Mississauga City Hall, one of the most walkable municipal buildings in Ontario
In late March 2024, with a streak of mild, sunny days, I was eager to get outside and walk. As I have long been interested in local politics and planning issues, public transit, active transportation (especially walking advocacy), I thought I would try to get to every city, town, and township hall in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) without a car.
This was a fun project, even if there were times I felt really frustrated at times by poor transit and long hikes. The highlight of my quest was a tour of Mississauga City Hall from Councillor Joe Horneck. Mississauga’s civic centre is one of Ontario’s most iconic — and walkable — government buildings.
Mississauga Council Chambers
Of the three levels of government (federal, provincial, municipal), the municipal level has the most impact on the day-to-day lives of most Canadians; it is also the closest level of government to all. Residents can depute at committee meetings, get meetings with their local councillor and city staff, and obtain building permits, marriage licenses, or pay bills at city and town halls. Therefore, they should be as accessible as possible, especially to those without cars.
Only one GTHA town hall (Caledon) was completely inaccessible without a car, though several other town halls required long walks from the nearest transit stop, making them inaccessible to some residents. But I could get to Brock Township, the least-populated and most-rural municipality in the GTHA, thanks to Durham Region Transit’s On-Demand service, though I had some difficulty there.
The complete list of GTHA city and town halls, along with photographs and a map can be accessed here.
Truman Sports Complex, Kansas City, Missouri. Kauffman Stadium (MLB Royals) on right, Arrowhead Stadium (NFL) on left. Kauffman Stadium has the lowest Walk Score in the league. Both sports venues have especially poor transit access, even for Kansas City.
One of the best — or worst — experiences in North America can be going to see a ball or hockey game, concert, or other special event at a sports arena or stadium. Perhaps you want to make a day of it, taking in the city, going for a meal or drinks first and meeting up with friends or family. Or maybe you want just to park in a lot hours before game time and have a cookout.
But the trip to and from that venue can make or break the experience. Does it involve hours in gridlock? Does it mean a long line in the outdoors for a shuttle bus? Or can it mean a short walk to a transit stop and quickly getting on your way?
Target Field, in Downtown Minneapolis. Both light rail lines stop right next door.
Last summer, I got to see the Toronto Blue Jays play at Target Field in Downtown Minneapolis. The Jays have a Canada-wide fan base, and the Twin Cities have the closest baseball venue to places like Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, and even Regina and Saskatoon. It felt like a home game with a very pro-Toronto crowd.
Earlier that day, I noticed plenty of people wearing Jays hats and jerseys that were making the most of their road trip. They flooded local restaurants and bars. They checked out museums and the city’s signature parks. The Mall of America, at the other end of the Metro Blue Line LRT, was also full of Canadians. Minneapolis has a lively downtown, with very good bus and rail connections to the airport, the malls, St. Paul, and elsewhere.
Walkability and transit access are the key fostering a great fan experience, for promoting safe, accessible, and sustainable travel to and from the venue, and for supporting local businesses. Though economists and urban experts will — rightly — dispute the economic benefits of subsidizing new sports stadiums, if they must be built, they should allow spectators to get around without a car as much as possible to reduce congestion, curtail impaired driving, and create a vibrant urban environment that everyone can enjoy.
I used Redfin’s Walk Score tool to rank the venues of six major leagues in Canada and the United States: the CFL, MLB, MLS, NBA, NHL, and NFL; I also comment on their transit connections. Toronto’s three venues do very well, as do NBA/NHL venues in major cities like New York, Washington, and Los Angeles. Not surprisingly, football stadiums — especially NFL venues — do poorly.
Earlier in March, as part of my quest to visit every town, city, and regional government office in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) without a car, I took my first on-demand transit rides in a decade. This was necessary to visit Brock Township’s municipal offices, located in the village of Cannington, north of Port Perry. (I will discuss more about this project in the coming weeks.)
Brock Township’s municipal offices, at right, sits in the heart of the village of Cannington
Brock Township is the GTHA’s most rural and least populated municipality, home to just over 12,000. Until April 2023, GO Transit ran a daily bus service between Whitby GO Station, Port Perry, Cannington, and Beaverton (Brock’s largest community), but was cancelled after a ridership review. (GO has quietly cancelled several other bus routes that don’t cross county or regional boundaries in the last decade.) However, Durham Region Transit (DRT) offered an alternative: on demand transit.
On-demand transit is not a new idea. In the 1970s, GO Transit operated experimental dial-a-bus services in suburban parts of Toronto, offering door-to-door service to and from the nearest subway station or a designated transfer point to frequent fixed-route bus services. In Bramalea, Chinguacousy Township operated Bramalea Dial-a-Bus, which brought residents to local employers, schools, and Bramalea City Centre. The service was replaced by fixed-route services when Brampton Transit was established shortly after amalgamation, merging the dial-a-bus operation and a privately contracted transit service in the old town of Brampton.
Still image from “People on the GO,” a 1973 film by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communications. Bramalea’s Dial-a-Bus’ pink “lazy-b” logo was adopted by the successor transit agency, Brampton Transit during its first decade.
“Trans-Cab” services continue to be used in outlying areas of communities such as Hamilton, Peterborough, and Sudbury, where transit agencies partner with local taxi companies to allow transit riders to begin or end their journey outside of urban or regional fixed-route areas, often at a premium fare.
My first on-demand transit experience was taking Oakville Transit’s “zone bus” service in 2005. At the time, there was no fixed-route Sunday bus service in Oakville, but there were four zones for which you could call and request a ride, with a bus picking you up at the nearest bus stop. If your destination was in a different zone, you would transfer to another bus at Oakville GO Station. Today, Oakville offers on-demand service during late evenings from the Oakville GO Station and in new and outlying subdivisions where there are no nearby scheduled services.
My other previous on-demand transit experience was in Winter and early Spring 2012, after I suffered a broken knee cap and had to rely on Toronto’s Wheel-Trans paratransit system. Though I was fortunate to be able to get around using Wheel-Trans during a temporary disability, it was often a frustrating experience trying to book trips, especially for social or leisure purposes. I quickly came to prefer the conventional system and used it as much as I could while recovering from that injury.
A common message while trying to book rides on DRT On-Demand
In 2024, there are over a dozen transit agencies providing on-demand transit services in Ontario and Quebec, either as standalone operations or in conjunction with fixed-route systems. You can find them in my interactive transport maps.
Modern on-demand services, though they are typically accessed by mobile apps these days, present some of the same challenges, including cumbersome booking processes as well as high demand and limited availability for next-day and same-day trips.
DRT offers on-demand transit trips for customers with disabilities (who are eligible for door-to-door service anywhere in the region), rural areas, and in designated urban areas (where pickups and drop offs are made at signed bus stops).
