The article about Bayview Village Shopping Centre over at Retail Insider inspired me to write about the mall from my own perspective. The mall, located at Bayview and Sheppard, has a special place in my heart because I grew up in the area and can proudly say that I’ve been going there since BEFORE I was born! My parents moved into the area a few years before I was born, just as the mall was covered. When I was a baby and until I left for university in Kingston, the mall was pretty much a neighbourhood kind of place, mostly with independent stores and very few chains (save for a Loblaws, Laura Secord, Boots pharmacy and a KMart in a separate building). There was also a small movie theatre and several restaurants. None of the restaurants still exist, sadly.
The author as a baby (circa 1980 (note the ugly stroller seat from that era)), pointing to a store window at Bayview Village
This was the mall where I learned how to walk. I had my first professional haircut there when I was seven or eight). It was where I had my first taste of ice cream – I don’t remember this moment, but my mom claims that I turned white after my first bite, which shocked them (well, duh!), but quickly went back to normal. I promptly asked for more. I was probably a bit older than one. I think I had my first hot dog there too, just a little while later. The restaurant was called Tummy Ticklers – it wasn’t a fast food joint in the McDonald’s sense – more like Harvey’s or Subway. That, along with an Italian place (don’t remember the name, but it was, like Tummy Ticklers, sort of fast food. Unlike Tummy Ticklers, they served things on real plates. And if I recall correctly, they had a bar/pub at the back). It had what I then thought was the best beef stew in the world. Both places closed just before I left for university in 1998, along with KMart when the chain pulled out of Canada. The late 90s was the beginning of Bayview Village’s transformation.
While I was away at school in Kingston, the mall began to build its first expansion, which included a move for both Gap and GapKids as well as a new Chapters bookstore, replacing Lichtman’s, which had closed. Many of the shops and restaurants of the old era remained at that time, including a Chinese restaurant called Yenching as well as the Capelli hair salon (where I had my first professional haircut at age eight or nine), Laura Secord (though it had moved to a different part of the mall, closer to all the eateries) and the movie theatre. A favourite restaurant of my teen years, Max’s diner would stay for another couple of years before being taken over by Oliver and Bonacini. Tummy Ticklers had closed by then, replaced by a Japanese restaurant called Kabuki (which has since been replaced by another Japanese restaurant).
An entrance to Bayview Village
Things pretty much remained the same for a few years, with only some minor upgrades (e.g. Max’s becoming the more sophisticated Oliver and Bonacini) and a few more upscale stores opening their doors. Just shortly after the New York Towers condos were built, about 15 years ago, the mall went through another transformation, including the closing of the mall’s movie theatre (which was actually a victim of Alliance Atlantis’ financial issues. The theatre, which originally played first run blockbusters, became an indie theatre at the turn of the millennium). Over the next few years and up until recently, stores like Andrew’s, TNT The New Trend, Pink Tartan and gourmet grocery shop, Pusateri’s opened. Loblaws moved to a new, expanded part of the mall and Origin North took over another restaurant located in the parking area. Yenching, which was once the only restaurant north of Dundas which served northern style Chinese food closed just a few years ago and was replaced with Pearl. Long-time tenants such as Loblaws, Capelli, the liquor store and Laura Secord, while still there, have moved to different locations. The mall would be completely unrecognizable if one were to transport someone from the 1980s to 2014.
I rarely go up to Bayview Village anymore now that I’m married and living downtown. I went more often before 2010 when my then-boyfriend (now husband) lived there, so I saw the transformation happen. Do I miss the old Bayview Village? A little, yes, but at the same time, the area as well as Toronto in general have both changed a great deal over the past 30 years as well. The demand for the old Bayview Village is just not there anymore.
Image credits: Author’s baby picture courtesy of a family album; Bayview Village entrance by Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons
