On Sears Shuttering its Toronto Flagship

This morning, I woke up to the news that Sears is closing its Eaton Centre (which took over the old Eaton’s store in the early 2000s) location by early next year (and other locations as well). This was definitely expected – the chain has been struggling for years – and to be honest, I thought it would happen much sooner. While I feel badly about employees losing their jobs, the Eaton Centre has simply outgrown Sears’ market. Sears, especially when it comes to fashion, is simply…boring.

The Sears store at the Toronto Eaton Centre, looking south on Yonge

Sure, there have been collaborations with Canadian designers like David Dixon, but those pieces were simple and I don’t think I would have even recognized it as being from these designers had their names not been attached to it. Besides, would a typical Sears shopper even recognize the name? And because the Eaton Centre itself is trying to be more style forward (though it will NEVER be a luxury mall like Yorkdale), Sears just isn’t a good fit anymore – not even for other items like appliances, electronics and cosmetics. There are other stores that serve that purpose at similar or lower price points. To be honest, most people I know only use the Sears store at the Eaton Centre to get from the subway to the mall.

While Sears has had trouble for years, I have to say that there are SOME good points about the Eaton Centre store, and that’s CuiScene, a food station-like (stir-fries, burgers and pastas) restaurant on the fourth floor. The food isn’t super-great, but before Urban Eatery and the similar concept Foodwares (Hudson’s Bay) opened, it was one of the only places to have lunch if one didn’t want to go to a traditional food court.

Could Sears at the Eaton Centre have been saved? I’m not sure. Sears just didn’t want to change themselves. They really had a choice – either go budget or luxury. And budget simply isn’t a good fit for the Eaton Centre.

As for who is taking over the spot, no official announcement has been made. However, judging from what’s happening at other malls, it’s likely going to be Nordstrom. After all, the only locations announced for Toronto have been suburban, while downtown spots were made for Vancouver, Calgary and Ottawa.

Image credit: Eaton Centre Toronto, seen from Yonge Street, taken by Nephron and courtesy of Wikicommons

About Cynthia Cheng Mintz

Cynthia Cheng Mintz is the founder and webitor-in-chief of this site and the petite-focused site, Shorty Stories. She has also written for other publications including the Toronto Star and has blogged for The Huffington Post. Her first novel, Aspirations, was published in 2007. Outside of writing, Cynthia researches and advises philanthropic ideas for family funds and foundations and also volunteers.