of Toronto's amenities.

Though, at this point, I hope I'm proven wrong.

Today, I was thinking about the carnival from the above posts and thought to myself "anything besides bringing in new stores to attract customers". Which got me
pondering from a different perspective...maybe name brand stores don't want to set up shop in the Woodbine Centre these days.

With strip malls popping up everywhere, who would want to pay rent in a dying, enclosed relic like the Woodbine Centre?

 

[J-M-Z]

More happenings at the Woodbine:

The $2 Billion Dollar renovation plans remain visible at the end of the arched roof.

For the shopper who finds La Vie en Rose, La Senza or Victoria's Secret a bit too pricey, we now have the Bra Warehouse.

Tim Hortons resides where the old McDonald's used to be.

Even being strategically placed inside the Fantasy Fair (and not to mention, at one of the Fair's main entrances no less),
McDonald's just couldn't last inside the Woodbine Centre. A shame, really. I always thought the Woodbine location had
the best sitting area.

I keep thinking of the Olympic Games logo every time I see the colourful, translucent food court renovations. I particularly
don't mind them.

It's also nice to see one consistent group of tables/chairs in the food court.

The shelves at Oliver Jewellery look barren from this perspective.

Now, I'm not a timing expert by any means, but I see an awful lot of pillows and blankets for a clock store.

Didn't Clock R Us (even saying clock in a singular fashion sounds weird) replace Clocks Unlimited? One of
the oldest stores to have remained in the Woodbine Centre since 1986.

 

[officedweller]

I'm laughing and in a way quite sympathetic...........but.....(don't I always do that)...............

You know the PSB formed in 1981; a woman (or man) who took an interest in them at the age of 22 (in '81)....would have been 55 in 2014 and 63 today.

Hey!, that's my demographic - and it's the same audience for ALL the 80s bands doing revival tours!

 

[Northern Light]

Hey!, that's my demographic - and it's the same audience for ALL the 80s bands doing revival tours!

Uhh, I grew up in the '80s and remember the PSB;

I was laughing, because I don't see '55' as 'blue-haired' so to speak.............

I was thinking that suggested an audience would have been already middle-aged when the PSB formed.

I'm a bit younger than that, but well into middle-age now.

 

[J-M-Z]

On a related note, I remember a time when the Woodbine Centre used to have a World Music/Indigenous band set up next to the fountain elevator.
Flutes, acoustic guitars, all playing to a synth backing track on a boombox. Shoppers could buy CD's of the group and it was quite relaxing. Almost
as if the calming tones were prepping shoppers for the mall's eventual downfall in the decade to follow.

These days, there's no live bands at the Woodbine Centre. In their place, we get a late 2000's mix tape that's played over the mall speakers.
There's also a copyright-friendly mix tape that plays saxophone covers of top 40 songs every Christmas. Going to Imagine Cinemas the
same time every week (before the cinema was shut down) helped me retain this completely useless trivia for everyone.

You're welcome.

 

[SubHuman]

... Personally, I don't think a potential upgrade to the Racetrack's concert hall is going to inspire a lot of people to flock to the area just to see live music. Let alone visit
the Woodbine Centre during their visit. The area is just too out of the way from the rest of Toronto's amenities...

I've always had doubts about the prospects for any large entertainment (or sports) venue away from downtown hoping to regularly attract crowds of several thousand people. If and when they briefly succeeded, it's only been when they weren't competing against a downtown venue. The amphitheatre at Canada's Wonderland (Kingswood Music Theatre) thrived for a few years after it was built in the 1980s when the decaying relic of Maple Leaf Gardens was the downtown competition, but it was quickly forgotten when SkyDome, Molson Amphitheatre, and the Air Canada Centre were built.
Rama (and Fallsview, though their original venue is smaller) opened at a time when the older 'classic' rock acts from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s had been reduced to appearing at grubby warehouse type of venues downtown where there wasn't (and still isn't) a purpose-built large indoor theatre type of venue of about 5,000 to 7,000 seats. If one of the proposed new or rebuilt venues at Exhibition/Ontario Place gets built, that could pull those remaining acts away from the casinos -- maybe along with the fact that the number those older acts are now dwindling away with time, and I assume the novelty of casino gambling has worn off for many.

 

[Richard White]

I've always had doubts about the prospects for any large entertainment (or sports) venue away from downtown hoping to regularly attract crowds of several thousand people. If and when they briefly succeeded, it's only been when they weren't competing against a downtown venue. The amphitheatre at Canada's Wonderland (Kingswood Music Theatre) thrived for a few years after it was built in the 1980s when the decaying relic of Maple Leaf Gardens was the downtown competition, but it was quickly forgotten when SkyDome, Molson Amphitheatre, and the Air Canada Centre were built.
Rama (and Fallsview, though their original venue is smaller) opened at a time when the older 'classic' rock acts from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s had been reduced to appearing at grubby warehouse type of venues downtown where there wasn't (and still isn't) a purpose-built large indoor theatre type of venue of about 5,000 to 7,000 seats. If one of the proposed new or rebuilt venues at Exhibition/Ontario Place gets built, that could pull those remaining acts away from the casinos -- maybe along with the fact that the number those older acts are now dwindling away with time.

Do keep in mind that the groups playing the casinos are low budget. You used to have groups like Saga playing there but now you have groups nobody has heard of or cannot get enough people to view fill a larger venue.

I get ticket offers from Fallsview all the time but never go because I am simply not interested in what is on. Free or not, if I don't like it I won't go.

