Gloom hangs over East York Town Centre

There’s a gloom over East York Town Centre as Target employees, fellow retailers, residents of Thorncliffe Park and the mall’s owner ponder the bombshell decision by Target to close all 133 stores in Canada. At the Town Centre there is a special problem and it seems apparent to most people. “Where will they find someone to take this store,” said a  woman who has worked at the centre in this same enormous building since 1994.  She understood that she had been lucky to catch on with Target as  Zeller’s wound down. “But now there is no one waiting to come here,” she said quietly as she stocked shelves. The arrival of  Target was to be part of a renewal for the Centre. Few people could have guessed at today’s outcome as Target poured money into the former Zeller’s store. A complete new escalator with tracks for shopping baskets was installed. The appeal of the Target brand to women from upscale neighborhoods in South Bayview and to the west was rolled out for discussion. It seems there is no such secret appeal. And there was the franchise-damaging snafu in which Target could not keep the shelves filled.  Now the demise is cast as a battle with low-end giant Wal-Mart. The East York Town Centre is owned by Morguard real estate investment and seen in such circles as a secondary mall. It has the big banks in it and a Shoppers Drug Mart, but the food stores make a different statement. Food Basics is a discount arm of the Metro chain. The centre’s location is in land-locked Thorncliffe Park. It is said 30,000 people live here in apartments but there are very few roads in and out. In the days and months to come, Morguard and perhaps quite a few of the other landlords will need good luck to put their malls back into front line service. The best guess among employees today was that the store might remain open for a maximum of six months.  Why Target waved whiter flag –Star