Swarovski chandeliers adorn a lounge area at Toronto's Bayview Village , one of Canada's new breed of upscale malls.Jennifer Roberts for The Globe and Mail
In 1986, I landed my first retail job. As a "sales associate" at Belinda and Brother Shoes in suburban Toronto's Thornhill Square, I did what any self-respecting teenager would do: I avoided customers who were browsing the $39.99 pumps and studiously watched the clock, waiting for my 15-minute break so I could go and smoke in the food court. On the weekend, I headed back to the mall, along with other malcontents, to hang out, eat fried food and be part of the generation that inspired Mallrats, Kevin Smith's era-defining cult film about disaffected youth in a dreary shopping centre.
As influential as Smith's movie may have been, though, the mall scene depicted in Mallrats is increasingly looking like a relic, as shopping centres across Canada aggressively strive to redefine themselves, swapping Tiffany concerts and New York Fries for a much more upmarket bill of fare, including luxury boutiques, fine dining and concierge services.
Call it the "upscalification" of the contemporary mall.
"Malls are increasingly becoming a destination and many of them are focused on lifestyle and fashion," Anne Kothawala of the Retail Council of Canada says. "Malls now provide a variety of services, including retail, pharmacies, restaurants, entertainment and specialty services such as alterations. Gone are the days when shopping was simply utilitarian. Now many people make a day of it, have lunch at the upscale restaurants [increasingly located in malls]and enjoy the variety of stores."
In particular, "luxury-brand stores are attracting a new clientele to the mall, creating a ripple effect whereby customers are shopping at other stores as well. [Their presence]creates newness, excitement, increased traffic and draws from a larger trading area and age demographic."
A case in point: Montreal's 52-year-old Rockland Centre, which started out as a run-of-the-mill single-level mall, but, following an extensive redesign over the past several years, now encompasses a trio of well-appointed floors. "The renovation," says marketing director Stéphanie-Alexandra Chartier, "included relocating the food court to the third floor with gas fireplaces, beautifully lit bar counters and modern lighting. The entrance has stylish seating and a customer service desk. We've done a great deal to improve our retail mix to a point where some of the biggest names in fashion, such as Stuart Weitzman and Michael Kors, make Rockland their first Canadian or Quebec locations."
Nowadays, venerable Rockland tenants such as Birks also host a raft of special events for mall visitors, such as a recent opportunity to revamp existing jewellery or create custom pieces with the jeweller's award-winning design team.
VIP customers can also take advantage of top-notch virtual service, including personal shopping via Facebook.
Such perks and attention to details are becoming the norm nationwide. Following its own extensive renovation, Vancouver's Pacific Centre, which is owned and run by the Cadillac Fairview Corp. Ltd., has seen such high-end retailers as Holt Renfrew, Coach and Judith & Charles move in, bringing their upscale clientele with them.
Cadillac Fairview is also behind Toronto's Shops at Don Mills, an "urban shopping village" that may have lost McNally Robinson Booksellers as an anchor tenant last year, but soon welcomed Fabbrica, star chef Mark McEwan's latest restaurant, to the complex's fold, which also includes Michael Kors, Murale and Canada's first Anthropologie outlet.
In addition to its retail offerings, the Shops boast year-round gift wrapping for a fee, complimentary valet service on weekends and free outdoor yoga classes in the open-air "town square" until Sept. 22.
And in partnership with FRAM Building Group, Cadillac Fairview intends to add residences to the mix by 2013, further redefining what the mall experience can be.
When it comes to Canadian malls, however, the ne plus ultra has to be Toronto's Yorkdale Shopping Centre, which is owned by Oxford Properties Inc. and counts some of the most desirable national and international retailers – Holt Renfrew, Harry Rosen, Tiffany & Co., Burberry – among its current tenants. The largest shopping centre in the world when it opened in 1964, Yorkdale has always been a retail leader in this country, but its prestige factor has been significantly enhanced over the past several years through its aggressive pursuit of first-class tenants and its attention to improving the visitor experience.
Such is Yorkdale's cachet that coveted foreign-based brands including Apple, Mango, Crate & Barrel and, most recently, J.Crew have chosen to establish their first Canadian outlets there; some, such as Michael Kors, have opted to set up shop at suburban Yorkdale before doing so on downtown Toronto's prestigious Bloor Street strip, where it finally opened a store last month.
As a result of its efforts, Yorkdale currently enjoys the highest sales per square foot of any mall in Canada, according to Oxford. And it isn't resting on its laurels, undertaking a $220-million expansion that will be completed in 2012 and include, among other features, a new open-air food court, 800 "premium" parking spaces and a designated valet area.
In many ways, Toronto-based magazine editor Jane Mueller says, what Yorkdale and other malls are trying to recapture is the destination status and sense of occasion that shopping centres used to enjoy and provide before fast-food chains, discount outlets and indifferent service became the norm. Raised in Ottawa, Mueller remembers watching her mother get ready to make the trip from the nation's capital to Yorkdale on a Greyhound bus in the mid-1960s. "She and a friend would dress up – I mean, really dress up: heels, hat, suit – and sit on the bus for hours to go to shop there," she recalls. "It was truly an event."
Donna Percival, who manages the Bayview Village shopping centre in Toronto's north end, has similar childhood memories – and is equally determined to restore that appeal. Bayview Village, which also underwent renovation recently, leans, like Yorkdale, toward the high end, targeting the sophisticated shopper over the sweatpants crowd. Its amenities include Swarovski chandeliers and valet parking. Among its retail highlights are a full-service outpost of Pusateri's, Toronto's revered gourmet-grocery chain. "Pusateri's has certainly increased our mall traffic as those shoppers who would travel to the [midtown]Avenue Road location can just come here and have a relaxing experience," Percival says. "Where else can you buy your gourmet groceries and then walk through halls filled with luxury retailers to pick up other household staples at a store such as Loblaws [at the other end of the mall]"
A handful of Bayview Village's luxury-boutique owners, including Stefanie der Haroutiunian of Berani Jewellery, have been waiting a long time for this evolution. "We've been in the mall for 11 years and the environment has certainly changed," she says. "With the most recent renovations, the already refined clientele is headed more upscale."
Indeed, the steps that mall owners and operators have taken to bring about this renaissance is bearing fruit industry-wide. According to International Council of Shopping Centres research reported by Cushman & Wakefield, the commercial real-estate brokers and consultants, Canadian mall productivity per square foot has increased significantly over the past 12 years, reaching $580 a square foot at the end of last year.
In aiming for the ideal blend of convenience, couture and class, it seems, shopping-centre retailers, managers and developers have hit a chord with the public. In any case, it's a far cry from those days when disgruntled teens who wouldn't make eye contact manned most sales counters.
Special to The Globe and Mail