 

[SubHuman]

Do keep in mind that the groups playing the casinos are low budget. You used to have groups like Saga playing there but now you have groups nobody has heard of or cannot get enough people to view fill a larger venue.
I get ticket offers from Fallsview all the time but never go because I am simply not interested in what is on. Free or not, if I don't like it I won't go.

Yes, as I mentioned in a previous post, the schedules for Rama and Fallsview look weak now, and have since they re-opened. But if you look at the list on Wikipedia of some of the acts that have appeared in the past at Rama, it certainly looks like their situation was better pre-2020. I wonder if maybe the gambling revenue has dropped to a point of them no longer being able to afford the bigger-name acts? If so, I guess it's unfortunate for them if they become 'ghost' venues like Kingswood, particularly the new Fallsview theatre that might have been finished at exactly the wrong time.

 

[J-M-Z]

Coming from my gig playing days, Etobicoke has one venue in particular that caters to older rock acts. The Rockpile West (former Bert & Ernies) on Dundas St.
For the last decade or so, it's the type of club one would go to for shows by Helix, Anvil, Coney Hatch, Killer Dwarfs, Jake E Lee, etc. As well as the
standard classic rock cover band (Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Black Sabbath tributes etc).

With all due respect, not exactly amphitheatre acts in their own right.

There was a Rockpile East also in Scarborough, but it closed down several years ago. Currently in the process of being converted into condominiums.
Personally, I think that's a grim future the Woodbine Racetrack and Woodbine Centre could eventually face. Physical retail stores replaced by housing complexes.

 

[J-M-Z]

Going through recent google reviews, it seems the Woodbine Centre was shut down last week because of a sewage break.
The staff at Maggiano's have yet to comment.

 

[J-M-Z]

For the first time since January, I stepped inside the Woodbine Centre.

Over the years, vendors would set up shop in Woodbine's main concourse. At the moment, liquidated Halloween good are being sold there.

I couldn't tell whether this bed store will be opening up or closing down soon. Unfortunately, many storefronts were suffering a similar fate.

I wish I could harness the same optimism as this graffiti-ridden crossing button.

Other random thoughts while visiting:

- Oliver Jeweller is still in business. Just all of the inventory has been removed, and customers have to approach the cashier (behind the glass) for service.

- Despite being gutted out, Maggiano's has not left the premises yet. In fact, the lights for the establishment were even on when I visited.

- The movie theatre is still a vacant lot with no signs of renovations to be noted.

- As other reviews have stated in the past, the Woodbine Centre truly feels like a flea market now.

 

[Amare]

The slumlord owner of Woodbine neglects the mall akin to how Harold Ballard neglected Maple Leaf Gardens.

 

[J-M-Z]

While browsing reddit, I came across an interesting comment from three years ago, mentioning Woodbine's apparent renovation plans:

higginsnburke
· 3 yr. ago

"The owner was introduced to me as Iman.
When he took over woodbine (my literal childhood home away from home- i know more about it than he does I assure you) he raised the rents and demanded the tenants pay three months upfront to prove they were bringing in business. He boasted about this at family dinner, at which I was a friend/guest -so not family.

He then told me about the animatronic dinosaurs he had purchased.....and how he was shutting down sections of the mall to save money, the cleaning staff have all been turned over and a family member now is in charge of keeping things running., that elevator pond was under a stage for most of last winter so it's likely rust you're seeing in that water......he excitedly shared his idea for a water park and condos and how he planning on making woodbine the new next wonderland. Which admittedly did sound cool.

If you go to woodbine now you'll see a massive billboard for the waterpark idea and condos. You'll also see none of the original stores there, except the bay and one other who's name escapes me.

I really hope that he is able to save the mall, fantasy fair is a treasured memory for me and is hate to see it bulldozed so that a billionaire who doesn't even live in the area can make a buck."

 

[kade1064]

While browsing reddit, I came across an interesting comment from three years ago, mentioning Woodbine's apparent renovation plans:

higginsnburke
· 3 yr. ago

"The owner was introduced to me as Iman.
When he took over woodbine (my literal childhood home away from home- i know more about it than he does I assure you) he raised the rents and demanded the tenants pay three months upfront to prove they were bringing in business. He boasted about this at family dinner, at which I was a friend/guest -so not family.

He then told me about the animatronic dinosaurs he had purchased.....and how he was shutting down sections of the mall to save money, the cleaning staff have all been turned over and a family member now is in charge of keeping things running., that elevator pond was under a stage for most of last winter so it's likely rust you're seeing in that water......he excitedly shared his idea for a water park and condos and how he planning on making woodbine the new next wonderland. Which admittedly did sound cool.

If you go to woodbine now you'll see a massive billboard for the waterpark idea and condos. You'll also see none of the original stores there, except the bay and one other who's name escapes me.

I really hope that he is able to save the mall, fantasy fair is a treasured memory for me and is hate to see it bulldozed so that a billionaire who doesn't even live in the area can make a buck."

Iman is a Faker...he lied about the whole renovations, bulk barn left, the movie theater is gone, all the brand name stores are leaving & wouldn't be shocked if they moved to "Westwood mall" in Mississauga . at least westwood didnt lie about the renovations & plans that they had.

 

[J-M-Z]

If current management wanted to save money, why on earth were those floor and wall tiles installed?
Seems counter-productive cost-wise; in regards to funding Woodbine's transformation into a waterpark.

Then again, that could also explain why the rent for vendors in the mall dramatically increased, too.