DRT rural services, showing the rural on-demand service area and transfer points to fixed-route services (including GO buses at Downtown Uxbridge, Brock/407 and Clarington North)
As Brock Township was the most distant and most difficult town hall in the GTHA to reach by public transport, I tried to book for the first day of my visits: Monday, March 11. After downloading the DRT app and inputting my information (name, email address, mobile phone number) I tried to book a return trip from Port Perry (which has a scheduled route connecting it to Uxbridge, Oshawa, and Whitby) the day before.
At one point, I was able to get an outbound trip around 12:00 PM, but I could not get a return trip after multiple attempts. After failed attempts to book each ride, the app would go back to the beginning, requiring the user to input most of the same information multiple times. I gave up and went to northern York Region instead. After midnight, early Monday morning, when one could book trips for the following day, I tried again and managed to get a return trip that met my needs for Tuesday the 12th.
Unable to book a return trip from Cannington to Port Perry for Monday, March 11, 2024
Once I booked my trip, the rest of the experience was smooth. I got a text reminder of my upcoming trips, and on the app, I could track my upcoming ride, much like Uber or Lyft, with the driver’s name, vehicle description, and location. Each time, I paid with my Presto card, with DRT charging the same fare for on-demand as for conventional bus service. Drivers were professional and friendly. I was the only passenger for both trips, though they are often shared, and minibuses — such as accessible paratransit vehicles — are used for passengers with disabilities or larger groups.
Notice of pickup
I learned that the service could be quite busy and the app sometimes problematic — there is also a toll-free number that passengers can call, and that sometimes the telephone agent would be able to find matching rides that the app would not show.
I was lucky that my trip was discretionary, but I could see how on-demand transit can be difficult and/or frustrating to use.
Though DRT has restored most urban bus routes (many were suspended during pandemic-related restrictions), it still struggles to meet demand on its busiest corridors, especially those serving colleges and universities in Oshawa, Whitby, and Scarborough. A fire in one of DRT’s garages last summer hasn’t helped either. As a result, some urban areas in Ajax, Pickering, Whitby, and Bowmanville still have on-demand areas where fixed-route services have yet to be restored.
On-demand transit has its place, especially in rural and outlying suburban areas, or during times of low demand. If done right, it provides affordable mobility to people who might otherwise go without, and as an alternative to driving a car or paying an expensive taxi fare for those with travel options. Durham Region has done a good job covering the entire region with fixed-route and on-demand services, especially at night, where the urban south enjoys 24-hour transit access.
DRT overnight services, which includes two scheduled buses and five on-demand zones in the urbanized part of the region.
Despite Durham’s efforts, on-demand services can be costly to operate, less flexible for prospective passengers, and be frustrating to use, though they can cover much larger areas than line haul routes. Scheduled, fixed-route buses offer predictable, simple, and often faster service than point-to-point bespoke services. On-demand transit has its place, but it is only one tool in a vast toolbox of mobility solutions. This was true in the 1970s and remains true today.
Vienna low-floor tram in the Leopoldstadt district
Back in October, my spouse and I had the opportunity to visit several countries in Central Europe: Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, though we spent the majority of our time in and around Vienna, as that is where my spouse attended business meetings for several days; we also took time to explore the city and surrounding areas together.
While there, I experienced how serious cities operate trams seriously. In Bratislava, I saw how a streetcar priority corridor can work in a busy downtown core. In Prague, trams made it through watermain construction zones without detours or unreliable bus shuttles. In Budapest, I rode the world’s longest trams that move more people per hour than many metro lines. In Vienna, where I spent the most time, I experienced a city where transit passengers are treated with respect, and where the trams are reliable, despite no discernable signal priority and plenty of mixed-traffic operations.
Vienna is an amazing city to visit. It’s been described to me as “what people think Paris is.” That’s pretty much true. It’s a very walkable city with a fantastic café culture full of independent konditorei cafés (which offer sit-down service), with an assortment of rich, tasty cakes and great coffee. It has great art galleries and grand imperial palaces, but without the crushing crowds of Paris and Versailles. As the original Music City, it’s easy to find shows and performances to suit your tastes. (We attended the famous Wiener Staatsoper, where I took in my first live opera, ever, at a surprisingly reasonable price). It’s also a compact city, easy to walk, though the transport system is excellent. Vienna is also a great base for visiting other cities in Central Europe, where Salzburg, Bratislava, Budapest, and Prague are only a few hours away by (frequent and relatively speedy) train.
We noticed several pedestrian signs showing loving couples, rather than the standard, like this one in front of the Wiener Staatsoper (Opera House)
Vienna has one of the largest tram systems in Europe, with 30 lines over 176.9 kilometres, and a fleet of 525 cars, including modern articulated LRVs and older trams and trailers. In Vienna, trams alone carry approximately 300 million passengers a year. They run in many different environments: on-street in mixed traffic, reserved lanes, dedicated median and side-of-street rights-of-way; there is also a tram tunnel south of the city centre. Until the 1980s, Straßenbahnen (the German name for trams) were the backbone of Vienna’s transport network, with a small Stadtbahn system (now incorporated into the modern U-Bahn) and regional and suburban (S-Bahn) trains providing limited rapid transit services. Though there are now five U-Bahn lines (two of which evolved from the Stadtbahn), the tram system remains robust and very useful for getting around.
Like all four cities mentioned in this post, Vienna operates a mix of low-floor trams built in the last 25 years, as well as older high-floor trams, many of which are accompanied by an unstaffed trailer. Vienna’s entire network — trams, buses, U-Bahn, and S-Bahn — is a proof-of-payment system. Fare inspections appeared to be infrequent; neither my spouse nor I were checked during our eight days in Vienna. Tickets and passes can be purchased from a machine (found at every U-Bahn entrance and at many tram stops) or on the WienMobil app.
An older Type E2 high-floor tram and trailer at Gumpendorfer Straße. Behind is the old Stadtbahn viaduct, which is now part of Line U6. Note the large red “Strassenbahn Haltestelle” sign to the left, a classic Viennese icon that indicates a tram stop.
There is also a separate interurban tram service called Badner Bahn, which extends to the historic spa town of Baden bei Wien, an hour south of Vienna’s city centre.
Badner Bahn tram, laying over at Josefsplatz in Baden bei Wien
The modernized interurban originates in the heart of Vienna — across the street from the Wiener Staatsoper (Opera House) — then along local tram tracks and through the tunnel before entering its own right-of-way through the southern suburbs, and onwards through small towns, farms, and vineyards before arriving in Baden. There are several spurs leading to local industries; the regular passenger service shares the tracks with local freight trains.
