List of shopping malls in Toronto explained

Toronto has several shopping malls across the city, including five major destination malls that are among the largest and most profitable in Canada. The first enclosed shopping mall in Toronto was the Toronto Arcade in the downtown core. The first shopping mall of the enclosed, automobile-centred design type was Yorkdale Shopping Centre, which opened in 1964.

Major shopping centres

Toronto's five major shopping centres each have over one hundred stores and are anchored by multiple department stores, international brands and luxury retailers. They are also the five largest malls in Toronto by floor space. Each provides thousands of automobile parking spaces. With the exceptions of Sherway Gardens and Scarborough Town Centre, all of these malls have direct pedestrian connections with the Toronto subway system, though Sherway Gardens has a bus terminal connecting Toronto Transit Commission and MiWay bus routes and Scarborough Town Centre was connected to Scarborough Centre station of Line 3 Scarborough until the line's permanent closure in July 2023, though the former station still has an active bus terminal. Yorkdale Shopping Centre is Toronto's first of its kind and was the world's largest shopping mall at the time of opening,[1] while Toronto Eaton Centre is the most visited shopping mall in North America. These five malls were completed within a 13-year span in the 1960s and 1970s. The five malls are owned by either Cadillac Fairview or Oxford Properties, two of Canada's largest commercial real estate investment companies. A sixth major mall is planned by Cadillac Fairview in Toronto's planned East Harbour neighbourhood by the intersection of Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway / Lake Shore Boulevard and be also served by the planned East Harbour Transit Hub on the Ontario Line and GO Transit's Lakeshore East line.[2]

Name DistrictMajor intersectionDirect subway connectionDeveloper/operatorRetail spaceYear opened
81874m2 1970
Scarborough Centre (closed since July 2023) 121467m2 1973
109800m2 1971
159979m2 1977
171473m2 1964

District or neighbourhood shopping centres

The district or neighbourhood level of shopping centres in Toronto are typically built around one or a few department stores or grocery supermarkets and are enclosed. These shopping centres typically provide a surrounding free parking lot. Most of these are located in the suburbs of Toronto, where land was available for parking. There are only two shopping malls of this type within Toronto's pre-1998 city limits: Dufferin Mall (on Dufferin Street south of Bloor Street and north of College Street) and Gerrard Square (on Gerrard Street East east of Pape Avenue and west of Jones Avenue). The third shopping mall in Old Toronto, Galleria Shopping Centre (at Dufferin Street and Dupont Street), was demolished in January 2020. There are a few ethnic malls of this type as well. Woodbine Centre has Fantasy Fair, a small indoor amusement park.

Ethnic malls

Malls located within major office buildings and condominium towers

One configuration of shopping mall in Toronto is the self-contained type located within a commercial office building, sometimes around a central atrium. This type typically does not provide a surrounding parking lot. These malls typically house from a dozen to several dozen stores. Most of these are connected to a station of the Toronto subway system. In the case of the Hudson's Bay Centre, the mall connects the department store to the Toronto subway system at Bloor–Yonge station. Some of these malls can be located in the taller condominium towers. These malls are located in the core (Old Toronto), unless marked otherwise:

Path underground shopping complex

In Downtown Toronto, primarily in the Financial District, there are interconnected shopping malls located at least one flight of stairs underground. The complex as a whole is named 'Path'. The Toronto Eaton Centre (see above) is connected to the complex. The complex has 1,200 stores, and according to Guinness World Records, the Path is the largest underground shopping complex in the world with 371600m2 of retail space.[4]

Open-air shopping plazas

Open-air shopping plazas are larger collections of stores built with surrounding parking areas, with parking spaces separated from the storefronts by sidewalks. These shopping centres generally serve the local surrounding area and have a large proportion of family-run businesses, some of which serve ethnic communities.

Power centres

Power centres mainly consist of major national and international big-box stores with large amounts of parking space separate from the stores themselves, and which serve a larger area than the open-air shopping plazas do.

Flea markets

The markets are housed indoors with stalls of independent vendors.

Former shopping malls

The following shopping malls have been demolished or closed. Some have been replaced by new strip plazas or re-developed for non-retail uses:

Former flea markets

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Yorkdale Shopping Centre Opened as World's Largest Enclosed Shopping Mall . February 28, 2019. Susan . Goldenberg . North York Historical Society . August 14, 2020.
  2. Web site: East Harbour Toronto, Ontario, Canada. eastharbour.ca. en-CA. 2018-08-28.
  3. Web site: Kipling Queensway Mall . The Conservatory Group . November 23, 2022.
  4. Web site: PATH – Toronto's Downtown Pedestrian Walkway. 15 August 2017. City of Toronto.
  5. News: RIP Galleria Mall: Demolition begins as retro mall makes way for massive condo development . July 16, 2020 . CBC News Toronto . January 17, 2020.
  6. Web site: Project. Reimagine Galleria.
  7. Web site: Morningside Crossing. westhillnews.blogspot.ca. 23 November 2007.
  8. News: McLeod . Lori . The ultimate fixer-upper . November 21, 2022 . The Globe and Mail . October 6, 2007.
  9. http://www.uer.ca/locations/show.asp?locid=20545 Urban Exploration Resource
  10. http://www.uer.ca/locations/show.asp?locid=23270 Urban Exploration Resource