London's Malls

[K85]

It'd give me one more reason to not visit

[haljackey]

Speaking of Masonville Mall, remember this?



I miss it so much.

[MrSlippery519]

^^^ you bet was so fun!

[manny_santos]

That mini golf course was freaking awesome.

For those who don't know, the one end of the golf course was located where the elevator is located. The side opposite the elevator doors was on the 10th hole.

[drjohnnyfever]

Wasn't there a classic car museum or something on the upper level above the golf course? If I'm right, did it die a natural death of being a stupid concept or did the Zellers expansion force it out?

Loved the mini-golf course. I thought it beat East Park, and was a good place to take dates when I was in high school

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by drjohnnyfever

Wasn't there a classic car museum or something on the upper level above the golf course? If I'm right, did it die a natural death of being a stupid concept or did the Zellers expansion force it out?

Loved the mini-golf course. I thought it beat East Park, and was a good place to take dates when I was in high school

As I recall, the golf course was open to the second level, and there was nothing directly above the golf course.

The reason for closing the course was to permit the construction of more stores. It would not surprise me that when Masonville expanded in 1991 that the golf course was meant as a temporary revenue-generating measure until demand was high enough to warrant adding more retail space in the mall.

[Wharn]

I dropped by Wesmount Mall the other day and... it didn't seem so bad. Sure, it has a lot less going on than Masonville or White Oaks, but there are still quite a few stores open and a fairly popular movie theatre that attracts people onto the property. The parking lot was fairly full for a Friday afternoon.

Overall the whole place reminded me of Fairview Mall in North York during the 1990s. Tired, but not a complete write-off.

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

PLEASE gimme Apple Store. It would be the only reason why I would visit that house of horror known as Masonville Mall.

What on Earth is wrong with Masonville? Sure, it may be a little bland, but in terms of sanity it's miles ahead of any mall in the GTA. Even a few days before Christmas it took me less than 3 minutes to find a parking spot, and walking through the mall I always had lots of personal space. Also, why would you want an Apple Store? We already have the Mac Outpost to give us terrible service and levels of smugness matched only by Toyota dealers.

[Simpseatles]

Originally Posted by Wharn

Also, why would you want an Apple Store? We already have the Mac Outpost to give us terrible service and levels of smugness matched only by Toyota dealers.

I think this excerpt from Cracked.com sums up my opinions on apple (and Steve Jobs) quite well:

"The world will miss his relentless vision of the sterile totalitarianism promised to us by 1970s sci-fi, as well as his branding campaign pretending to be the complete opposite."
http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-9-biggest-bastards-2011_p2/

I just can't stand the pretentiousness of many apple fans.

[K85]

I hate apple and everything behind or in-front of it, even though I have an iphone, I only use it to talk, text, bank and gps. Can't wait to get an android.

[GreatTallNorth2]

Originally Posted by Wharn

. Also, why would you want an Apple Store? We already have the Mac Outpost to give us terrible service and levels of smugness matched only by Toyota dealers.

Apple has the highest customer satisfaction for any technology company in the world. Their stores also have the highest sales per square foot for any stores in the world and incredible customer satisfaction. They are the largest company in the world. I'm not sure a mall manager could want a more prestigious tenant then Apple. Hello, they have $80 billion sitting in the bank. They will be paying their rent. Also, they will attract higher end stores and clientel to the mall. People will travel from all over to visit this store.

You can choose to be ignorant, but the above are easily provable and documented facts. The fact that Apple would have confidence in London to build a store is good news for the mall and London.

[MolsonExport]

I was a PC (And still am) user since the PC was invented. Gradually bought an iPod classic, iPod touch, IPad, and now, iMac. PC and Mac, side by side, and guess what I use; always use. The Mac.

What I find difficult to understand is the instant scorn poured upon Mac users. as if we are all fucking idiots or drank some purple kool-aid, or something. Toss out that PhD, MSc, and BComm, because I must be some apple drone and therefore a retard. Oh gimme back my wonderful microsoft endless updates (and shutdowns now or in 10 minutes...at least once per week)!!

Wharn, with all due respect, you call me out on Apple but apologize for Masonville? Miles ahead of GTA malls? Come on.

[Wharn]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Wharn, with all due respect, you call me out on Apple but apologize for Masonville? Miles ahead of GTA malls? Come on.

You have never known what it is like to be in Yorkdale on December 23rd. Or Scarborough Town Centre. Or Square One. It may not be as flashy or have the same selection, but in terms of sanity, yes, Masonville is miles ahead of the GTA malls and that I can stand by all day long.