View of the vineyards from Badner Bahn
A sample of the journey aboard Badner Bahn. Arriving southbound at Guntramsdorf, heading towards Baden bei Wien.
Bratislava, just over one hour away from Vienna by train (or by catamaran), is served by a network of metre-gauge trams, trolley buses, and diesel buses, though trams predominate in the city centre. On Obchodná, several tram lines, pedestrians, cyclists, and the occasional delivery or emergency services vehicle share a narrow, but busy shopping street. It just works.
Obchodná, Bratislava
Outside the congested urban core, trams are afforded reserved lanes, sometimes separated from general traffic with curbs (and even grass medians), sometimes just painted lines. Bratislava’s tram system is smaller than Toronto’s, with 211 cars and 42 kilometres of revenue track, carrying around 70 million riders a year in 2019 (Toronto’s streetcars carried 108 million that year). It is also a much smaller city, with a population of around 660,000. I only visited Bratislava for a day, but I got to ride much of the tram network; I found it an easy and convenient way to get around.
Reserved, painted tram lanes just outside Bratislava’s city centre
Budapest, Hungary has the largest street railway system in the world by ridership, with Route 4/6 on Budapest’s Grand Boulevard (Hungarian: Nagykörút), often cited as the world’s busiest tram line. Route 4/6 also operates 53.99 metre long Combino Plus trams, which, when introduced in 2006, were the world’s longest. The Combinos are almost twice the length of Toronto’s new Bombardier Flexity cars, which are 28 metres long. Even with the huge capacity these trams have (they require two pantographs to draw enough power to operate), they operate on Line 4/6 every few minutes, all day long, every day.
A Combino Plus tram on Line 4 traverses Budapest’s Nagykörút (Grand Boulevard)
Through the 1970s and 1980s, Budapest’s tram network was slowly cut back in favour of buses, trolley buses, and metro construction. By the 1990s, however, there was a street railway renaissance in Hungary’s capital because of the capacity and economy trams offered. With high frequencies, a private median, and high-capacity low-floor vehicles, Line 4/6 easily matches the capacity of a metro, at comparable speeds. Elsewhere, dedicated lanes and private rights-of-way make it clear that transit riders come first.
Older trams running along the Danube dip under road bridges on a private right-of-way
Though Budapest has a large metro network, most of it was not constructed until the l970s and 1980s. However, Line M1 was opened in 1896 as a shallow subway under Andrássy Avenue, the first electric underground metro in the world, and only the second subway, after London’s initial Underground line. Uniquely among urban transit routes, it it is listed as part of an UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Budapest Line M1 stations, restored to their original appearance, look like miniature New York stations, only cleaner
Finally, in Prague, we took several trams to take shelter from the rains that greeted us after arriving from Budapest, but also to see the city outside the crowded tourist spots. We took Line 1 from the city centre to the suburban district of Hrdlořezy, and returned via Line 9, taking a slightly different route back. Like Budapest, a metro system was planned and built in the 1970s and 1980s, but trams remained important, often providing local services parallel to deep underground metro lines.
Old two-car tram train on Line 9, passing a newer low-floor tram on Line 1, Sokolovská, Prague. Most trams run on reserved rights-of-way.
What interested me was seeing major watermain work along the line. Through trams slowed where work was adjacent, there were no diversions or shuttle buses. The trams ran through.
Watermain replacement in Prague, with trams still running(taken on a rainy morning)
Like Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest, Prague operates a mixed fleet of older high-floor trams and modern low-floor light rail vehicles, similar to Toronto’s new fleet. But in Prague, heritage trams could often be spotted in service, especially on the west bank of the Vltava near Prague Castle.
Heritage tram #2272 in Prague
Lessons for Toronto
After travelling, it can be easy to spot one’s hometown flaws and faults. But I spent a lot of time riding Vienna’s metros, trams, and buses, and mindfully experiencing the transport networks in Bratislava, Budapest, Prague, and Salzburg (which does not run trams, but has a large trolleybus network), I was left with some key takeaways on how to do transit here.
First and foremost, transit riders were respected. Not necessarily in terms of personable customer service, but the feeling that the next tram or bus was going to arrive on time, and a reliable interval. If there was a delay, it was very well communicated.
For instance, while waiting for a tram in Vienna, we experienced an unusually long wait. The next tram display kept showing the next two arrivals at 3 and 4 minutes. Not long after, a voice came on a loudspeaker posted above the tram stop sign announcing (in German, translated in English to us by one of my spouse’s colleagues) a delay because of a collision along the route. The blockage cleared after a few minutes, and we boarded a crowded tram. I appreciated the audio announcement, especially as it was a basic tram stop.
The classic Vienna tram stop. Note the loudspeakers atop the blue bus stop sign (at night, buses take over, hence the Strassenbahn and Autobus stop signs).
Next vehicle displays were common in every city we visited. They would list — in real time — the next several buses or trams, as well as if the vehicle was low-floor accessible or not with a wheelchair symbol. All buses are now fully accessible, but the information is useful for the tram lines, where there are still many older high-floor vehicles.
Next vehicle display at a bus stop in Bratislava
I also noted that in Vienna, and for the most part elsewhere, vinyl advertisement wraps did not cover passenger windows on trams and buses. Bratislava’s wrapped trams had some ads that used window areas, but these were kept to a minimum.
In Vienna, advertisement wraps kept windows completely free of obstructionsAdvertisement wraps in Bratislava had minimal window coverage
It was also clear that trams had dedicated signals on their routes, if not necessarily signal priority. But with smaller intersections and relatively short signal timings, the waits at each signalized intersection were generally minimal.
Note the white tram signals next to the overhead traffic signal. The “A” indicates that a proceed signal will soon appear, and the operator can cancel the door release, so that no more passengers can enter or exit.
Tram signaling in Vienna and other Central European cites also includes remotely operated electric switches. Overhead signals indicate which direction the switch is set to; operators can pass through junctions at speed. While this is how trams operate in most places around the world, in Toronto, streetcar operators are required to stop before each switch and then crawl.
Trams pass through a track junction, along with an ambulance and a transit maintenance van. The overhead horizontal signal indicates the switch direction.
Though many tram stops are in private rights-of-way, in-street tram stops are designed for passenger safety and accessibility. These stops, depicted by the photograph below, have the curb lane raised to the level of the low-floor trams. This increases the visibility of passengers boarding and egressing, and also simplifies ramp deployment. Operators need not exit the cab and manually deploy the accessibility ramp, a timesaver versus the TTC’s ramp deployment on major streets. In the winter, this also helps keep the slush away from the tram stops.
The raised on-street curb lane at an on-street tram stop in Vienna.
