City
Nothing Sweet about Etobicoke's Honeydale Mall
I grew up in Etobicoke, not far from Dundas and the 427. One evening last week I got off work early and stopped by to visit the family home. The suburbs of Toronto haven't really changed all that much.
My car also recently started farting, so in need of a new muffer, I figured I'd swing by the Speedy on Dundas (near Kipling station). Having an hour to kill while my car was worked on, I wandered over to the nearby Honeydale Mall.
Honeydale Mall was never a popular destination for me growing up, but having not been by there in quite some time, I hadn't realized just how bad things have become for the old Etobicoke mall. It's in a really, really sad state... near death. And after exploring some, and taking snaps with my cell phone, I later learned that it even has an entry on deadmalls.com.
There was once a Walmart in the largest retail space in the mall, which later became a scratch-n'-dent-type outlet for the Bay - but they've since also jumped ship and sought out greener pastures.
The interior of the mall is like rather ghost town-esque. Small retailers and big business are long gone, leaving empty shops with for-lease signs that no one is likely to ever call.
The massive parking lot, which appears to be spacious enough to hold several hundred cars, remains largely vacant on a Friday afternoon.
Being there got me thinking - sometimes death and renewal takes a really long time to transpire. This seems to be the
case for a few properties in central Etobicoke. Take for example, the
long abandoned Westwood Theatre just east of Kipling station. It seems
like ages ago that I lined up with my friends to see the premier of
Batman (1989), but it also seems like eons since the place went defunct
(in 1998) - and it still sits deteriorating and under-utilized.
What does the future hold for Honeydale Mall? Surely the remaining retail space (a No Frills on one end, and a really, really terribe flea market at the other end) can't keep the entire mall on life support for much longer.
I'd like to think that some smart and responsible development firm has its sights on the property, with plans to build tall residential units (not townhomes, please!). With urban sprawl bringing Mississauga and Halton Hills and Georgetown and Acton and Rockwood and Guelph together, we'd be far better off with a shift in focus towards densification. A stone's throw from the TTC Kipling subway station, it actually makes sense for this kind of development in this otherwise wasted land.
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How ironic that the only retailer left is 'No Frills'.
Careful, someone might get wise, buy the property and put up, yes another condo!
But seriously, using a grocery store as the sole 'anchor' is almost always a death sentence for a mall. People will go into a Zellers or Walmart and buy a bag or two worth of product and they may just stroll into the mall to get some lunch or browse the small shops. It doesn't work that way with a grocery store. People tend to buy many bags of product which is often perishable. People simply don't browse around a mall after getting groceries. They just want to get home and put their groceries in the fridge.
I bring this up because the mall at Eglinton and Victoria Park will be losing its Zellers store in something like 2 months. The mall itself is relatively healthy with a No Frills and several small stores. But unless they can find a replacement anchor for the Zellers they will slowly and painfully end up the same way as the Honeydale Mall.
I am sensitive to the question of preventing urban sprawl- grew up in North York, now live in Acton = so I have contributed to the problem.
There has to be incentives to re-develop and a harder, bigger green belt. Both the carrot and the stick. The best thing about Acton is being completely within the green belt and therefore sprawl is blocked. Guelph wants the same thing. There has to be swift action with South Georgetown, it has developers lining up to develop until Georgetown sits next to the 401...
But Cloverdale is just across the road & wins out in the "where would one rather shop" category. While Honeydale has been in decline, Cloverdale has a least improved (renovations, most store fronts leased etc)
We called Cloverdale "Over the Hill mall" when we were kids because it used to be mostly seniors shopping there. No surprise, as anyone who can't afford to shop in nearby chi-chi Sherway Gardens stores would go to Cloverdale. And unlike Sherway on a weekend, you can always find a parking spot!
Why go to a small mall with a few stores when you can go to a huge mall with many many stores? Its current consumer logic. People just travel a bit further for the convience of having more choice.
Seems like Cloverdale and Honeydale are also confined in their property footprint -- meaning expansion isn't really possible -- which limits what a property owner can do to keep drawing people in in the era of "superstores".
I'm located near Yorkdale up in Downsview -- and no small mall really has much of a chance with that monster mall in the area -- it draws people from all over. Sheridan Mall isn't that far -- and while its not "dead" it really struggles to maintain its draw of customers. There was a time when Sheridan Mall was on an even keel with Yorkdale and drawing the same number of people and same range of customers. But then Yorkdale expanded -- many times -- and simply dominated the retail market in the area.
What's sad is that I think with some creative land-use planning and creative entrepreneurship places like Honeydale could become real niche markets (literally) for stores and services that huge malls and large retailers just can't offer. But our city doesnt seem to really encourage that kind of development. There is a small but growing movement of people who are looking for work-live situations -- and places like Honeydale may yet see a re-birth.
