Yorkdale Shopping Centre

Construction and design

In the 1950s, the department store chain T. Eaton & Co. bought a 40 hectares (99 acres) site at Dufferin Street and the 401 for a new massive, suburban location. In 1958, rival department store chain Simpson's purchased a 8 hectares (20 acres) site to the east and the plan to build the complex was announced that year. Design of the mall was given to the Seattle firm of John Graham Consultants, except for the Simpson's store, designed by John Andrews of John B. Parkin Associates. Howard Lesser was the planning and development consultant. Using Lesser's market research, the developers determined how much floor space to give up to each category of retailer, and chose retailers who would appeal to a broad range of shoppers.

The mall opened on February 26, 1964, under ownership from the Trizec Corporation. Its gross leasable area (GLA) was over 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m²), by far the biggest in Canada at the time. It was also one of the largest shopping centres in the world. When it opened, Yorkdale was the first Canadian mall to include two major department stores: Simpson's and Eaton's, under the same roof. It was built at a cost of $40 million. Before large suburban malls like Yorkdale became popular, most people in the Toronto area did their major shopping downtown. Yorkdale was at the edge of the urbanized city. The new shopping centre had required the construction of the Spadina Expressway, (now called Allen Road) as the developers would not proceed until the freeway was approved for construction.

The mall was constructed with a novel system for its retailers to receive merchandise. While other Canadian shopping centres had their receiving doors located at the back side, Yorkdale was constructed with a one-way, two-laned road for trucks running beneath the centre that leads directly to retailers' basement storages. The design of the mall included a 60-foot (18 m) tall atrium, 40-foot (12 m) wide halls and 27-foot (8.2 m) tall ceilings. The corridors still retain this look and feel although renovations in 2006 replaced the ceilings, windows, floors and skylights.

Expansions and renovations

In 1999, Yorkdale completed a major overhaul adding a Rainforest Café restaurant, a Famous Players SilverCity movie theatre (which has since been taken over by Cineplex Entertainment), and an Indigo Books and Music store on the north side of the mall, facing Highway 401. The Universal Man statue in the west parking lot was relocated from the base of the CN Tower.

In 2005, a $60 million expansion on the former site of its Eaton's department store increased the size of Yorkdale to 1,404,646 sq ft (130,495.9 m²), and increased the number of stores from about 210 to 260. A highlight of this expansion was the construction of a 60-foot (18 m) high glass atrium running 300 feet (91 m) in length, which hangs from an exterior support structure. The expansion added Old Navy, Zara, H&M, Tommy Hilfiger, and Home Outfitters as sub-anchors. This gave Yorkdale the title of the third largest mall in Ontario after Square One Shopping Centre in Mississauga and Toronto Eaton Centre, ahead of Scarborough Town Centre in terms of retail floor space.

The renovation project continued into 2006 and 2007. This renovation matched the earlier sections of the mall to the style of the 2005 expansion. Key elements of this project included new public washrooms, opening of a Moxie's Grill & Bar restaurant, and new sliding automatic doors at all entrances. An advertising campaign, branded as "Change It Up!" was launched in conjunction with the renovation and redevelopment, winning a MAXI Award from the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) in 2007.

Expansion continued in the second half of the decade. In April 2008, Yorkdale opened a Michael Kors store. Later additions included Armani Exchange, bebe, Crate & Barrel, BOSS store, and a Tiffany & Co.

In January 2011, Yorkdale announced another expansion, adding another 145,000 sq ft (13,500 m²), sufficient for 40 store fronts, and 800 underground parking spaces. This new wing takes the space of the southwest parking lot. The expansion also relocated and double the number of seats at the food court, improve public access, and landscape portions of the property. The expansion, costing $35 million, was opened in the summer of 2012, and completed in November 2012. The existing food court was relocated to a new location on the third level of the former Eaton's department store. The new food court, named "Dine on 3" covers 45,000 sq ft (4,200 m²) and features 18 different eateries. The area of the former food court was redeveloped into a new wing, which housed new stores including a Microsoft store and a Tesla Motors dealership, as well as a larger Apple Store. The new parking garage was built below the wing.