Though Toronto is a very different city than Vienna, Budapest, or Prague, there are some clear takeaways. Keep the tram windows free of advertisements. Improve communications. Fix the track switches and signalize them. Raise the curb lanes at streetcar stops for safety, convenience, and accessibility. Fix the King Street Transit Priority corridor with a permanent streetscape and tighter vehicle restrictions. If it can be done on a narrow commercial street in Bratislava’s historic centre, there’s no reason why it can’t be done in a world financial capital.
These can even be done incrementally, but they need to be done if transit riders are deserving of respect and reliable surface transit.
It is no secret that I am fascinated by Ontario’s failed downtown malls. Over the last decade, I have visited most of these half-dead shopping centres, from Thunder Bay to Sarnia to Peterborough. All of these malls were built in smaller centres hoping to revitalize their urban cores, especially after the successes of the Toronto Eaton Centre and Ottawa’s Rideau Centre.
A majority of downtown shopping centres in Ontario counted Eaton’s as an anchor, starting with London’s Wellington Square in 1960. New malls in Sudbury (1970), Hamilton (Jackson Square, 1972-1975) and Kitchener (Market Square, 1974) followed, with the pace of downtown mall openings quickening in the late 1970s and 1980s as the provincial government provided assistance through the Ontario Downtown Redevelopment Program (ODRP).
A few downtown malls did not secure Eaton’s as the lead anchor. These malls, which were anchored by Sears, included King Centre (Downtown Kitchener’s second indoor mall), Cornwall Square, and Downtown Chatham Centre. I visited the latter mall in late September 2023.
Chatham, a small city located halfway between London and Windsor, has had bad luck ever since the 1950s. City growth was curtailed when neighbouring townships fought the city’s annexation efforts to develop new industrial lands on the urban outskirts. Political pressure from exurban residents kept the city rather isolated from the new Highway 401, which passes south of the old city limits; residents of the hamlet of Charing Cross opposed a highway interchange that would have provided direct access into Downtown Chatham. Meanwhile, a new Multi-Malls shopping development was approved for a site north of Chatham; an appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board by the city was dismissed, and the new Woolco and Loblaw-anchored plaza helped to draw customers — and tax revenues — from the city proper.
This unfortunate situation was only rectified in 1998, when the City of Chatham was amalgamated with not just its neighbouring townships, but the entire county, creating the new municipality of Chatham-Kent, coming far too late for the industrial and commercial development Chatham had hoped for. In the meantime, a new downtown mall that would not only retain shoppers but hopefully attract new visitors to the city, was seen as the solution.
While most downtown malls built during the ODRP era were led by Eaton’s and Cadillac Fairview, the Downtown Chatham Centre (DCC) was managed by Cambridge Shopping Centres. The city of Chatham conducted the land assembly (using its powers of expropriation where necessary), and cleared two city blocks, including the Garner Hotel, the old market square, the Romanesque Harrison Hall, and several commercial blocks, including a shuttered Eaton’s store.
Downtown Chatham in the 1950s. Most of the buildings in the foreground and midground have since been demolished. The old market square became a parking lot by the 1950s; to the immediate left of the old market is the 3-4 storey Eaton’s store. Harrison Hall, with its conic tower, stands behind Eaton’s.The Downtown Chatham Centre soon after opening in 1983(Chatham-Kent Museum)
Instead of Eaton’s — which closed its Chatham store in 1974 — the lead anchor would be Sears, which was expanding its Canadian footprint at the time, as it just pulled out from its 25-year partnership with Simpson’s. Unlike most downtown malls built in Ontario, DCC had always offered ample customer parking, located in a garage linked to both of the mall’s two shopping levels, as well as an adjacent surface lot, with mall visitors able to get their parking validated. On the south side of the mall, there was a Miracle Food Mart, along with a food court on the second floor. Downtown Chatham offered the only full-line department store in town; the mall also had the city’s only escalators. The plaza out front featured a fountain in the summer and a public skating rink in the winter.
Harrison Hall, which was home to both the City of Chatham and Kent County before demolition in 1978 to make way for the Downtown Chatham Centre. (Chatham-Kent Museum)The site of demolished Harrison Hall in 2023. Asign still directs drivers to the Sears receiving area and the parcel pick-up.
For a time, DCC held its own. Sears was a much more suitable department store for a smaller industrial/agricultural city like Chatham than Eaton’s would have been. Though the Multi-Mall development north of the city on Highway 40 and the Thames-Lea plaza in the suburbs provided competition, the downtown mall’s regional market dominance was undisputed in the 1980s and most of the 1990s. Unlike Eaton’s, Sears Canada was particularly healthy until the early 2000s as it catered to the suburban middle class; in 1999, it purchased the remains of the bankrupt T. Eaton Company, converting many better performing Eaton’s stores to its own brand.
Unlike Chatham’s peer cities like Brantford and Sarnia, the mall’s tenant mix stayed relatively healthy well into the new millennium (see the 1992 and 2014 tenant lists below). Though Miracle Food Mart closed, that space was remised into a Sport Chek and a Goodlife Fitness gym. It wasn’t until the last decade that serious decline began to set in.
What happened?
The empty public plaza outside the vacant Sears store
There were several factors that led towards the decline of Downtown Chatham Centre, similar to the reasons why most downtown malls failed. The main difference is that the decline came later than most others.
Chatham’s economy, like most smaller Ontario centres, was in flux, particularly in the 1990s and early 2000s. Free trade agreements affected the local industrial economy, which was already weaker than neighbouring cities like Sarnia, Windsor, and London-St. Thomas.
Factory closures included the Navistar plant. For nearly a century, International Harvester was one of Chatham’s largest employers. The Chatham plant, which assembled International truck tractors and employed 2400 workers in 2001, closed for good in 2011. The rise of Walmart, which moved into the old Woolco store on Highway 40 along with other big-box retailers, also hurt the downtown mall. But Sears Canada entered its own death spiral in the mid-2000s. In 2005, the company was taken over by the private equity firm Pershing Square, whose CEO, Edward Lampert, was already slowly sucking the American parent company dry. Sears Canada sold off its credit card division, its Downtown Toronto headquarters, and eventually the leases for its most attractive stores in 2012 and 2013, including the former Eaton’s flagship in Toronto Eaton Centre.
By 2014, the DCC Sears was converted to an outlet store, foreshadowing its eventual closure in 2017, less than year before the entire chain disappeared from Canada.
Mall interior looking east, September 2023
In September 2023, there were only a handful of open stores left inside DCC, including Northern Reflections, a Dollarama, Fit4Less (a budget brand of Goodlife Fitness), Ardene, an independent jewellery store, and a Hart discount department store located in the old Miracle Food Mart/Sport Chek space. All open retail spaces were on the first floor; the escalators were completely blocked off. The Ardene store was already in the process of moving to the Thames-Lea plaza.
