Eaton Centre; Toronto, Ontario
Depending on the outcomes of the upcoming elections, it’s quite possible that many of us will find on Wednesday that some of our friends are Canadaphiles, or people who have an extreme fondness for (and in many cases, harbor empty threats to move to) Canada. Truth be told, there’s plenty to love about our great neighbor to the north, especially if you have an interest in malls and retail. Sure, they call Kmart “Zellers” (though they’re no longer the same company), and instead of TJMaxx, they have Winners. But in Canada, practically every major shopping center is enclosed (as a sweeping generalization!) and one of the largest malls in the world (The West Edmonton Mall) is up in the great white north.
Downtown Toronto’s Eaton Centre is perhaps Canada’s second-most famous shopping mall. Located in the center of the city between Yonge, Queen, Dundas, and Bay Streets, the 330-store center is the most popular tourist attraction in Toronto, Canada’s largest city. The mall stands on the site of the original flagship Eaton’s store, which was once one of Canada’s premier department store chains. The mall itself, along with the modern 1,000,000 square-foot Eaton’s flagship store, opened in 1977, with a second phase following in 1979. The mall immediately became one of the most successful in North America, and (as required by the city of Toronto), the mall’s interior remains open 24 hours a day since its construction userped several public streets.
The mall’s greatest feature is perhaps its vaulted glass ceiling, which stands an astonishing 127 feet above the first level. It’s easily one of the tallest and grandest malls that I’ve seen, and its busy, active Yonge Street frontage (which is the closest that Canada has to a “Times Square” district) is a sight to behold at night.
The mall today includes Sears (who purchased the bankrupt Eaton’s in 1999, and rebranded them 2001 or 2002ish), H&M, Canadian Tire, and Best Buy spread across 1,600,000 square feet. The Eaton Centre is also connected via skywalk to the nearby flagship of The Bay (or, in Quebec, La Baie), also known as The Hudson’s Bay Company, one of Canada’s largest remaining department store chains.
All of these photos were taken by Prangeway in 2001. Note the presence of Eaton’s rather than Sears!
XISMZERO
November 6th, 2006 at 2:21 am
Canadians can do malls! This one in particular looks very impressive; reminds me of the Worcester Common Outlets a little.
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Mark
November 6th, 2006 at 3:39 am
woah, this mall has pulled out all the stops.
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Tyguy
November 6th, 2006 at 3:47 am
Eaton Centres seem to have a lot of sentimental value in Canada. Lots of people shopped at Eaton’s when it was alive and well, it was Canadian company (named for Timothy Eaton) and people the liked the store. It has a lot of history as it was founded by Mr. Eaton in 1869. Though I guess they ran into problems starting in the late 70s Sears Canada tried to save them by modernizing them (that logo you see in the pics here Sears’ version). More information about Eatons is here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eatons
Anyways, these malls are still called Eaton Centre, even though, sadly, there is no Eaton’s anymore. I remember shopping at Eatons with my grandmother at their location at Carrefour Angrignon in Montreal, and with my mom at Le Centre Eaton in downtown Montreal. I moved to Calgary in 1997 and don’t really remember much on Eatons here, except for when Sears tried to bail them out and they closed all their stores except for the one at the Eaton Centre downtown here and changed their logo.
*sigh*
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Leon
November 6th, 2006 at 10:00 pm
I visited Toronto last year for Caribana, and I wound up coming here a few times (to eat at the Food Court, people watching, etc.), and I was very impressed with the mall. One thing I liked about the mall is how the subway stations are incorporated with the PATH system, which is incorporated into the mall. From what I remember, when you exit the subway station, one of the food courts (there are two food courts at the mall) is right at the subway station and the rest of the mall is right above you. The Sears is one of the nicest that I’ve been to, but that’s only because it used to be Eaton’s.
Also, the Square across Yonge Street is known as Dundas Square. It’s no Time’s Square, but it’s getting there.
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Canuck
November 7th, 2006 at 8:10 pm
The Canadian Tire and Best Buy are new additions to the mall and are loosely connected. They are the first of their stores in downtown Toronto. I was down there in late September when they both had just opened. The area around Dundas Square for the most part is still under construction. Dundas Square is Canada’s Times Square. The PATH system is quite unique and has a ton of stores in it. The picture of the Eatons in the photo was taken at the time when Sears had taken over Eatons, but tried to keep the name Eatons. A few years later Sears decided to scrap that idea and renamed any remaining Eatons stores Sears.
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Scott
November 8th, 2006 at 9:31 pm
Don’t tell me it’s *SAFE*, too! Those darn Canadians…always doing things right. Even the subway goes to the mall.
