Scarborough Town Centre
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| Scarborough Town Centre | |
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| Facts and statistics | |
|---|---|
| Location | Scarborough (Toronto), Ontario |
| Opening date | 1973 |
| Developer | Oxford Properties |
| Management | Oxford Properties |
| Owner | Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System |
| No. of stores and services | Over 200 shops & services[1] |
| No. of anchor tenants | 7 |
| Total retail floor area | 121,000 m² (1,300,000 ft²) |
| Parking | 3000 spaces |
| No. of floors | 2 |
| Website | http://www.scarboroughtowncentre.com |
The Scarborough Town Centre (also known as "Scarborough Town", "Town Centre" or "STC" by many locals) is a shopping mall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located in the district of Scarborough. Scarborough Town Centre is located on 300 Borough Drive[2] in Scarborough, Ontario.
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[edit] Description
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. 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.
The mall is located on the other side of a square across from the Scarborough Civic Centre. The people-friendly square is two-thirds the size of Toronto's Nathan Philips Square, and was constructed around a stand of trees preserved from the original 69 hectare parcel of land.
The twin-level, Y-shaped shopping centre featured a centre court with a giant turntable built into the floor, and two secondary courts; one with a water fountain with glass spheres and bubbling tubes, and the other with hot air balloons rising and falling over a noisy pool.
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. At the Scarborough Town Centre's Taste of the Town, visitors could enjoy a meal or snack under a vaulted double-glazed glass ceiling that let the sun shine in.
The mall is served by Highway 401, one of the busiest highways in the world. 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.
In the 1980's and 90's the mall was expanded to allow more anchor stores and retail space. The most recent expansion being in 1998 when Scarborough Town Centre added an additional 16,000 m² of space devoted to entertainment. A brand new two-level Indigo Books, Music & Café was designed to be the ultimate browse-and-buy experience. Famous Players Coliseum opened 12 state-of-the-art theatres with stadium-style seating and a lobby loaded with video games and movie snacks. It can also be noted that the Rainforest Cafe also opened its first Canadian restaurant in the new wing, though once novelty wore off only the location in the Yorkdale Shopping Centre (which opened a bit later) remained in operation. The Bay (formally Simpsons) added a whole new floor and Sears completed extensive renovations where Eaton's was after purchasing the entire Eaton's chain. Wal-Mart has since moved into where Sears once was.
It currently includes The Bay, Sears, Wal-Mart, Sportchek, Old Navy, and a Famous Players Coliseum cinema as its anchors, and Dollarama as a mini-anchor. It has more than 121,000 m² and about 220 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 east end Toronto's most important transportation hub. In addition to the RT, Scarborough Town Centre is a busy terminus for a significant number of TTC bus routes, as well as GO Transit.
Loblaw Superstore has opened at 1755 Brimley Road (at the 401). A Krispy Kreme branch closed after the Canadian operator ran into financial trouble. The closed Krispy Kreme has been reopened as a Swiss Chalet. The mall itself and most of the land surrounding it are owned by OMERS (the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System) pension company under their Oxford Properties division. Beginning in Mid-2008, the Scarborough Town Centre will undergo an extensive renovation to update the interior common areas along with the Restrooms.
[edit] 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 on a walkway between the food courts of the mall, on the upper level.
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, television personality (and now Ontario Lieutenant Governor-designate) David Onley, Olympic hockey player Vicky Sunohara, pioneer David Thomson, hip-hop artist Wes Williams, and geriatric care entrepreneur Dr. Joseph Yu Kai Wong.
[edit] Mall nicknames
- Town
- Scarborough Town
- Town Centre
- STC (Acronym for Scarborough Town Centre; commonly used by locals)
- TC
- Scarboro TC (used by GO Transit)
- Scarborough CTR (used by the TTC)
- The Mall
[edit] Anchors & majors retailers
Order from largest area to smallest area:
- The Bay 23,472 m² (252,656 ft²)
- Sears 21,515 m² (231,590 ft²)
- Wal-Mart 14,754 m² (158,810 ft²)
- Famous Players Coliseum 9755 m² (105,000 ft²)
- SportChek 2134 m² (22,974 ft²)
- Dollarama 1914 m² (20,598 ft²)
- Old Navy 1879 m² (20,224 ft²)
- Gap 1858 m² (20,005 ft²)
- H & M 1495 m² (16,091 ft²)
- Shoppers Drug Mart 1174 m² (12,638 ft²)
Aldo, Best Buy, The Body Shop, Bombay, Boston Pizza, Bulk Barn, Coles, Disney Store, HMV, Japan Camera, Pier 1 Imports, Tommy Hilfiger, Sephora, Lululemon, Swarovski, West 49, and Nine West are all chain stores present in the mall.
- See also: Canada's largest shopping malls
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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