Security guards were stationed at both public entrances, likely to ensure the mall did not become a hangout for Chatham’s unhoused.
Mall interior, looking west
The mall also has a pharmacy and medical office, but since 2015, they are accessed only from the outside, in a storefront facing King Street.
What’s next?
Chatham-Kent Civic Centre, built in 1975-1976
The Municipality of Chatham-Kent currently occupies the Chatham Civic Centre, which was built in the late 1970s on the site of a former gas works on the Thames River. The Civic Centre requires major renovations or replacement, and the municipal government is considering purchasing part of the Downtown Chatham Centre, and moving the municipal government, the main library, and the art gallery/museum into the Sears store, which would be heavily renovated. Staff report that the cost of purchasing and renovating part of the DCC ($42,387,400) was similar to renovating the existing Civic Centre, library, and museum ($38.7 million to $45.8 million) and nearly half the cost of building brand new.
Earlier plans also included a new entertainment centre to host concerts and the Chatham Maroons minor hockey team, replacing an existing municipal arena constructed in 1949. Those plans were later dropped by the mall’s owners.
If Chatham-Kent agrees to purchase and renovate the vacant Sears store, they will relocate to nearly the same site as the old Harrison Hall.
The proposed relocation of the civic centre and library to a central location, adjacent to the RideCK transit terminal (which serves the old City of Chatham as well as many smaller population centres within the municipality) is certainly a more sustainable and equitable outcome than building a new civic centre outside the downtown core. It repurposes an existing building and helps to support downtown business. However, more housing, both on the surface lot and on any vacated civic properties would help bring even more people into the downtown core, which can use the boost. Though retailers may not flock back into the mall once renovations are complete, the storefronts offer flexible space for community programs and small business incubators.
For a small city like Chatham, this is likely the best outcome.
1992 Tenants
Below is the list of tenants at Downtown Chatham Centre in 1992, obtained from the 1993 Canadian Directory of Shopping Centres, published by Maclean-Hunter.
Fashions and footwear Children’s wear: Just Kids Unisex/family wear: Cotton Ginny, Le Château, Pantorama, Stitches, Work World Ladies’ wear: Addition-Elle, Born Free, D’Allairds, Fairweather, Irene Hill, Just Petites, Lady Foot Locker, The Lady’s a Champ, Mariposa, Northern Reflections, Pennington’s, Personally Yours, Reitman’s, Ricki’s, Station Cotton, Suzy Shier, Thyme Maternity Menswear: Tip Top Footwear & leather goods: Foot Locker, Joggers, Kinney, The Shoe Place Jewellery/accessories: Lady Jewellery Company, Ostranders, Young’s Jewellers
Other retailers Books: Classic Bookshop, Coles Drugs/health & beauty: Pharma Plus, The Soap Emporium Department/mass merchandiser: A Buck or Two Electronics: Radio Shack Gift: Den For Men, Things Engraved Hardware/paint & paper: Tool Den Housewares: Junor’s, Stokes Music/Records: Sam the Record Man Pet: Pet Paradise Photo/Camera: Black’s, Japan Camera 1 Hour Photo. Restaurant/fast food: A&W, Crumbles Muffins, Frankfurters, Lumberjack Restaurant, Manchu Wok, Mulligan’s Roadhouse, Sorrento Specialty Food & Drink: Bright’s Wines, Laura Secord, The Gourmet Cup Stationery/Card: Carlton Cards, Hallmark, Willson Stationers Toy: Toys & Wheels Variety/Convenience: News Room Dry Cleaners: La Moderna Dry Cleaning. Hairstyling/Esthetics: The Golden Razor Theatre/Entertainment: Fun & Games Miscellaneous: Infoplace
2014 Tenants
The 2015 Canadian Directory of Shopping Centres tenant list was shorter, though still much more robust than former Eaton’s-anchored downtown malls in comparably-sized cities like Sarnia, Brantford, or Peterborough at the time.
North America’s newest rapid transit service, the Réseau express métropolitain (REM), opened on Monday, July 31, 2023 after a weekend of free public rides. I took my first ride several weeks later, on August 22, 2023. The five stop, 16.6-kilometre line between Central Station and Autoroute 30 in Brossard, is the first of four phases of the initial REM network, with branches north and west of Downtown Montreal to open in the next few years.
Built by the CDPQ Infra, a division of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (a provincial public pension fund), REM is a light metro network connecting suburban communities with Montreal’s urban core. With limited stops, a downtown-suburban focus, and frequent service, REM has similarities to Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) in the San Francisco metro region, to S-Bahn systems in Germany and Austria, or RER in metropolitan Paris. Like Vancouver’s SkyTrain or the future Ontario Line here in Toronto, the trains are short, and operate fully automatically, running every 3.5 minutes during weekday peak periods, and every 7.5 minutes at all other times, from 5:30 AM until after midnight.
As REM is being built by a pension fund — which seeks to make an 8% return on building and operating the service — financing the line is a bit different. Though it received financing from the Canada Infrastructure Bank and support from the provincial government, much of the funding comes from other sources, such as development levees. It is also guaranteed a share of fare revenue from the provincial government.
Rail car interior. All seats face inwards, there are 64 seats per car, with standing room for up to 300.
Though several notable transport enthusiasts have already documented the new REM during its opening weekend, I wanted to wait for some of the excitement to wane; I also wanted to experience the service from a regular passenger’s point of view, including checking out the stations and transfers to other transit operators.
For the most part, I came away satisfied. However, I encountered several shortcomings, particularly with service integration and transfers between modes.
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to travel to the US Midwest. My spouse had a business meeting to attend in Chicago, so we made the most of our trip. I spent time in a few interesting cities, including Milwaukee, Madison, and Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Having been to Chicago many times now, I sought out new and interesting places to visit off the tourists’ beaten paths. One of these places was The 606/Bloomingdale Trail, located a few miles northwest of Chicago’s downtown Loop.
Though Chicago is famous for its elevated railway transit system (known as the “L”) it is also crisscrossed by hundreds of miles of mainline and spur railways, most of which is grade-separated from the local street network. These rail corridors were built by over a dozen railroad companies, whose vast networks converged on Chicago, bringing in, among many other things, grain, cattle, metals, and sending out cereals, meat products, industrial goods, and merchandise purchased from Sears, Roebuck and Montgomery Ward. Chicago’s dominance as a rail centre allowed it to grow into America’s second-largest city (it is now the third-largest).