This mall must have been used for the Schwartzenegger film, The Sixth Day…. just add animated birds.
Scott
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Steven Wilson
November 9th, 2006 at 10:45 am
I used to always visit Eaton Centre whenever I went to Toronto. Do they still have the Canadian geese figures hanging from the ceiling? I don’t see them in your photos.
How many Canadian malls are named Eaton Centre? I went to another one in Vancouver. It was more like a conventional suburban regional shopping mall, whereas the Toronto version definitely reflects its urban environment.
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Canuck
November 9th, 2006 at 4:26 pm
The geese are still there, a couple years ago the mall wanted to add red ribbons to their necks for Christmas, but the artist who designed the whole geese flying scene threatened to sue so it was never done. I believe every major city had an Eatons Centre at one point, like Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal.
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jamie
November 9th, 2006 at 9:55 pm
In Ontario at least, Eatons entered into “Eaton Centre” or downtown mall projects across the province in the late 70s-80s to bring shopping back to city cores. Many of these malls wound up as failures, especially after Eatons ran into financial trouble. Among the current uses for these sites: a minor hockey arena (Guelph), a newspaper office (Market Square in Kitchener), Liquidation World (Hamilton).
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Allan
November 10th, 2006 at 7:20 pm
Geesh, that ceiling and the immense size of that place makes it look like a Canadian version of the Houston Galleria on steroids! I’ve heard about the West Edmonton Mall, but never that one for some reason.
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Tyguy
November 11th, 2006 at 5:34 am
West Edmonton Mall is overrated in my opinion (sorry Edmontonians). Sure its big and all and has all these extra features (hockey-rink, waterpark etc), but some parts of the mall are in dire need of renovations and being fixed up. The newer phases of the mall are not bad, and most of the stores have renovated themselves, its just the infrastructure and halls and the mall itself that needs fixing up. Some of it is quite out dated and dirty, I ate in one of the food courts and was disgusted at the condition of the tables and sitting area.
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Eaton's Expert
December 31st, 2006 at 6:25 pm
Kmart is related to Kresge in Canada and Zellers is the discount arm of The Bay, formerly Hudson’s Bay Company.
Buckminster Fuller toured the building when it openned and called it an immense shopping trap. I did a thesis on the site so enough said,
It was however the site of what was feared to become Toronto’s greatest modern fire in the 70’s during demolition of the Eaton’s Edwardian era complex.
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Eric
March 16th, 2007 at 10:05 am
The mall is 24/7? I have to go! Are any of the stores open 24/7 or very late?
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mallguy
July 31st, 2007 at 11:37 pm
The last time I went to Toronto, I visited Eaton Centre (which is actually Toronto’s top tourist attraction) and was very impressed. Back then, they had a merchandise theme in that the higher the levels, the higher the prices (the 3rd level consisted of the most exclusive stores). The mall also had cool fountains…one in the center that was always changing and another two on the Eaton’s end. The one closest to Eaton’s had glass globes, somewhat similar to one of the fountains at the Mall at Short Hills, and the other was a waterfall between the escalators leading to the basement levels. The Gap was also in this mall at that time.
The underground city (PATH) of Toronto is also quite impressive both in architecture and size.
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Andrew
July 12th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
To the “Eaton’s Expert”
It is a good thing you said you were an Eaton’s Expert and not Hbc Expert. Some errors in your blog caused me concern.
The Hudson’s Bay Company (Hbc) (est. 1670) is Canada’s oldest corporation. Hbc owns stores across Canada under the banner names The Bay, Home Outfitters, Fields, & Designer Depot. Zellers is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hbc. Hbc purchased K-mart in 1998 and changed them mostly into Zellers stores. Zellers head office moved to Brampton, Ontario into K-mart’s former head office building.
The Bay building across the road from the Toronto Eaton Centre used to be Simpson’s (The Robert Simpson Company Limited) , When Hbc bought the company the Simpson name was used until 1991. The flagship store in Downtown Toronto (across from the Eaton Centre) was the last store operating under Simpson’s. in 1991 that store’s name changed to The Bay. The attached tower at the time of this post is still called The Simpson Tower.
For more information and history about The Hudson’s Bay Company please visit http://www.hbc.com
For more information about Zellers please visit http://www.zellers.com
For more information about Eaton’s please visit http://www.eatons.com
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ghome
July 17th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Well today that Hudson’s Bay Company was sold to Lord and Taylor’s owner NRDC Equity Partners.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/business/worldbusiness/17hudson.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin
According to different reports NRDC is not renaming the Bay stores. The Bay stores across Canada might be reduced to fix Lord and Taylor in key markets.Also NRDC will put in Fortunoff areas inside Hudson’s Bay Company stores. Zellers ( similar to Target) might have more upscale items.
