Dead Malls of Canada

[O-tacular]

I feel like seasonal Calendar Club stores are a good indicator of a mall's vacancy.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

I feel like seasonal Calendar Club stores are a good indicator of a mall's vacancy.

my hometown mall (Seaway Mall) always had one even at peak capacity/vibrancy. When you're a kid what do you buy your Mom for Xmas? oooh I know, a new calendar!

Now the former Target/Walmart/Woolco is going to get demolished with plans for 1,300 units of residential proposed in a mix of low/med/high density residential. Original proposal was 30/20/8 storey towers amidst a mix of lower density housing.
City approved them up to 16 storeys if they chip in $500k for a new bus transit hub at the mall.

https://seawaymall.com/new-development/

A 9-storey 98 unit apartment building is being built across from the Target parking lot, adjacent to its commieblock neighbour that has existed since the 70s




These will be the nicest apartment units in Welland with in-suite washer/dryer in every unit. CommieblockModerne™

Maybe this will reinvigorate Seaway Mall which has no real anchor since Sears and Target disappeared. It somehow still exists with Sportcheck/Shoppers/Winners/Staples/Dollarama as the "draws"

One weird fact about the mall is that there's an A&W in the food court, and then they built a stand-alone A&W in the parking lot on the site of a demolished Taco Bell.

Welland was relatively stagnant in population when I grew up here. Now it's ~57,000 and growing.
Niagara Region population is ~480,000 and rapidly growing. Every municipality in the region is experiencing growth. People from GTA/Hamilton keep coming here in droves.

[WhipperSnapper]

Nicest apartments built from styrofoam.

The pre fab high rises that really boggle me are the ones have panels held together by steel studs. (I don't know if this is one of them)

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Forgot about miketoronto. I wonder what he is up to now. He studied Urban Planning at Ryerson and ran for council or trustee in his ward. Always polite. Always said hi. His posts were stories. Unfortunately, as stated above, he drew quick conclusions from cherry picking facts.

just stumbled across this video Mike did with Transit Geek and Torontonian YouTuber Reece Martin!

• Video Link

[WhipperSnapper]

thanks. nice to see that he is still active.

[Doady]

Okay, I have finally finished editing and uploading the Bayside Mall photos that I promised. Sorry that it took so long, just a lot of photos to choose from, and there were a lot of photos of other parts of Sarnia too. Photographing the mall or even the city in general wasn't even my main reason for visiting, I only realized later what was happening or was about to happen. You can see the photos here if you are interested: https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=249037

[MolsonExport]

^great photothread.

End of an era for Sarnia:

doady at SSP

[ssiguy]

It is certainly the end of an era but hopefully it will be the beginning of a more vibrant new one.

[MolsonExport]

Honeydale Mall 2007: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6306104,...Yw5aE6frLg3d5rKYyqx1g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192


2011: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6307376,...lfg!2e0!5s20111001T000000!7i13312!8i6656

2014: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6307196,...nZw!2e0!5s20140801T000000!7i13312!8i6656

2018: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6309128,...kUw!2e0!5s20180701T000000!7i16384!8i8192

2019: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6308015,...wNw!2e0!5s20190701T000000!7i16384!8i8192

2020: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.630935,-...s_g!2e0!5s20201001T000000!7i16384!8i8192

(eydale mall) 2021: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6307719,...wTA!2e0!5s20210501T000000!7i16384!8i8192

I had a Dr's appt at Westmount mall (London, Ont) yesterday. The place is down to perhaps 10 stores, of which 4 are cellphone/cellphone bling joints. What a sad collapse of a once great mall.

[WhipperSnapper]

Honeydale

The plan was redevelop with 2400 units in 2006. (about 10,000 in today's unit counts lol)

Westmount
I remember being in Westmount mall in the mid 1990s. It was really busy considering the economic doldrums at the time. Big box kill it?

[Harrison]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Honeydale

Westmount
I remember being in Westmount mall in the mid 1990s. It was really busy considering the economic doldrums at the time. Big box kill it?

I'd say yes, there is a massive power centre south 2 minutes south on Wonderland Road (one of London's largest power centres I may add).

