Dead Malls of Canada

[MolsonExport]

I took a walk in downtown London yesterday, and stopped in to see if things were improving at the Galleria...they were not. I would estimate that about 80% of the mall was unrented, and many of the rented 'stores' were medical clinics, or educational-related. The upper levels were 95% empty.

All in all, one of the most disastrous malls in Canada...along with Montreal's Decarie-Square.

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgur...%3Den%26sa%3DN

Here is the Galleria:


Check out a book, have lunch at Burger King, and get a Prostate exam, all in the same mall.



London has another dying mall, the formerly upscale Westmount Shopping Centre.

Anyone got pictures of that ultimate disaster, the Decarie Square Mall in Montreal?

Post photos/facts of dead and dying malls in your cities.

[93JC]

Quick, someone from Calgary post a picture of Eau Claire Market.

[Mike K.]

Invite those silent dancers to perk the place up.

[Rusty van Reddick]

MolsonEx, this is a great topic.

This isn't in Canada, but the sad saga of my teenaged stomping grounds deserves a link: On the demise of Woodmar Mall, Hammond, Indiana

[mersar]

Aside from Eau Claire (which is pretty much vacant, and facing future redevelopment... I will let someone else post images/info that do it justice), the closest Calgary has to dead malls is Westbrook Mall. It's close if not fully occupied (I haven't been in there in quite a while, so this is secondhand), but if it weren't for the Walmart and Safeway the few dozen stores inside the mall probably wouldn't be there. Fortunately the site sits right on the future WLRT route, so it may be developed once that goes ahead. Pretty much every other mall is thriving in the boom, and most have either completed expansions in the past few years, or planning new/more expansion in the very near future.

[lubicon]

Originally Posted by mersar

Aside from Eau Claire (which is pretty much vacant, and facing future redevelopment... I will let someone else post images/info that do it justice), the closest Calgary has to dead malls is Westbrook Mall. It's close if not fully occupied (I haven't been in there in quite a while, so this is secondhand), but if it weren't for the Walmart and Safeway the few dozen stores inside the mall probably wouldn't be there. Fortunately the site sits right on the future WLRT route, so it may be developed once that goes ahead. Pretty much every other mall is thriving in the boom, and most have either completed expansions in the past few years, or planning new/more expansion in the very near future.

Deerfoot Outlet mall came pretty close to dying I think. I believe it was a 'regular' mall when it opened but it never really took off. It's now been turned into an outlet mall and with Walmart moving in there it seems to be doing pretty well now. I never understood why it failed as a regular mall, it's location was pretty good.

[Policy Wonk]

Deerfoot Mall was planned around residential development that didn't really work out in their favor. Instead of miles and miles of residential they got a 12,000 foot runway and an industrial park next door.

The residential development west of Deerfoot trail is pretty marginal, not at all what was planned for in the development of Deerfoot Mall.

That having been said, it is a whole lot better today than it was in the early 90's when the entire east end of the mall between the center court where there was a fountain and the Woolco (now Sportchek) was almost completely vacant with the exception of a Radio Shack, a crappy toystore and a dump called collectors corner that was the worlds largest collection of old beer cans and professional bowling memorabilia.

Unfortunately they are facing looming trouble again, several outlets (including sears) have refused to sign new leases. Some are interested in the new mall to open in Balzac and the Sears outlet is likely to close entirely. Apprently it would be cheaper to throw the crap away than keep that store open.

Originally Posted by lubicon

Deerfoot Outlet mall came pretty close to dying I think. I believe it was a 'regular' mall when it opened but it never really took off. It's now been turned into an outlet mall and with Walmart moving in there it seems to be doing pretty well now. I never understood why it failed as a regular mall, it's location was pretty good.

[srperrycgy]

Originally Posted by mersar

Aside from Eau Claire (which is pretty much vacant, and facing future redevelopment... I will let someone else post images/info that do it justice), the closest Calgary has to dead malls is Westbrook Mall. It's close if not fully occupied (I haven't been in there in quite a while, so this is secondhand), but if it weren't for the Walmart and Safeway the few dozen stores inside the mall probably wouldn't be there. Fortunately the site sits right on the future WLRT route, so it may be developed once that goes ahead. Pretty much every other mall is thriving in the boom, and most have either completed expansions in the past few years, or planning new/more expansion in the very near future.