There are still many railways and yards throughout the city, along with an expansive commuter rail network, but many of the industrial spurs and branch lines became redundant with the decline of heavy industry and the shift to trucking. The Bloomingdale line, once a busy freight corridor owned by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (known as the Milwaukee Road, later part of Canadian Pacific’s network) was just one of these routes.
Some local industries still stand on Bloomingdale Avenue next to the abandoned rail corridor
The trail, built as a partnership between the local Friends of Bloomingdale Trail group, the federal non-profit Trust for Public Land, and the City of Chicago, opened in June 2013. Ten years later, the corridor is kept in excellent shape, and still looks fresh. The 4.3 kilometre (2.7 mile) trail is the longest elevated greenway in North America, longer even than New York’s High Line.
On the day I visited, I rode the entire length of the trail in one direction on a Divvy bikeshare bike and walked most of the distance on the way back.
The Bloomingdale Trail crosses Central Park Avenue, near the western terminus of the public corridor
Unlike the High Line, the Bloomingdale Trail is open to cyclists, and is much less programmed, catering more to the surrounding neighbourhoods than tourists. The pathway is quite wide, making it quite suited to multiple uses. On each side of the pathway is a rubberized track, providing an incentive to walkers and runners to keep to the right. The trees are well maintained, providing plenty of shade. Benches and working water fountains are found throughout.
Rubberized edges on both sides of the pathwayOne of many water fountains along the routeA stand of poplars and a walking path at a wider part of the elevated right-of-way
As the path follows an elevated rail corridor, not every intersecting street has an entrance to The 606/Bloomingdale Trail. However, fully accessible ramps are offered every 3-4 blocks, with stairwells installed at other locations. Wayfinding signage is good too, indicating the distances to local highlights and the nearest exits.
Wayfinding sign, indicating trail highlights, connecting parks, and the next exits
One thing I really appreciated about the Bloomingdale Trail are the unique vantage points. Milwaukee Avenue offers a lovely view towards Wicker Park and the Loop, while other parts of the trail pass by neighbourhood parks, backyards, and old warehouses.
Looking southeast down Milwaukee Avenue towards Wicker ParkView looking northwest to the Blue Line L and the alley behind Milwaukee Avenue
At several intersecting streets, benches have been strategically placed to provide gathering places called “overlooks.” Where it crosses Humboldt Boulevard, part of the parkway ring surrounding central Chicago, over hundred people could sit and watch the traffic below. at once
Lookout to Humboldt Boulevard
Though the circumstances that allowed for the great elevated parks like Chicago’s 606 or New York’s High Line are unique to their locations, there are lessons that can be learned for other projects, as in Toronto.
The presence of shade helps to make Chicago’s Bloomingdale Trail a success, as does the very wide pathway that accommodates all active transport users. (On a pleasant Thursday afternoon, the trail was about as busy as the Lower Don Trail here in Toronto, but the wide spaces reduced conflict between walkers, runners, and cyclists.) There need not be a lot of special features to animate the space, though thoughtful places to sit, hydrate, and connect to intersecting public spaces and streets are important.
There are opportunities for Toronto to expand and improve upon its off-street greenways like the West Toronto Rail Path, the ravine trails, the Greenway, and possibilities for the Green Line and East Toronto; this is just one example of the concept done well.
Across Canada, our biggest cities are building new transit. Here in Toronto, the Crosstown and Finch West LRTs are well underway (though the first phase of the Eglinton-Crosstown is already three years late), as well as the Scarborough subway expansion, the Ontario Line, and GO Transit corridor improvements. Vancouver is building a major expansion to its Skytrain network, the Broadway Subway. Ottawa, Calgary, and Edmonton are all expanding their LRT networks. And in Montreal, the first phase of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) will open for service, while major work on the Blue Line Métro extension has just begun.
While Greater Montreal has been busy with rail transit projects, it has also opened two new busways: on Boulevard Le Corbusier in Laval, and on Boulevard Pie-IX on Montreal’s east side. The Laval busway was completed in late 2017. The SRB Pie-IX corridor was mostly completed by the end of 2022, though a section near Boulevard Jean-Talon remains under construction for the Blue Line Métro extension.
Laval’s Boulevard Le Corbusier
Looking south on Le Corbusier at Boul. Saint-Martin
Laval, a sprawling suburban municipality immediately north of Montreal Island, has a population of over 400,000. Though the large island has several historical town and village centres, the municipality is mostly made up of suburban subdivisions, shopping centres, low-rise apartment buildings, crisscrossed by several autoroute highways, including the A-13, A-15, A-19, A-25, and A-440. Despite the post-war sprawl and auto infrastructure, the far eastern end of the island remains largely agricultural.
After the extension of the Orange Line Métro into Laval in 2007, the city of Laval has worked towards urbanizing its geographical centre into “Centre-Ville Laval.” Laval’s new downtown core would consist of new and expanded educational institutions, new cultural and entertainment venues, office and high-tech employment, along with new higher-density, urban-scaled residential development. The new city centre would be focused on Boulevard Le Corbusier northward from Montmorency Métro Station, in an area lined with aging commercial properties.
During my March visit to Laval, some of the progress on Centre-Ville Laval was evident. A new sports and concert venue, Place Bell, opened in 2017, luring the Montreal Canadiens’ AHL affliate from St. John’s. (Place Bell should not be confused with Centre Bell, the home of the Canadiens, also located on the Orange Line). The Université de Montréal also opened a suburban campus next to the Métro station. Slowly, mid-ride condo buildings were built on the south end of Le Corbusier, within walking distance from the campuses and transit links.
New residential development on the south end of Boul. Le Corbusier, in the near distance
To support the planned growth of Laval’s city centre, a new busway was built northward, towards the massive Carrefour Laval shopping centre, a Cadillac Fairview-owned mall that dominates Montreal’s north suburbs. The busway passes between older, smaller shopping malls, such as Centre Laval and Galleries Laval, which will one day get redeveloped. Building the new busway, along with semi-protected cycling lanes, was clearly a way of indicating the municipality’s urban planning goals.
Unfortunately, the Laval busway reminded me of the things I disliked most about York Region’s Viva Rapidways. For one, the Laval busway doesn’t speed up bus service. It is only one kilometre long, and does not properly connect with either the bus terminal at Montmorency Métro or the bus terminal across the street from Carrefour Laval. Buses must re-enter mixed traffic at both ends of the route. As in Toronto and York Region, left-turning cars are prioritized at each traffic light, and there was no apparent transit priority.
The median bus stops are also difficult to get to. Despite many days since Montreal’s last significant snowfall, and bone-dry sidewalks and roadways, the curbs and crosswalks were left uncleared. This forces pedestrians to either mount the piles of old, packed, crusty snow, or divert into the roadways to cross the street. The bike lanes were merely a convenient snow storage space.