[MolsonExport]

yep. In 2005, when I moved here, the banal big box barf dumbcentre about a km south of Westmount Mall was about a fifth of the current size. One by one, the stores vacated the mall. I lived across the street at the time, in one of the apt buildings, and I would walk the mall almost daily with my then infant/toddler son in the Baby Bjorn. First the Liquor Store and the Shoppers Dog Fart moved out. Then all of the banks. Then some of the clothing stores shuttered. Then the record stores. The book store. The Sportmart. Then Zellers closed, and the far end of the mall became ghostly (briefly revived with Target, but we all know how that turned out). The cinemas departed to a standalone building. The Beer Store closed. The upper storey of the mall became a sad place of craft stores, pop up failures and empty storefronts. The food court died, and then the mall was cut in half (with most of one side demolished, except for the supermarket and a few stores across the hall...a micromall next to a mall...for parking). A&P closed, then became a Chinese supermarket.

[Stanz]

Second level of Place D'Orleans looking like a Dan Bell video.

20220122_132615_001 by F.Stanz, on Flickr

20220122_132912 by F.Stanz, on Flickr

20220122_133507 by F.Stanz, on Flickr

20220122_132858 by F.Stanz, on Flickr

20220122_132711 by F.Stanz, on Flickr

20220122_132812 by F.Stanz, on Flickr

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Honeydale



Westmount
I remember being in Westmount mall in the mid 1990s. It was really busy considering the economic doldrums at the time. Big box kill it?

It was a locally owned mall that suffered by national retailers signing contracts with national mall owners. So when retail slowed down in the 90's, all those 10 year leases from the late 80's rebuild were coming due and many said goodbye to the locally owned mall. Plus it was a very expensive mall back then. One local retailer moved out of the mall and built their own clothing store a block north at the corner of Commissioners and Wonderland and saved money and have a much nicer store with parking at the door. Some of the other stores just made more sense to not be in a mall, like the Beer Store or Shoppers. Over the course of time, when most of the Canadian retailers like Le Chateau, Jacob and La Senza were downsizing, the large north and south end malls won out, and Westmount would lose a banner.

The main floor is depressing as a mall, but they have really done a good job of getting offices upstairs. It has changed ownership a few times and the current owners have been busy adding more offices. The owners are likely hoping to be able to market the large amount of people working on the second floor, if they all ever get back to working in an office, to attract more retail on the main floor. I don't know how well that ever works in other malls that do that though.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Stanz

Second level of Place D'Orleans looking like a Dan Bell video.

20220122_132858 by F.Stanz, on Flickr

Hamilton City (former Eaton) Centre twin!
(it won't be around much longer: https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=9203748&postcount=250; https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=192355&page=17)


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[Psychedelic Sailor]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sic_1hz49SU

Here's a short video I took of the fort Erie Mall in 2018, just a few weeks before it was demoed. Not sure if anyone's mentioned that mall before, it was a sad looking place for many years before it finally closed.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

Hamilton City (former Eaton) Centre twin!
(it won't be around much longer: https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=9203748&postcount=250; https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=192355&page=17)


Source



Source

Both of these bear similarity to London's downtown mall (the former "Galleria", now "Citi plaza"), prior to being renovated for solely offices on the second floor.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Psychedelic Sailor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sic_1hz49SU

Here's a short video I took of the fort Erie Mall in 2018, just a few weeks before it was demoed. Not sure if anyone's mentioned that mall before, it was a sad looking place for many years before it finally closed.

Bleak. Reminds me of the former "Superstore" Mall in London, which was down to a lottery centre and a daycare, and some gumball machines. Maybe a Subway with access only from outside the mall.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Both of these bear similarity to London's downtown mall (the former "Galleria", now "Citi plaza"), prior to being renovated for solely offices on the second floor.

Shopping mall vogue of the late-80s/early-90s.

I've always thought the City Centre could be a great space if renovated/updated and used for something other than retail, at least on the upper floors. It's a shame it was built less than a decade before downtown Hamilton started to hit rock bottom... some would say it's a shame it was built at all (the LAST thing needed downtown was another mall) but the lack of vision about what to do with it after most of the retailers closed up shop has been unfortunate. The city moved staff in there, so much of the space hasn't gone to waste (the former Eaton's store, mainly) but the most visible parts of the mall have languished.

Hopefully the new condo development happens, and helps further the market for stores, restaurants, and services that is growing downtown. Jackson Square -- another venerable mall that has seen very little updating and upgrading over the past few decades, and could/should itself be re-envisioned -- will benefit from the new residents on its doorsteps as well.

[yaletown_fella]

Huge Dan Bell (and Rick) fan

It'd be a shame if Place D'Orleans was renovated and stripped of its Pomo character. Look how CF destroyed the Sherway Gardens Food Court. Now Hamilton CC is also going to bite the dust? : (