I think this will be good for Canada ,Hudson’s Bay Company and NRDC.
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Elsie Harvey
September 23rd, 2008 at 1:24 pm
President,
I spend thousands of dollars in clothes at the Bay Store on Bay Street, Toronto each year. I have been to the store several times of the past weeks and am very disappointed in the poor quality and style of clothes for plus sizes this year. Until now I have always found several items to choose from. I do not know who is doing your buying this year, but they should keep in mind that those who wear plus sizes also have a sense of style and look for quality.
I am extremely disappointed and would like to speak to the person responsible for purchasing.
Elsie Harvey
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SEAN
October 1st, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Check this out.
Canada department stores head for a shake-up
By Anna Robaton
NRDC Equity Partners surprised the industry in 2006 when it bought Lord & Taylor and engineered one of the most striking retail turnarounds in U.S. history. Now the New York City–based private equity firm has trained its sights north of the U.S. border and onto a loftier goal: revolutionizing Canada’s tired department store sector.
NRDC, a relative newcomer to the department store scene, gained control of Canada’s oldest department store chain, The Bay, in July when it purchased Toronto-based retail conglomerate Hudson’s Bay Co., in which it held a minority stake. The firm has since embarked on a plan to revitalize the Bay and to export Lord & Taylor to Canada. The plan hinges on providing better brands and service at the Bay and reconfiguring the vast real estate portfolio of Hudson’s Bay Co., which will, among other things, make way for Lord & Taylor.
With the spotlight on Canada, it is easy to see why NRDC thinks there is plenty of upside there. Mall owners, which have, like their U.S. counterparts, for years watched department stores lose market share to specialty and big-box chains, are eager for the plan to succeed. “Most developers would welcome Lord & Taylor with open arms,” said Ian Thomas, chairman of Thomas Consultants, a Vancouver, British Columbia–based firm specializing in strategic planning for retail real estate. “It will give back some of the legitimacy big regional malls have lost over the years.”
Canada has only two national, full-line department stores — the Bay, with 94 stores, and Sears Canada, with 123 — plus a handful of smaller department store chains. Among the better are successful, fashion-focused players Holt Renfrew, a luxury chain with nine stores in major cities, and La Maison Simons, a more moderately priced chain of seven stores in the province of Québec.
Canada’s department store sector is a shadow of its former self, owing to the consolidation that began in the late 1980s and lasted until the mid-1990s, knocking out Eaton’s, once the country’s largest department store chain, and many others.
Sears Canada (Hoffman Estates, Ill.–based Sears Holdings Corp. is majority owner) purchased the assets of bankrupt Eaton’s in 1999 in an ill-fated attempt to relaunch the chain as a higher-end brand. Ultimately, former Eaton’s stores were closed, sold to the Bay or converted to Sears units, including some in downtowns that observers say have proved challenging for the quintessential suburban retailer.
The country’s small pool of remaining department store chains has created sameness in many markets, a problem exacerbated by aging stores and competition from foreign big-box and specialty retailers that have flocked to Canada in recent years.
Strong consumer activity has drawn foreign chains, although retail sales have softened a bit. Nonautomotive retail sales, including food and beverage store sales, hit C$270 billion ($257 billion) last year, up nearly 30 percent from 2002, or just over 5 percent on a compounded annual basis, according to J.C. Williams Group, a retail consultant firm. (The firm calculated this growth rate using unadjusted sales figures from Statistics Canada.) Yet, with the exception of high-end players like Holt Renfrew, department stores have generally failed to reap the benefits of robust consumer spending, experts say. Instead they have lost market share to competitors. Wal-Mart has taken the country by storm since it arrived in 1994. In recent years the discounter has begun rolling out Supercenters there.
For the five-year period beginning 2000, the Bay’s sales declined by just over 1 percent on a compounded annual basis, to C$2.6 billion. The Bay’s parent company was public until early 2006, when South Carolina businessman Jerry Zucker acquired and privatized it. Zucker set himself to turning around the retail behemoth, which also owns the 280-store Zellers mass merchandise chain, but the improvements were largely internal, focusing on such areas as information technology, observers say.
After Zucker’s death in April, NRDC acquired the company and formed Hudson’s Bay Trading Co., a holding company for Lord &Taylor, Hudson’s Bay Co., Fortunoff and the fledgling Creative Design Studios. The latter develops fashion products under the Black/Brown 1826, Context, Kate Hill and Peter Som labels.
