Centre Mall -> The Centre on Barton

[MsMe]

I wonder if bulk barn will re-open at centre again?

[hammergirl]

Indigo and Best Buy are going into power centre at the Red Hill Parkway and StoneChurch

[LikeHamilton]

Taken July 25, 2008

The huge Zellers store front.



TD Canada Trust. It is Brick, stone and glass.

[HAMRetrofit]

That Zellars looks colossal. Shoud have attached a 30 story budget condo to it. Units start at 99k for 400sf and 119k for 650sf.

[raisethehammer]

that is ridiculous. It looks huge.
What a waste of land.

[hammergirl]

Are you sure that's all one store and not a couple of stores attached?!?!?!

[matt602]

It probably is one store. These freaking boxes can get enormous.

[SteelTown]

The new Zellers come with grocery supplies now, even roasted chicken.

There must be a loyal Zeller's customer base in the area as the place been around for a long time, since the beginning? So they must have felt the need to expand.

[Civchic]

I go to Zellers before Walmart any day of the week - I don't know why since it's all the same crap, but Walmart gives me a headache and Zellers is kinda fun. I shop at that Zellers fairly frequently, actually. As well as the Canadian Tire. I don't know how I feel about the new CT - I kinda like the old-school narrow aisles and dusty shelves (like the one at Victoria). I get agoraphobic in those huge boxes.

Everyone is talking about Best Buy and Future Shop - aren't they direct competition to EHR? I don't know enough about marketing and all this crap, but EHR is a home-town success story. I don't want them threatened. Same for Michaels or Fabricland - HELLO?? Small local textiles merchants on Ottawa St. anyone? Would this be the death knell or would it simply attract new customers (sort of a "come for the generic be pleasantly surprised by the unusual" thing?)

I don't know why we need big crappy box stores in that neighborhood. I *like* that my neighborhood (sorta - I'm in Ivor Wynne area) is different, not some homogenized white-bread Happy American version of itself. I like that I can get Indian silk and hand-dyed Peruvian wool from little old ladies on Ottawa Street, instead of $4.99/meter cotton/polyester blend at Fabricland. Add me to the list that wishes this had been a mixed-use street-front type of location, with the big stores in behind. Sigh.

[markbarbera]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

There must be a loyal Zeller's customer base in the area as the place been around for a long time, since the beginning?

Zellers has only been at Centre mall since Robinson's went out of business. HBC bought them up and converted most to The Bay, but converted the Centre Mall and Burlington Mall Robinson's to Zellers. Happened in the early 90's, so so it has probably been there since your beginning, Steeltown

[flar]

There's a huge Fabricland on Ottawa St. already.

[Civchic]

You're totally correct, flar. Oops. I guess when I go fabric-hunting, I don't stop there!

[SteelTown]

Originally Posted by markbarbera

Zellers has only been at Centre mall since Robinson's went out of business. HBC bought them up and converted most to The Bay, but converted the Centre Mall and Burlington Mall Robinson's to Zellers. Happened in the early 90's, so so it has probably been there since your beginning, Steeltown

The last time I've ever been to Centre Mall was at the theatre and that must have closed over 6 years ago? Only reason I went there cause I friggin loved Power Rangers haha. I've never shopped inside Centre Mall. It was only until last year that I went to the Farmer's Market to get apples.

[fastcarsfreedom]

I know I've posted my annotated history of Centre Mall before...but yes, Zellers arrived around 1992 in place of Robinsons. That particular building started life as Morgan's (an upscale department store out of Montreal)--was bought by Hudson's Bay which converted it to one of the first units to bear the shortened name "The Bay", before passing to Robinsons (and briefly Robinson/Ogilvy) , and coming full circle back to HBC. Sears has always been Sears...though it opened under the longer name, Simpson-Sears. Kmart came along in the mid 1980s. The Barn opened as a Dominion, was converted in the 1980s to an off-price format called Best For Less, switched back to Dominion, then to A&P, and ultimately to The Barn. Canadian Tire started out as a Loblaws which closed in the early 1980s. The original Canadian Tire, which was next to the "Centre Twin" Cinemas was taken over by Cineplex which opened a 12 screen multiplex, which closed in the mid 1990s.

Got all that?

EHR and Best Buy/Future Shop are not even in the same league. BB/FS are mass electronics/appliance/music/computer retailers. EHR is a high-end, specialized, service-oriented specialty shop--their success owes to that, not to a lack of local competition (Majestic Sound Warehouse didn't sink them when it was at the Centre).

That TD Canada Trust branch is identical to every branch they're building, down to the brick color and the little "TD" pergola on the roof--they are building branches off a prototype--one was just completed at the end of the street leading into my neighborhood.

That is a big Zellers.

SteelTown, the Centre had a warmth "back in the day". We didn't go often, but we did sometimes. There were fountains with slanted tile sides which I would strain to see over as a wee lad, there was a Denniger's, a National Bakery, most of the major retailers of the era (hahaha, like, Maher, Big Steel Man, Elks, Bata, etc)...Robinson's had an old-fashioned classiness to it, and the mall always smelled great thanks to Jim's Nut Shack which sold little bags of warm Spanish peanuts. I remember it being a fairly major deal when the expansion area/food court/Kmart opened--around 1985 or so, I was a kid at the time, but remember the 'excitement' of the anticipated opening (Lime Ridge received a new Kmart-anchored wing at the same time).

[raisethehammer]

Originally Posted by Civchic

I go to Zellers before Walmart any day of the week - I don't know why since it's all the same crap, but Walmart gives me a headache and Zellers is kinda fun. I shop at that Zellers fairly frequently, actually. As well as the Canadian Tire. I don't know how I feel about the new CT - I kinda like the old-school narrow aisles and dusty shelves (like the one at Victoria). I get agoraphobic in those huge boxes.