Laval should be embarrassed by its inaccessible crosswalks and bus infrastructure
For a Saturday morning, transit service on the busway was adequate, but not especially impressive. The Société de transport de Laval, the municipal transit agency, operates a free shuttle bus on weekends, holidays, and summer weekdays between Montmorency Métro and Carrefour Laval every 20 minutes. Otherwise, bus service was sporadic despite multiple routes using the busway: two or three buses would come at once, followed by a gap of 10 or 15 minutes.
Quebec’s unique traffic signals were both interesting for out-of-province visitors and frustrating for pedestrians. In Ontario and most other jurisdictions, a right green arrow indicates absolute right-of-way for right-turning motorists. In Quebec, it merely indicates that motorists have a green signal to turn right, regardless of conflicting movements. Outside of Montreal, motorists are permitted to turn right on a red light, unless signed otherwise. This is not great signalization, especially on high-speed suburban roadways.
Right-turning motorists have the green arrow to turn right, conflicting with pedestrians (which have the walk signal) and cyclists
However, bus signals are unmistakable from general traffic signals, with white bar aspects (and a white triangle instead of an amber light). That’s one thing that is done better than here in Ontario.
Montreal’s SRB Pie-IX
Looking south on Boul. Pie-IX from Rue Bélanger
The SRB (BRT) corridor on Montreal’s Boulevard Pie-IX, which I visited later the same day, was a welcome contrast to Laval’s implementation. Boulevard Pie-IX (named for Pope Pius IX, the founder of the dogma of papal infallibility), is a wide north-south boulevard on Montreal’s east side, passing through Hochalaga, past Olympic Stadium and the Botanical Gardens, all the way into Laval. It’s a busy bus corridor, feeding into the Métro Green Line as well as the future extension of the Blue Line to Anjou.
The intersection of Pie-IX and Jean-Talon, where a new Métro station is under construction
The 439 SRB route parallels the local 139 Pie-IX bus, and like other median busways, passengers board and exit at stops at the far side of the intersection. Though there is no fare pre-payment, passengers are permitted to board at rear doors with a valid Opus card or ticket. Shelters are simple, but the stained green glass lines up nicely with the gaps where the bus doors open.
Inside a SRB shelter
Unlike median busways elsewhere in Ontario or Quebec, buses are not slowed down by left-turning motorists as left turns are prohibited along the entire SRB corridor. This simplifies operations, allows for easier transit priority, and reduces the space required at intersections for dedicated left turn lanes. Unlike Laval, the crosswalks in Montreal were cleared and easy to traverse in winter.
Left turns are banned along the entire SRB corridor. Note the triangle light on the bus signal.
The current bus rapid transit alignment replaces an older, more dangerous set up where there was a central median where the inner lane was dedicated to buses in the opposite peak (contraflow) direction during weekday rush hours. Buses assigned to Pie-IX were equipped with special flashing arrows to warn oncoming motorists, along with overhead lights indicating the lane restriction. After several serious collisions, the arrangement was abandoned.
2009 Google Streetview image of the old Pie-IX express bus arrangement, where buses in the AM peak used the leftmost northbound lane to travel south, stopping at the median shelter. In the PM peak, northbound buses used the rightmost southbound lane.
Once again, Montreal shows how buses can be sped up without compromising safety or road space. Restricting left turns along the entire corridor was the right choice, and a solution that should be considered along some of Toronto’s busiest bus corridors as well.
Finally, rapid transit corridors on arterial roads are reliant on walk-up traffic, and should therefore be as easy and safe as possible to walk up to the transit service. This means effective and quick snow removal at crosswalks, pedestrian priority (there should be no beg buttons to push to access BRT/LRT stops), and proper pedestrian infrastructure and a walkable realm. The Viva Rapidways and the Laval Boul. Le Corbusier fail this basic criteria, while Montreal does a better job.
As Greater Toronto area plans more arterial LRT and BRT corridors, such as on Dundas Street in Mississauga/Oakville, and on Queen Street in Brampton, it would be wise to put transit and active transportation first, even if it means sacrificing a few left turn lanes.
In January 2023, while visiting the site of the now-demolished Sarnia Eaton Centre, I took advantage of two new rural transit services serving Southwestern Ontario: Strathroy-Caradoc Transit and Huron Shores Area Transit. While both services connect London and Sarnia, they operate as separate services with different fares; they also have different terminals.
Strathroy-Caradoc Inter-Community Transit bus at Lambton Mall in Sarnia
Strathroy-Caradoc Transit offers the most direct service between London and Sarnia, with stops at London International Airport, Downtown London (on York Street near the VIA Station), Komoka, Mount Brydges, Strathroy, Lambton Mall, and Downtown Sarnia.
The regular cash fare between London and Sarnia is $20, though from London or Sarnia to Strathroy, the fare is $10. On my westbound trip on Sunday, January 29, the schedule allowed for a quick washroom and coffee break in Downtown Strathroy, a necessity given the long ride on a small minibus.
Returning the next day from Sarnia, I opted to ride Huron Shores Area Transit (HSAT) back to London. HSAT, which is also contracted to Voyago, connects several communities in Lambton, Huron, and Middlesex Counties. All four HSAT routes converge in the summer resort town of Grand Bend. Two routes operate seven days a week (Route 1, connecting Sarnia, Forest, Thedford, and Kettle Point & Stoney Point First Nation, and Route 2, serving Exeter, Lucan, Centralia, and London). There are two additional routes operating two days a week from Grand Bend to Goderich and to Parkhill and Strathroy.
Unlike Strathroy-Caradoc, HSAT operates on a flat $5 cash fare. Even though I was traveling the long way between Sarnia and London, with an hour-long layover in Grand Bend, I was offered a slip of paper marked by the driver that allowed me to board the second bus without a second fare. Huron Shores buses have bike racks, though the operator recommends calling ahead to ensure their availability.
While Strathroy-Caradoc Transit serves downtown London and Sarnia, HSAT’s buses go only as far as the first major destination in both cities. The Sarnia stops for Route 1 are at Lambton College and nearby Lambton Mall, while the London stops on Route 2 are on London’s north end, near Masonville Place and at the University Hospital on the Western University campus. Getting downtown requires a transfer to Sarnia or London Transit.
Huron Shores Area Transit bus at London’s University Hospital. Note the bike rack.
Though VIA Rail still operates one daily train between Toronto, London, and Sarnia, it is not on a convenient schedule for most passengers (it leaves Sarnia early in the morning and arrives late in the evening), so the new bus services fill a key role in providing mobility options. Though it is more expensive, the Strathroy-Caradoc route is the direct and the fastest connection. But Huron Shores trip is the more scenic and cheaper ride.