Westbrook is far from dead. A lot of money has been put into renovations over the last few years. Safeway could use an upgrade on the outside though; the inside was done last year. The Food Court was expanded and Sport Chek moved in from 37th St/Richmond Rd last year. Wal-Mart did their expansion a couple of years back. Yeah there are a couple of empty stores, but those are filled in time. The parking lot though is still a clusterfuck though. They reconfigured the roadways and parking with new curb and gutter last year, but never repaved it.

As for TOD, a couple of residential towers would help to get more activity there. Even before the WLRT comes, it is already well-served by transit.

[Rusty van Reddick]

Eau Claire isn't close to "pretty much vacant." For example, every bay in the food court is full. There are empty spaces for sure and we all know what its fate is, but it is far from vacant.

Nothing in Calgary is like that mess in London.

[Xelebes]

Edmonton:

Northgate Mall (the 2nd floor especially)

Heritage Mall before it was torn down for a high density development.

[chuber]

Originally Posted by Xelebes

Edmonton:

Northgate Mall (the 2nd floor especially)

Heritage Mall before it was torn down for a high density development.

Don't forget Capilano. Once Walmart moves out that place will completely die (and rightfully so, it is a dump and definitely not needed).

[caltrane74]

North York Sheridan Mall.. not exactly a dead mall.

....but...

...you could end up "dead" if you walk through it the wrong way.

[SpongeG]

wal mart is moving out of capilano? where is it going?

yeah that mall is pretty sad - barely been to it

i can't think of any real dead malls in vancouver - surrey central was quite dead but after T&T and SFU moved in its picked upa lot - i believe winners is going in now and future shop is in there - its really busy now a few spots to be filled up however

[big W]

Walmart is not moving out of Capilano,they bought that mall and are looking to expand their store there. Remember the city would not approve large box retail in the area when Walmart was eyeing a different location in the area.

[dennis]

In Winnipeg, CityPlace downtown and probably Garden City are the most dead. I haven't been to Garden City in years though.

[Epi]

The mall in Downtown Hamilton is pretty dead... beside the (place formerly known as the) Eaton Center, the new one. I went there a few months ago, and there were like 3 open shops in a totally empty mall.


Aside from that for the literally 'dead', I used to go to Thornhill Square a lot, just north of Toronto. The mall was so dead, that they demolished most of it, but not before they....

FILMED DAWN OF THE DEAD THERE!

If zombies don't signify dead mall I don't know what does.

[flar]

Originally Posted by Epi

The mall in Downtown Hamilton is pretty dead... beside the (place formerly known as the) Eaton Center, the new one. I went there a few months ago, and there were like 3 open shops in a totally empty mall.

The City Centre mall (former Eaton Centre) is totally dead. The other mall, Jackson Square is not dead. It has some empty stores but is quite busy.

Much of City Centre is currently being renovated into office space.

[newflyer]

Originally Posted by dennis

In Winnipeg, CityPlace downtown and probably Garden City are the most dead. I haven't been to Garden City in years though.

Didn't they recently redo Garden City?? I've only been there a couple times in my life.. too far away from where I lived in Winnipeg. I seem to remember hearing something like tht, but I could be wrong.

City Centre (Wpg) has always been an empty shell... but when Eaton's closed it really took a hit. Hopefully the MTS Centre and the Hydro Building will encourage the owner to revitalize the interior and make it a more attractive place. Otherwise it will continue to be a place you walk past on the way to the arena.

[Only The Lonely..]

Originally Posted by dennis

In Winnipeg, CityPlace downtown and probably Garden City are the most dead. I haven't been to Garden City in years though.

I disagree, Garden City has been marginalized with the growth of other suburban big box centres and Polo Park.

However, all the store fronts are leased and there are people who still visit the mall. The problem with Garden City is that it's just too small.

The only dead mall I can think of was Unicity before they tore it down for a big box development.

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by dennis

In Winnipeg, CityPlace downtown and probably Garden City are the most dead. I haven't been to Garden City in years though.

garden city is not dead. the cdn tire has helped with solving that.

as for city place.

formaly Eaton Place renamed after the demolition of eatons
from graham ave you can see the the 2 story monstrocity that was behind eatons and to the left is the old catilog warehouse all offices above the 2nd floor for CN and MPI


when eatons closed it sufferd just like portage place did but it took the bigest hit... especially when the skywalk link between portage place and Eaton place was severed during the demolition of Eatons and construction of MTS place. in the 2(3?) years since mts place opened lot more foot traffic threw there now is putting demand to fill the empty store fronts on the 2nd floor in the mall and the food court is crazy at lunch now and theres plans to put a skywalk link across to the hotels and convention center soon