It reminds me a bit of the old Trafalgar Village mall in Oakville. It was built in the '50s, but lost its status when the fancier Oakville Place opened nearby in 1981. It was still fairly busy, though, as a budget-minded mall with a supermarket, Bargain Harold's (or was that a Bi-Way?), and a Woolco. There was also a bowling alley and a Golden Griddle.
But then the Woolco chain was taken over by Wal-Mart and, over the course of several years, Wal-Mart slowly sucked the life out of the rest of the mall. Wal-Mart eventually left the husk of the mall for greener pastures, a new subdivision being built at the north end of town, and the store lay vacant for a while. A flea market moved in for a couple of months, but it was quite pathetic and didn't attract much traffic. The rest of the mall was 80% empty at that point, with a few long-established stores with a devout local following surviving. The writing was on the wall, though.
Eventually, about 7 years ago now I think, they tore down the mall. The supermarket (now a No Frills) and Golden Griddle were preserved, and the remaining stores were moved into some newly-built units. The main structure of the mall was replaced by an expanded parking lot, a Tim Hortons, and a Home Depot.
The shopping centre still carries the same name, Trafalgar Village, and with the Home Depot dominating it, it's been very successful. Much more so than its years of post-Wal-Mart rot.
What an eye sore. The surrounding area is only slightly better, but once they get that mistake north of the lake torn down we will all be much happier.
I moved to Etobicoke in the late '80's and my grandparents forced me to go that "mall". Hell, I was coming from Ireland, which was still developing at the time and the one "mall" we had over there was leaps and bounds better than HoneyJail. Even as a 13 yr old Irish immigrant who used to play in cow pastures for fun, I could tell just how shitty that place was. Dont let the door hit you on the way out, HoneyJail. P.O.S.
Cloverdale has had a good resurgence. 10 years ago I could have sworn it was doomed, but with the new Metro groceries and decent shops inside, it seems to be doing alright.
Crap man! You walked that? You must have great legs.
About 6 weeks ago it was announced that the Westwood site, or part of it at least, will be developed as a new courthouse.
http://www.mirror-guardian.com/article/66878
This guy predicted this by keepin an eye on the economy.
But don't you worry - those big box stores stretching across Eglinton (and Warden) will surely find its way into that spot.
Yech.
http://tinyurl.com/r925ve
hey i shop at that no frills every weekend.
yeah construction of the new tranport hub i believe has started under the kipling area bridge, crews been working hard there for the last week. kicking out all the ttc employees that park there.
In the evening and on weekends it's full of people big and small, young and old
Oh, and Ryan: Honeydale lost its neon bee sign ("That 70s Sign", I used to call it) a couple of years ago--that was virtually the only redeeming feature to the mall, which was *always* a cheapo cheapo barrel-bottom affair...
I go to Cloverdale semi-regularly thanks to the metro and the Winners; the fact that it has a book store, game store and record store doesn't hurt even if none of them are particularly brimming to the hilt with awesome goods. To be honest, I'd rather get my clothes at the Winners than spend spend spend on ugly "fashionable" things at Sherway. I only go to Sherway for the HMV and the Apple Store (when needed). After the sensory overload of Sherway, Cloverdale's actually kind of nice to be in. Now if only it had more things I was actually looking for...
When Wallmart moved, it pretty much sounded the death toll for the place. Quite the contrast to what it was like in the 80's - While not crammed, there certainly were a good amount of people there whenever I was forced to accompany the parentals on a shopping trip.
For the life of me, I can't remember what else was in there, despite it being a really small mall. I definitely recall it was a Woolco, and that there was either a Bi-Way or Bargain Harolds. I remember the Bank of Montreal, and Golden Griddle. But wasn't No Frills a more recent reno expansion? What was there before?
I certainly recall that they only had really lame video arcade games there, and would nag the folks to head to Cloverdale, cause Wizard's Castle was much more fun....
Honeydale, it's time to unplug you.
A little bit of hunting found this:
The mall is owned by a group called Azuria Group. Their website is http://www.azuriagroup.com/
This was found in an article in the National Post, but it's dated 2007. That may be a good place to start.
I remember both going to Westwood for movies (my Baba would always sneak in M&Ms and pretzels for us to eat), and shopping at Woolco at Honeydale. I still shop there - the flea market is one of the worst in the world, but it's actually taken over the bulk of the entire mall now. I'm actually planning on checking it out today (which is why I googled honeydale flea market - to find their closing time LOL)
As to Cloverdale, at least one end of it is always bumpin'. Tim Horton's at the south end always has a huge line, and the stores down there get a lot of business. Zellers at the other end is a total zoo, so they're doing well. The mall as a whole is doing pretty good - I would say in an economy when even Sherway has shuttered stores, Cloverdale doesn't look bad.
Where the Walmart/Bay Outlet was there is now a Brand Outlet. It is "2 stores in one" - brand name clothes on the right (it looks like a garage sale with women's clothing in piles on tables, while all the other clothing is in nice neat piles by brand, style, and size). On the other side there are household items - at prices totally comparible to Zellers, where I'd far rather shop. The door is manned by a scary looking bouncer-type... it was kind of gross and creepy all at once.