I updated my Ontario intercity transportation map for April 2023 to include the major GO Transit service changes, the gradual resumption of some Ottawa commuter bus routes, the start of Travelways bus service between Detroit, London, and Toronto, and minor route and service changes elsewhere in the province.
The hour-long layover in Grand Bend gave me a chance to wander the town. On the main street, almost every business was closed for the season. There was very little traffic on Main Street, so it had a bit of a ghost town feel. On Highway 21 and to the east, however, typical chain stores like Tim Hortons, Sobey’s, and Shoppers Drug Mart serve the year-round population.
Grand Bend’s famous beach — in JanuaryHello Sunshine
Late last year, I wrote about the closure of the Hamilton City Centre mall, the last of Ontario’s downtown Eaton Centres to open. But Hamilton’s failed shopping centre wasn’t the only old downtown mall to close in recent years: Sarnia’s Bayside Centre, opened in 1982 as the Sarnia Eaton Centre, was recently demolished, with a seniors’ residence and long-term care home set to take its place.
Bayside Mall in 2013
I previously visited Sarnia’s Bayside Mall in 2013, when the mall was already mostly dead. Community uses, such as a local museum, a Canadian Blood Services clinic, a seniors’ drop-in centre, and a March of Dimes office predominated, with only Hong Kong Express and Subway left in the food court, and a few other shops — a rug store, an optician, a beauty salon, and a pharmacy — scattered amongst the vacant storefronts. The old Eaton’s department store was already converted into offices for Lambton County’s social services department.
The old fountain at the main entrance to Bayside Mall in 2013.
As I discussed previously on this website, there was a downtown redevelopment boom across Ontario in the 1970s and 1980s, with municipalities and the province eager to support the construction of new shopping centres to help them compete with suburban malls.
The Sarnia Eaton Centre was the first of several malls funded by the Ontario Downtown Redevelopment Program, though previous downtown shopping centres, such as Hamilton’s Jackson Square and the Sudbury City Centre, were built with municipal support.
The case for Sarnia Eaton Centre was always weak, but it was the result of inter-municipal rivalry as much as it was an attempt to revitalize Downtown Sarnia. In the 1970s, Lambton Mall opened in the city’s outskirts, near the intersection of Highways 40 and 402. But Lambton Mall was built outside the city limits, in suburban Sarnia Township. Lambton Mall’s anchors included Sears, Canadian Tire, and Toys R Us.
While Sarnia Township’s population was growing due to residential, industrial, and institutional growth (Lambton College’s main campus was also established in the township, near Lambton Mall), the City of Sarnia’s population declined. Along with the new Eaton Centre, the city also encouraged new highrise residential development in the downtown core, and two new office buildings were also constructed. The city – with support from Imperial Oil, a major employer – renovated the old movie theatre, converting it to a playhouse for local productions and touring shows.
The Imperial Theatre remains a popular attraction
When it opened in 1982, Sarnia Eaton Centre was the centrepiece of Sarnia’s downtown comeback. It filled in nearly four blocks of Downtown Sarnia, with Lochiel Street closed between Christina and Vidal Streets, and Victoria Street closed north of Cromwell.
The mall was anchored, of course, by Eaton’s, a smaller, two-storey store with 91,470 sq. ft. of floor space (just under 8500 square metres), and an A&P supermarket on the southern end. Sarnia Eaton Centre’s 1993 Canadian Directory of Shopping Centres, showed that the mall still had a healthy assortment of national retailers, along with some local businesses. But many retailers refused to renew their store leases, and when Eaton’s entered bankruptcy for the first time in 1997, the Sarnia store was among the first to close.
The City of Sarnia merged with Sarnia Township in 1991, while the area surrounding Lambton Mall continued to grow as the region’s commercial centre. Big-box stores such as Walmart and Home Depot clustered around the older mall, and even with Sears Canada’s closure, Lambton Mall continued to do well, with Marshalls/Home Sense taking over the old Sears store.
20132023
The Bayside Mall property was purchased by Seasons Retirement Communities in 2017, and most of the mall was demolished in 2021-2022. Lambton County, which operated its social services offices in the former Eaton store, expanded its footprint, with a new municipal courthouse located next to the old Eaton’s store, which was renovated.
Lochiel Street has been partially restored as a pedestrian walkway across the site, while the southern half of the old mall will be redeveloped for mid-rise seniors’ homes, with a central plaza.
Map showing the redevelopment of Bayside Mall, with the Lambton County building, in red, already complete in early 2023. The top of the map faces west.
Meanwhile, Downtown Sarnia will continue to hold its own. It has a few nice restaurants, cafes and pubs, and the highrise development of the 1970s and 1980s ensures that there’s a local population that will frequent the businesses there. The addition of seniors housing won’t hurt either.
Below is the list of tenants at Sarnia Eaton Centre in 1992, obtained from the 1993 Canadian Directory of Shopping Centres, published by Maclean-Hunter. In 1992, the collection of retailers was still quite strong, largely driven by Cadillac Fairview’s leasing team.
Anchors
A&P (26,512 sq ft), Eaton’s (91,470 sq. ft)
Fashions and footwear Children’s wear: Just Kids Unisex/family wear: Le Chateau, D’Gala, Pantorama, Stitches, Thrifty’s Ladies’ wear: Fairweather, Irene Hill, Just Petites Lady Foot Locker, Lindor, Reitmans, Smart Set, Suzy Shier Menswear: Tip Top Footwear/leather goods: Agnew, Baronessa, Bata, Belinda & Brother, Joggers, Kinney, Mr. Minit Shore Repair Jewellery/accessories: Ardene, People’s
Other retailers Books/stationery: Carlton Cards, Garfield, WH Smith Health and beauty: Caryl Baker Visage, Shoppers Drug Mart Department store/mass merchandiser: Marks & Spencer, A Buck Or Two Electronics: Radio Shack Entertainment: Fun & Games Furniture & furnishings: Brass Collections Gifts: Things Engraved Hardware/paint & paper: St. Clair Paint and Wallpaper Housewares: The Royal Douton Store, Stokes Music/ records & tapes: Discus, Music World Pets: Tropicarium Pet Centre Photo/camera: Black’s, Japan Camera Restaurants & fast food: Elephant & Castle, Global Donuts, Hamby’s, Hong Kong Express, Kernels, Mykie’s, Viva Pasta Specialty food & drink: Laura Secord, mmmarvellous mmmuffins, Second Cup
Services Banks/financial: Canada Trust, TD Bank Hairstyling/esthetics: Regis Hairstylists Medical/dental: Tridont Dental Travel: Marlin Travel Misc: Infoplace