In June 2013, Sears Canada announced the closing of their store at Yorkdale. The former Sears space will be used for a Sporting Life and Restoration Hardware, both opening in mid-2017.

In April 2013, Yorkdale announced a $330 million expansion, which will add an additional 298,000 sq ft (27,700 m²) of retail, featuring a three-level 188,000 sq ft (17,500 m²) Nordstrom store and a Uniqlo store. This project involved the permanent closure of the Rainforest Café (at Yorkdale since 1999), as well as the demolition of the multi-level parking garage at the southeast of the complex bordering Yorkdale Road. The project began in January 2014 and the new wing opened for business in late 2016.

Incidents

Two stabbings occurred at the mall in 2008. In the first half of 2013, two shootings occurred at the mall. The first one took place in the external surface lot late on a Saturday night in March 2013, leaving one man dead and one man injured. In May 2013, a man was injured by shots fired into the Joey restaurant at midnight on a Friday night. Yorkdale upgraded its security with a new $3.4 million video surveillance system that went into service in March 2014. The new system provides full 360-degree surveillance of the mall and the parking lots. It also includes licence plate recognition technology at parking entrances.

Retail mix

When first opened, Yorkdale had a large number of clothing retailers along with large department stores in the mix of stores. Yorkdale was the first Canadian mall to include two major department stores: Simpson's and Eaton's, under the same roof. Yorkdale was the only shopping centre to have all three Canadian department stores as tenants; The Bay, Eaton's, and Sears Canada, until Eaton's went bankrupt in 1999 and its space was redeveloped into a new wing that opened in 2005.

Since the late 1990s onward, Yorkdale's management has focused on attracting luxury brand retailers, especially those selling clothing and accessories, a strategy also adopted by Sherway Gardens. These include Versace, Bulgari, Burberry, Cartier, Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Kate Spade, Tory Burch, Moncler and Jimmy Choo. Yorkdale has also attracted American and international retailers seeking to expand to Canada. Yorkdale bought out the lease of Sears in 2014 to reallocate that space for higher-priced department stores.

Unlike other major malls in Toronto such as Toronto Eaton Centre, Scarborough Town Centre, Sherway Gardens, and Fairview Mall, Yorkdale does not have discount store or big box store tenants. However in the vicinity of Yorkdale, there are factory outlets and discount stores nearby on Orfus Road, while big box stores such as Best Buy, Costco, and Home Depot are located on Dufferin Street just north of Highway 401.

Yorkdale places a requirement on each tenant to renovate regularly. When each tenant renews its lease with the mall, they are required to renovate their store.

Canadian firsts

Yorkdale has been the point of entry into the Canadian market for many widely known international retailers. Stores that have opened or plan on opening their first Canadian store at Yorkdale include:

According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, more than 30 American retailers contacted mall management, wanting to open their first Canadian stores in Yorkdale after Crate & Barrel revealed that their first store outside the United States would open here in 2008.

Yorkdale's Nordstrom and Uniqlo stores were the second of their kind in Canada when they opened in late 2016, a few months after the first ones opened at the Toronto Eaton Centre. Yorkdale's Lego Store is the second one in Canada after the first opened at Fairview Mall.

Anchor stores

Sub-anchors

Former anchors

Transportation access

Yorkdale is accessible by private automobile, rapid transit and commuter buses. Parking is free, and includes a total of 7,200 spaces. The spaces are a mixture of above-ground surface lot, an above-ground parking garage and an underground garage. The mall is located next to the interchange of Highway 401 and Allen Road, as well as the nearby Dufferin Street, and all three major routes have road connections dedicated to serving the mall. Yorkdale Road forms the perimeter of the north and east sides of the mall. The Yorkdale subway station on the Spadina line is located just east of the mall. The Yorkdale Bus Terminal is located east of the mall. It is a terminus for GO Transit commuter buses. The transit facilities are connected to the mall by a pedestrian bridge.