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

What I find difficult to understand is the instant scorn poured upon Mac users. as if we are all fucking idiots or drank some purple kool-aid, or something. Toss out that PhD, MSc, and BComm, because I must be some apple drone and therefore a retard. Oh gimme back my wonderful microsoft endless updates (and shutdowns now or in 10 minutes...at least once per week)!!

I don't hate Macs, in fact I could care less about which platform someone uses (there are other things that actually deserve hatred- for example, Dodge Caravans). What I do hate are rabid Apple fans who live for nothing else and think it's the greatest brand in the world. Sorta like how I don't hate anime, I hate rabid anime fans who continually curse their non-Japanese heritage and talk about how "inferior" North American culture is. They're both exceedingly annoying, but in both cases I'm not going to heap blame on the medium.

It's funny though, because back in the days of System 7 and OS 8/9, everyone thought I was fucking retarded for using a Mac. Now they're all on Macs and deny that they ever criticized the platform at all. I'll probably never go back though, just because Windows feels completely natural and I love my Thinkpad. Not many computers can survive a fall down a flight of stairs- Macbooks included.

[Snark]

...Well you can go with this, or you can go with that...

[K85]

QFT. I personally hate the cult mentality of it. I know far too many people that swear by apple, hate anything pc, and say it's updates this, viruses that...

The internet is an evil place by nature. Lots of hate. But, because windows has a massive userbase, it's targeted. Apple users can say we get no viruses... bull. I've seen it on my friends computers, and they aren't novices.

It's the mentality, not the product, though the closed nature of their products isn't something I like.

Originally Posted by Wharn

What I do hate are rabid Apple fans who live for nothing else and think it's the greatest brand in the world. Sorta like how I don't hate anime, I hate rabid anime fans who continually curse their non-Japanese heritage and talk about how "inferior" North American culture is. They're both exceedingly annoying, but in both cases I'm not going to heap blame on the medium.

[Wharn]

Originally Posted by K85

QFT. I personally hate the cult mentality of it. I know far too many people that swear by apple, hate anything pc, and say it's updates this, viruses that...

The internet is an evil place by nature. Lots of hate. But, because windows has a massive userbase, it's targeted. Apple users can say we get no viruses... bull. I've seen it on my friends computers, and they aren't novices.

It's the mentality, not the product, though the closed nature of their products isn't something I like.

Personally I haven't had a single virus issue since the days of Service Pack 1 on Windows XP. Common sense and a good anti-virus program (Microsoft Security Essentials is probably one of the best now, IMO) get you a long way.

...so getting back on topic... them Apple Stores...

[MolsonExport]

Toronto malls could easily be worse for traffic (pedestrian, parking, etc.). But at least some of them have a better variety of stores. To me, Masonville seems to have only the usual-ran boring chains (yay! Reitmans! Urban Planet! American Eagle Outfitters!), of which 90% seem only to sell women's clothes and women's shoes. I much prefer shopping on Rue Ste. Catherines in downtown Montreal.

But I just hate malls 99% of the time. Spent 5 years working in retail management out on the west coast. Christmastime at the mall was.....pretty fricken horrible. Getting your faced ripped off by assholish customers, screaming brats, shoplifters...so glad I got out.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Toronto malls could easily be worse for traffic (pedestrian, parking, etc.). But at least some of them have a better variety of stores. To me, Masonville seems to have only the usual-ran boring chains (yay! Reitmans! Urban Planet! American Eagle Outfitters!), of which 90% seem only to sell women's clothes and women's shoes. I much prefer shopping on Rue Ste. Catherines in downtown Montreal.

In general London seems to be very dominated by corporate chains, with very few local options left.

[Wharn]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

In general London seems to be very dominated by corporate chains, with very few local options left.

Which is why adding an Apple store will only make the problem worse. If what GreatTallMacintosh2 says is correct, and more high-end stores are attracted to Masonville, it will help kill off London's independent specialty retail sector.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by Wharn

Which is why adding an Apple store will only make the problem worse. If what GreatTallMacintosh2 says is correct, and more high-end stores are attracted to Masonville, it will help kill off London's independent specialty retail sector.

London also severely lacks independent quick-service restaurants, particularly in the suburbs. There is Sammy's Souvlaki, which is expensive, and pizza joints such as Cousin Vinny's and Stobie's. But, other than that, if you want to eat out cheaply you're usually stuck with corporate food designed by accountants and consultants, and usually with sky-high prices (almost $7 for a KFC "Big" Crunch sandwich on its own, which has shrunk to the point it is a snack-size sandwich).

Why is that? Are Londoners that afraid of things that don't have a brand name that is listed on the TSX?

[GreatTallNorth2]

If your guys logic was true, it would mean that every other Canadian city with an Apple store, had it at the expense of independent retailers. This simply isn't true as every city larger than London (except Hamilton) has a store.