None: Zellers

Saturday, January 17, 2015

The Rotting Decaying Corpse of Target Cloverdale Mall

Cloverdale Mall is a shopping centre in the former Borough/City of Etobicoke, which is near Toronto's border with Mississauga. It was named Cloverdale for the fact that it was on the "dale" side of the cloverleaf exit of Highway 27 (now 427) and Highway 5 (now not Highway 5, but still-) Dundas Street. The mall was built as an open-air plaza in 1956 to serve the exploding growth in Metropolitan Toronto's western borough, as well as the adjacent Toronto Township which evolved into present-day Mississauga. The mall is one of the oldest in the area, predating the adjacent (now dead) Honeydale Mall and Sherway Gardens, a regional shopping centre 2 km south.

One of the original tenants in the plaza was Morgan's Department Store, a Montreal-based chain which opened a two-storey building at the north end. The chain was purchased by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1960 and the store was renamed "The Bay" in 1964. It continued operating at the location through changes which saw the plaza converted into an enclosed shopping centre in the 1980's, as well as Hudson Bay's acquisition of the Simpson's chain, which operated a store at the larger Sherway Gardens, in 1978. When the Simpson's name was retired in 1991, this meant that there were two Bay stores within a short distance of each other. The two outlets co-existed until 2005, when Hudson Bay closed the Bay store and started renovations which would have their discount Zellers chain move from the south end of the mall to the northern anchor space, albeit on one floor, not two.

Let's go back to June 2012, after HBCs announcement that they were shutting down Zellers as a discount department store and were closing all but three stores operating under the Zellers banner. Cloverdale was one of the doomed locations. Here's what the store looked like in its waning days.

Shortly thereafter (June 9, the last day of operation of the Zellers Family Diner), the mall was in liquidation mode. As you can tell by the crowded aisles, they were already emptying the warehouses to fill the stores with as much inventory as the fire code thought they could handle. By September, they were closed.

The transition of the space into a Target took place over the winter of 2012-13, and saw some interesting changes made.

The standard "Target Loves Canada" signage which would appear throughout their introduction to the country appeared on the hoarding covering the mall entrance.

This is actually a rare shot. When the first signage went up on the exterior of the mall, they used the white background of the former Morgan's/Bay/Zellers building and affixed their red bullseye logo directly onto it. It would appear the the various logos which were previously affixed to the wall left too much of an impression because come store opening time, they repainted the wall red and affixed their white bullseye logo, as seen here.

I'd expressed my feelings about the new store on my first visit in March 2013.

Of course, the "Doomed" part was just a smartass comment. Or was it RETAIL PROPHECY!?!? Who knows, but what I did know is that my impression of the place was (in 2013 vernacular) "Meh." Looked like Zellers, better than Walmart, clean, airy, etc. But no customers, no compelling reason for me to be there. Of course middle-aged men are not their, ahem, target demographic, but we do on occasion accompany the ladies whose wallets they yearn for, and on those occasions who knows, perhaps a TV, tablet, video game, nice piece of "sure-its-made-for-a-kid-but-I-won't-look-too-ridiculous-wearing-that" clothing. The prices weren't great, the stock wasn't that great, or maybe I just wasn't in the mood to spend any money that day. Either way, I left empty handed. Well, except for a map. Each store had a map. (Where'd I put my map?)

Yada Yada Yada... 2013, 2014, 2015, WHOA...what?? You're leaving so soon? On January 15, 2015, the day of their announced departure from Canada, before the liquidation signs go up, here's what Target Cloverdale Mall looked like.

Welcome to Cloverdale. Drive yourself accordingly.

Original Morgan's exterior

Note the window from the former Morgan's/Bay second floor restaurant

Target plans to take their balls and go home

Apparently not.

Note the crush of shoppers

Despite the inference of fresh produce, these stands were never used for anything beyond prepackaged baked goods

Unlike Zellers, there's no "thanks" for shopping at Target

Soon there'll be another blank space baby, and Bentall Kennedy Properties will unwrite your name.

(Get your Target-exclusive Taylor Swift CDs while you can. With original lyrics)

Photos taken at or around Dundas Street West and The East Mall in Toronto, Ontario on June 6, 2012, December 6, 2012, March 18, 2013 and January 15, 2015.

UPDATE: April 8, 2015. The last day of business....

UPDATE 4/14/2015: The signs have come down all around the mall. The only thing left to do is whitewash the rings.

