Bayshore Shopping Centre Expansion | 250000 sq ft | U/C

[Richard Eade]

EGAD! I just had to endure the worst parking structure I have ever had the mis-pleasure of being in – Bayshore’s new multi-level parkade. I sincerely hope that the person who designed that piece of garbage has had is credentials stripped from him (or her).

I had been in it ages ago when the first part opened and it was a mess then. I decided not to go back to Bayshore because of the parking – and it is my closest mall. Since then, I have spent time, and money, in other malls instead of Bayshore.

Not long after I had that bad experience, the media wrote that there had been some ‘teething’ pains with the new structure; but that those had been solved with new signage. I was still very hesitant and didn’t return – until today when my wife needed to go there. I agreed to drop her off.

Huge mistake!

What designer would have people enter off a ramp onto a parking level that has direct bridge access to the mall, only to force them down one floor to park on a level that requires people to walk up or down a flight of stairs to get to the mall? Sheesh! And then, after dropping off my wife, I spent an inordinate amount of time running around the maze to try to find the way out. The new signage is WAY too small and in places mounted up in between the beams so that you can’t see them from more than 10 metres away.

This design is pure trash. Even the standard pick-up truck that entered the parkade ahead of me just barely cleared the MAX HEIGHT barricade – something that many other vehicles had obviously not managed to do, based on the dents all along the bottoms of the barricades. What a great way to welcome customers; give them a good whack on the top of their vehicle – but do it after they have started up the ramp.

This has strengthened my resolve to not go back to the Bayshore Mall while they have that parking structure. In my opinion, the best thing they could do for the mall is to sue the company who designed the structure and use the money to tear it down.