Everyone is talking about Best Buy and Future Shop - aren't they direct competition to EHR? I don't know enough about marketing and all this crap, but EHR is a home-town success story. I don't want them threatened. Same for Michaels or Fabricland - HELLO?? Small local textiles merchants on Ottawa St. anyone? Would this be the death knell or would it simply attract new customers (sort of a "come for the generic be pleasantly surprised by the unusual" thing?)

I don't know why we need big crappy box stores in that neighborhood. I *like* that my neighborhood (sorta - I'm in Ivor Wynne area) is different, not some homogenized white-bread Happy American version of itself. I like that I can get Indian silk and hand-dyed Peruvian wool from little old ladies on Ottawa Street, instead of $4.99/meter cotton/polyester blend at Fabricland. Add me to the list that wishes this had been a mixed-use street-front type of location, with the big stores in behind. Sigh.

fabulous post.
I don't think any big box garbage would put the great merchants of Ottawa St or EHR out of business.
People who shop at the fabric shops of Ottawa St are sharp customers looking for quality and many options. Heck, people come on bus tours to shop there...you can be sure that all of them live in cities and towns full of crappy box options, yet they choose to ride a bus to Ottaw St.
Anyone buying a system from EHR isn't going to want some trashy tin-foil thing from Best Buy or Future Shop.
It's completely different markets.
I just hope the big box patrons don't kill everyone as they speed in and out of their parking hell.

[raisethehammer]

Originally Posted by HAMRetrofit

That Zellars looks colossal. Shoud have attached a 30 story budget condo to it. Units start at 99k for 400sf and 119k for 650sf.

come on my friend. Since when did common sense and proper use of land fit into the big box model.

[hamiltonguy]

Originally Posted by fastcarsfreedom

I know I've posted my annotated history of Centre Mall before...but yes, Zellers arrived around 1992 in place of Robinsons. That particular building started life as Morgan's (an upscale department store out of Montreal)--was bought by Hudson's Bay which converted it to one of the first units to bear the shortened name "The Bay", before passing to Robinsons (and briefly Robinson/Ogilvy) , and coming full circle back to HBC. Sears has always been Sears...though it opened under the longer name, Simpson-Sears. Kmart came along in the mid 1980s. The Barn opened as a Dominion, was converted in the 1980s to an off-price format called Best For Less, switched back to Dominion, then to A&P, and ultimately to The Barn. Canadian Tire started out as a Loblaws which closed in the early 1980s. The original Canadian Tire, which was next to the "Centre Twin" Cinemas was taken over by Cineplex which opened a 12 screen multiplex, which closed in the mid 1990s.

Got all that?

EHR and Best Buy/Future Shop are not even in the same league. BB/FS are mass electronics/appliance/music/computer retailers. EHR is a high-end, specialized, service-oriented specialty shop--their success owes to that, not to a lack of local competition (Majestic Sound Warehouse didn't sink them when it was at the Centre).

That TD Canada Trust branch is identical to every branch they're building, down to the brick color and the little "TD" pergola on the roof--they are building branches off a prototype--one was just completed at the end of the street leading into my neighborhood.

That is a big Zellers.

SteelTown, the Centre had a warmth "back in the day". We didn't go often, but we did sometimes. There were fountains with slanted tile sides which I would strain to see over as a wee lad, there was a Denniger's, a National Bakery, most of the major retailers of the era (hahaha, like, Maher, Big Steel Man, Elks, Bata, etc)...Robinson's had an old-fashioned classiness to it, and the mall always smelled great thanks to Jim's Nut Shack which sold little bags of warm Spanish peanuts. I remember it being a fairly major deal when the expansion area/food court/Kmart opened--around 1985 or so, I was a kid at the time, but remember the 'excitement' of the anticipated opening (Lime Ridge received a new Kmart-anchored wing at the same time).

It almost makes me cry. As much as it was only a suburban mall, i will miss it. As a child almost all our family shopping was there. (unless i went downtown with my uncle)

[matt602]

Some of those interesting features still exist to this day (including the fountain with brick slide - it's at the end by Zellers). Get in and explore what's left while you can. Construction is progression at a ridiculously quick pace now. I bet they'll be demolishing the first parts of the mall proper by September or October (Sears is due in Eastgate for Fall)

[fastcarsfreedom]

Quote
Anyone buying a system from EHR isn't going to want some trashy tin-foil thing from Best Buy or Future Shop.
It's completely different markets.

My point exactly--though calling Best Buy and Future Shop's wares 'trashy tin-foil' is a bit extreme. Those stores both sell a fairly broad spectrum of goods--from the low-end to midscale, whereas EHR focuses primarily on higher end merchandise, with some midscale goods. The entire argument about EHR and Ottawa Street validates a point I've been trying to make for years, that big-box stores do not put good, service-oriented, specialty retailers out-of-business. Consider the fact that I've come back from Windsor a couple of times to buy goods at EHR.

hamiltonguy and matt602 may recall (or may not) that there were once fountains at both ends of the mall--I assume the one in front of Sears was removed around the time Sears reduced the size of it's store and additional mall space was extended into what had been the front portion of Sears.

[Civchic]

Like I said, I don't know enough about marketing to make an educated statement - I'm glad that these stores won't be direct competition for my favourites.

I'm just stinging a bit because my favourite yarn store (Yarnopolis on Ottawa Street) is closing up shop this Friday. She says too many people like to buy online and travel out to Paris for the Mary Maxim nowadays, and nobody wants to come to her tiny little shop.

I bought $250 worth of Peruvian wool without a project in mind, just because it is so beautiful and I seriously have never been able to find it anywhere else.