Expect less. Spend no more. RIP Target Canada 2013-2015.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

The Rotting Decaying Corpse of Zellers Gerrard Square

At the corner of Pape and Gerrard in the Riverdale/South Riverdale/The Pocket/Leslieville neighbourhood of Toronto is the local mall, Gerrard Square. Built in the early 1970s, the mall boasted the only Simpsons-Sears store in the former City of Toronto, mainly due to contracts drawn up by part-owner Simpsons which mandated no-compete zones which prevented "Sears" from opening in areas already served by "Simpsons" (The actual zone was 25 miles, but I guess Riverdale was far enough into the hinterland that Simpsons didn't care). Other tenants of the time included Miracle Food Mart, Steak N' Burger Restaurant and the budget-offshoot of Eaton's, Horizon. It is in the space of this former Horizon store that this story takes place.

After folding the Horizon brand, Eaton's opened stores under its own nameplate in Gerrard Square and across-town in Dufferin Mall. The stores were small, but carried a general selection of the dry goods that they perceived families needed without having to trudge all the way downtown from far-flung burgs like Riverdale. The store lasted until the late 80s when, during one of several downsizings, Eaton's closed down their smaller, less-profitable stores. Coupled with the Zellers aquisition of the Oshawa Group's Towers chain, a nearby Towers store in Riverdale Plaza was closed, and Zellers opened in Gerrard Square. (Finding actual dates for these events is challenging)

Fast-forward to 2011. The mall had been redeveloped in the early 2000's which saw the Sears store, which had been demoted to a rather horrible outlet store, closed, the creature comforts upgraded, a Home Depot, Winners and Business Depot opened. The American chain Lord And ~~Trailer~~ Taylor decided that Zellers had become an asset only in what they could get for their leaseholds, so they divested themselves of Walter Zeller's nameplate and reaped nearly two BILLLLLION DOLLARS from Target Corporation for the lease on 220 stores, including Gerrard Square. The store was deemed too small for Target's needs, so they resold the lease to Walmart Canada. It was announced that Zellers would start liquidating the store starting September 24, 2012. I documented the demise at various points during the liquidation period.

As inventories dwindled, Zellers moved their stock toward the north side of the store so that renovations could start. Once the southern part of the store was cleared of toys, clothing, electronics, hardware and seasonal items, the walls were stripped and painted Walmart blue, the floors were resurfaced and new shelving was installed.

Unlike most doomed Zellers, the pharmacy stayed open until moving across the floor to the Walmart (photo taken September 17, 2012)

An unusual sight: Walmart signs directing clients to their newly-opened pharmacy, operating within the still-open Zellers store

Although sparse in design, the "Pharmacist at Walmart" is open for business (photos taken October 12, 2012)

The Great Divide. Liquidation on the left, renovation on the right.

Behind the Curtain. New Shelving waiting for the ~~boat from China filled with cheap crap~~ new merchandise to arrive.

The former direct exit to Gerrard Street, which became a fire exit under Zellers' watch.

Six more days to go.... (photos taken October 20, 2012)

Note the "Lowest Price..." sign. There used to be a second one, which has now been whitewashed by Walmart.

Checking In....

Checking Out...

Last light

(photos taken October 25, 2012)

(now if they could only get rid of these creepy 'squares')

Last employees share a tearful goodbye.

Store closed. Doors locked. Walmart blue already painted across the doorway. (Photos taken October 26, 2012)

Later today, Walmart opens where Zellers closed. Photos taken at 1000 Gerrard Street East in Toronto, Ontario between September 17 and October 26, 2012.

UPDATE: Barely a day after the last photo was taken, Walmart moved in to the southern half of the now-former Zellers space. Initial offerings were fairly sparse, with pet food, some small appliances, Halloween candy, health and beauty aids and shoes being the first items on offer. Interestingly, they didn't resurface the store, leaving numerous red stripes on the floor. Also, it appears that HBC still has control of the store's staff lunch room as they've had to throw together a fenced-in area with foldable tables right in the middle of the store for staff to unwind (and customers to gawk at). Here are some shots from soft launch opening day.

Bottom set of photos taken October 27, 2012 at 1000 Gerrard Street East, Toronto, Ontario.

UPDATE: 12/18/2012 - It appears that they've finally put the external Walmart sign on the Gerrard Street side of the mall. Mall management didn't even repaint the area, as the dirt from the old Zellers sign is still visible beneath. Now if they could just get rid of the square people....