Scarborough Town Centre

Scarborough Town Centre
Location 300 Borough Drive
Toronto, Ontario
M1P 4P5
Opening date May 2, 1973
Developer Oxford Properties
Management Oxford Properties
Owner OMERS/ Oxford Properties
No. of stores and services 250+[1]
No. of anchor tenants 4
Total retail floor area 121,000 m² (1,300,000 ft²)
No. of floors 2
Parking 3000 spaces
Public transit access Scarborough Centre station
Scarborough Centre Bus Terminal
Website Official Website

The Scarborough Town Centre (STC) is a shopping mall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Central to the Scarborough City Centre in the district of Scarborough, it is adjacent to the Scarborough Centre station and Scarborough Centre Bus Terminal.[2] It was constructed by Oxford Properties and opened in 1973 to become the sixth largest shopping mall in Canada, fourth largest in Ontario and third in Toronto by retail space.

Description

The mall is located on the north side of Albert Campbell Square, across from the Scarborough Civic Centre.[2]

Although anchored by only Eaton's and Simpsons at the time, the Scarborough Town Centre also had one of the few Brewers Retail (now The Beer Store) stores located within a shopping centre and the first to contain a completely refrigerated storeroom.

The mall is served by Highway 401. The mall can also be reached through a turnaround ramp on McCowan Road, Progress Avenue, and Brimley Road. The TTC's Scarborough RT line also has a station adjacent to the mall, Scarborough Centre, opened in 1985 with service running southwest to Kennedy station on the Bloor-Danforth subway line and east to McCowan Station.[2]

Scarborough Town Centre currently includes The Bay, Sears, Walmart, and a Cineplex Cinemas as its anchors, and Dollarama as a mini-anchor. It has more than 121,000 m² and about 230 stores, making it the fourth-largest shopping centre in Greater Toronto, after Square One Shopping Centre, Yorkdale Shopping Centre, and Toronto Eaton Centre. Town Centre is Toronto's east end's most important transportation hub. In addition to the RT, Scarborough Town Centre is a busy terminal for a number of TTC bus routes, as well as GO Transit.

The mall itself and most of the land surrounding it are owned by OMERS (the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System) pension fund under their Oxford Properties division.

Scarborough Walk of Fame

In 2006, ten prominent members of Scarborough's community were inducted into the Scarborough Walk of Fame, and this was the first annual ceremony. The stars (plaques) of the Walk of Fame are located behind the main atrium, in front of H&M. Formerly, they were located on a walkway between the food courts of the mall, on the upper level.

The first inductees were burn-unit founder Dr. Lloyd N. Carlsen, educator Dr. R. H. King, NBA player Jamaal Magloire, pulmonary scientist Dr. Charles C. Macklin, artist Doris McCarthy, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and former television personality, The Honourable David Onley, Olympic hockey player Vicky Sunohara, pioneer David Thomson, hip-hop artist Wes Williams, and geriatric care entrepreneur Dr. Joseph Yu Kai Wong.[3]

History

The mall was constructed in 1972 and was opened on May 2, 1973. At that time it included two major Canadian department stores, Simpson's and Eaton's. Miracle Food Mart, a supermarket was also located in the mall; part of the Steinbergs chain it was co-located with a Miracle Mart, a discount department store, It was designed to serve as part of the civic and commercial centre of what was then the Borough of Scarborough. Scarborough Town Centre opened with 130 stores adjacent to the borough's administration buildings. It provided a central landmark in an otherwise newer suburban area of Toronto.[4]

Originally Y-shaped, with its stem towards the Civic Centre, a second phase of construction added the northern department store and two wings. The construction added 240,000 square feet (22,000 m2) of retail space, and was opened on August 8, 1979.[5]

In 1998-1999, the mall was expanded once again to allow more anchor stores and retail space. A major expansion in 1998 added an additional 16,000 m² of space devoted to entertainment. A new two-level Indigo Books, Music & Café was designed. Indigo has since closed down and has been replaced by Sportchek, which in turn was closed down to make way for a Forever 21 store. The Bay (formerly Simpsons) added a whole new floor and Sears completed extensive renovations where Eaton's was after purchasing the entire Eaton's chain. Walmart has since moved into where Sears, and initially The Bay, once was.

During the mall's latest renovation, branded "Lighten Up," gave retailers such as Victoria's Secret interests in retail space.[6] Victoria's Secret have opened one of Canada's first Pink stores in the former Disney Store in July 2010. Other major retailers such as Forever 21 and Aritzia have replaced Sportchek and the Birk's jewellery store. On June 14, 2013, Sears Canada announced that they may be closing their store at Scarborough Town Centre within 5 years depending on Oxford Properties decision.[7]

The mall opened Geox and Thomas Sabo stores in 2015.[4]

As of fall 2015, the food court is being renovated and expanded on the lower level only. It is expected to be completed by mid-2016. The upper level of the food court will eventually be turned into mall spaces.

Anchors and major retailers

Order from largest area to smallest area:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Scarborough Town Centre - Specialty Leasing". Scarborough Town Centre.
  2. 1 2 3 "Directions & Map to East GTA's Premier Mall". Scarborough Town Centre. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  3. ↑ "Scarborough Walk of Fame - Inductees". Scarborough Walk of Fame. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  4. 1 2 Scarborough Town Centre
  5. ↑ Scarborough Town Centre - Our History
  6. ↑ "Scarborough Town Centre".
  7. ↑ Kopun, Francine (14 June 2013). "Sears Canada to close two, possibly three, Toronto area stores". Toronto Star. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  8. ↑ "Scarborough Town Centre - The Bay". Scarborough Town Centre. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  9. ↑ "Sears pulls out of up to 3 Toronto malls". CBC News. The Canadian Press. 17 June 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  10. ↑ "Walmart Scarborough Town Centre Store". Walmart Canada. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  11. ↑ "Cineplex Cinemas Scarborough". Cineplex. Retrieved 6 September 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Scarborough Town Centre.

Coordinates: 43°46′35″N 79°15′30″W / 43.776354°N 79.258279°W / 43.776354; -79.258279

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