The Golden Griddle is now Pho Number One. They didn't change a thing about the decor - not even the tables and chairs - except adding some Asian gold baubles at the cash. When I went by, mid-afternoon, there was one Asian couple eating there and a bored Asian woman working at the cash.
Next to the Golden Griddle on the outside the salon and dentist are still there.
Inside the mall, No Frills was still busy. Behind it was the "new" Mal-Mart. It had a pet store with horribly treated animals, and about 10 more stalls of your usual flea market crap. Next to that was an empty store with a notice saying more flea market stalls would be opening in there. Beside that was the old LINC, which is closed but still had a bulletin board up with notes from when it was open. It looks like they closed in a hurry.
The restaurant at the corner is still there, stools and menus and all. The shoe store and dollar store remain empty, signage still up. And yes, I checked out the scary toilet - it's actually not that scary... it has nice tile, bright lights, and it's recently painted. It WAS locked up, though, so I don't know if it's ever open for the public anymore.
Half of the old Walmart space is empty, and you could see it from the inside. It was exceptionally creepy (those Hallowe'en chains really missed out on that space!), right down to the failing, blinking fluorescent bulbs.
Bert and Ernie's is still boarded up and empty. It closed in December of 2008 - it was a mess before that with broken windows and the interior falling apart. Apparently it, like the Golden Griddle, went bankrupt.
So 1 new restaurant and a few new flea-marketesque stores are there. God only knows how long any of them will last.
thanks
I found that out early last week!!
When It Closed I Did Not Go There Much. It looks Like That Old Cafe Across From The No Frills Has Dust On The Sides. I Remember The Closed Store That Was Open That Had The Bathroom In It and The Weird Chairs. And What Was The Store In The Washroom Before It Was Closed And What Was The Store Between The Dollar Store And Cafe
I'm a journalist from Perpetual Radio. Is there any way I can get access to the Wal-Mart at the mall, or the BMO? I'm doing a story on these dead malls, and I would like to get some photographs of the interior condition of this mall, as well as the exterior.
If anyone has information, could you kindly email it to me at nile.livesey@perpetualradio.com
There Is A No frills Mal mart Dental Office
And Ph Number one
The service centre near Halton Conservation still remains boarded
up and left alone.Its a shame that Wendy's died at that
location.They were doing faint until they shut down 2007 when they
lost hope. Yet Etobicoke is rotting.Farewell Etobicoke.
Honeydale mall is a mid 60s mall which gradually over it's early
years had quite a hunk of business.In 1995 2 new stores opened,a No
Frills,and a WAL-MART.While WAL-MART was renovating the old shut
down Woolworths/Woolco decor which took 5 years,the mall started to
decline in business.After 4 small yet sucessful business years,WAL-
MART moved closer to Sherway Gardens Mall.This was the reason many
stores were moving out and sleuthing for other retail mall
locations.In spring 2006,Golden Griddle shut down due to expensive
land price and bankruptcy.In 2007,the Fleastival Market moved into
some of the WAL-MART space (after the small discount The Bay moved
out).It moved to the MAL-MART location in 2009.Now sitting with a
closed Bert And Ernie's,a No Frills,and a MAL-MART,Honeydale
continues to rot.
It was announced earlier this year that they are going to build new courtrooms there. Whoopie! Somewhere closer to fight those parking tickets!
and was there a Mcdonalds M On The Red And Blue Sign Were The WAL-MART Words Were
I've been looking for old maps for proof but none yet. I can well imagine that they just paved over the graves rather than move them which might just explain why Honeydale Mall was always dreary and depressing.......
The flea market moved into the mall (as some have said above) and is a thriving Mal-mart now. Currently there is a warehouse setup in the old Wal-Mart, but I'm sure it will close after Christmas.
Bert n Ernies is now a club run by a downtown club guy (I forget which club he ran, they closed it... I think it was Purple and on Queen?) called The Rockpile. I see people there, but not that many. They advertise a lot, though, so who knows how successful they are.
No Frills is as it always was.
Pretty sure it isn't the same owner of the reverb & the katherdal at bathurst and queen.
Let's see.....http://i548.photobucket.com/albums/ii344/comrick317/TheDeadboyMaverickCarClubCOMPLETE.jpg
http://i548.photobucket.com/albums/ii344/comrick317/TheDeadboyMaverickCarClubCOMPLETE.jpg
First of all i was joking about the 3 eyed kittens you twit and anyone with the slightest bit of intelligence would have gotten that. And furthermore the last time i was there with my 8 years old son last summer he asked me about the 3 legged dog that was there and why he has only 3 legs. At no point did i call it a puppy, it was a small dog with 3 legs period. It most likely lost the leg in an accident,it was running around the stores that are all in that one place. It might have been a customers pet for all i know.
And yes they do sell illegal bootleg records there too. Don't tell me what i saw and what i did not thank you very much!!!!!!!!