East York Town Centre Explained

East York Town Centre
Coordinates:43.7057°N -79.3461°W
Address:45 Overlea Boulevard
Toronto, Ontario
M4H 1C3
Opening Date:1960
Owner:Morguard
Number Of Stores:100+
Number Of Anchors:2 (Food Basics and Shoppers Drug Mart)
Floor Area:360045ft2[1]
Floors:1 (Former Target has 2 floors, the mall has a ground floor for offices and an upper floor for a banquet hall)

East York Town Centre is a neighbourhood shopping centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Overlea Boulevard in the Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood.

History

The shopping centre was opened to the public in 1960 as the Thorncliffe Market Place in the town of Leaside. Before 1954 the area was the northeast corner of racetrack and grassy area south of where the stables of the old Thorncliffe Park Raceway were. It began with two anchors, Sayvette[2] and Steinberg's.[2] The Sayvette department store dissolved in 1977. Woolco opened in the space where Sayvette previously occupied.[2] Woolco was bought by Walmart in 1994. This location was unionized and eventually was sold to Zellers.

Zellers went in liquidation and closed in June 2012, making way for Target's entry into the Canadian market. Construction began in December 2012 to convert the Zellers store into a Target store, which opened March 25, 2013. Target Canada announced its closure of all its 133 stores in Canada (including the East York Town Centre location). In mid-2016, Thorncliffe Bowlerama closed down and was replaced with Fit4Less.

In 2021, the former Target location was used as a pop-up vaccine clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Leasing. East York Town Centre. November 25, 2019.
  2. Web site: Department Stores then and now. UrbanToronto.ca. March 8, 2012. December 15, 2016.