The biggest problem in Canada is that there is a scant choice of department stores, says Kim D. McInnes, COO of Montréal-based Ivanhoe Cambridge, one of Canada’s largest mall owners. With Holt Renfrew at one end of the spectrum and Wal-Mart at the other, the market is “bifurcated,” McInnes says. “There is a huge opportunity to rebuild that middle part of the brand.”
It remains to be seen whether Canadian consumers will warm to Lord & Taylor, but NRDC does appear to be off to a good start. The firm declined to comment for this story, but it has announced that it will invest $500 million into Hudson’s Bay Trading, signaling that a quick exit is not among its intentions.
“They have shown they are willing to pour a ton of money into their properties to bring them into the 21st century and create an appealing shopping experience, which is what is going to differentiate the Bay from its competition,” said Kelly Tackett, a senior consultant at TNS Retail Forward, in Columbus, Ohio.
The Hudson’s Bay acquisition gives NRDC a stable of trophy retail properties, including many stores with mature, low-rent leases, in major markets from coast to coast. The firm has said it will open 10 to 15 Lord & Taylor stores throughout Canada, converting some Bay stores and possibly carving out space for Lord & Taylor in some of the Bay’s cavernous flagship stores. It also plans to open Fortunoff jewelry and home-furnishings departments inside Bay stores, which some experts compare to Macy’s in the U.S.
NRDC “sees a lot of room to operate between Bay price points and Holt Renfrew because there is nothing in between,” according to Alan Marcovitz, president and chairman of the Montréal-based Westcliff Group of Cos., one of Canada’s largest privately held real estate firms. “There is a big field for the taking,” Marcovitz said.
NRDC wasted no time hiring a team of high-powered fashion and retail veterans to figure out how to do that. In July it named Jeffrey Sherman, who has held top positions at Bloomingdale’s, The Limited and Polo Ralph Lauren, chief executive of Hudson’s Bay Co. It has also hired fashion expert Bonnie Brooks, who was most recently president of Hong Kong’s Lane Crawford Joyce Group, a leading international brand group in Asia, to head the Bay. Brooks’ career also includes stints at Holt Renfrew and Flare, a leading Canadian fashion magazine.
“She’s young, aggressive and understands the marketplace,” said John A. Torella, a senior partner at J.C. Williams Group. “She comes to this job with a real understanding of what needs to be done.”
NRDC also tapped Canadian retail veteran Mark Foote to head the Zellers chain, which has been hit especially hard by Wal-Mart, observers say. In recent years the chain has sought to fend off Wal-Mart by moving away from the discount store model and skewing slightly more upscale. Many of its stores have been renovated and expanded, and its new chief executive is expected to focus on branded apparel and on improving customer service. The company’s plans also call for rolling out a new, 125,000-square-foot prototype. “Wal-Mart has been tough on Zellers, but Target in the States holds its own,” said Marcovitz. “I don’t see any reason why Zellers with some improvements and capital behind it won’t do the same.”
For mall owners, NRDC’s plans are tantalizing. Of course, they are eager to see the Bay and Zellers re-energized, but the impending arrival of Lord & Taylor will give some an opportunity to differentiate their properties. Landlords may also want to reclaim some department store space to accommodate additional specialty retailers, should the Bay decide to downsize certain stores to improve performance. A reinvigorated department store sector may also spur the development of new malls outside downtown areas, where there is more room for growth than in urban markets.
To be sure, plenty of horse trading will go on between Hudson’s Bay Trading and landlords as the company seeks to reconfigure its portfolio, which also contains 61 Home Outfitters and 161 Fields stores. “The whole problem [for Canada’s mall owners] was they had nothing new to offer in terms of anchors,” said Harley Oberfeld, president and CEO of tenant advisory firm Oberfeld Snowcap, which has offices in Montréal and Toronto. “How many Bay-Sears malls can you build?” Canada has not seen the ground-up development of a traditional regional mall since 1990, Oberfeld says.
With a small and slowly growing population of slightly over 33 million, Canada is unlikely to see large numbers of new malls built anytime soon. Yet some observers say U.S. department store chains that have been on the sidelines may be motivated to enter Canada if Lord & Taylor succeeds there. And they doubt that name recognition will be a critical factor in determining its fate.
“Wal-Mart came here and delivered the goods and name recognition wasn’t an obstacle,” said Marcovitz. “There is some importance to branding, but if you deliver the merchandise, then you are well on your way.”
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