T.E.C.II
Active Member
Does anyone know what is happening to the Men's Banana Republic? It's not there anymore.
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deerparker
Active Member
They consolidated BR men’s and women’s on the floor above.
Towered
Superstar
I read that as Banana Hammock
Dan416
Senior Member
I walk through the mall every single day that I work downtown, and I don't think there's any more empty spots than, say, Square One.
UtakataNoAnnex
Senior Member
Don't feel so bad...I read it as Bananarama somehow. >.<
xmyth_
Senior Member
Any of these retailing websites got new data on store vacancies across the city? There really seems to be a flux of closures and empties - and that’s before tariffs.
denfromoakvillemilton
Senior Member
Square One is doing a bit better these days.
Dan416
Senior Member
Square One has a few too. I think they're lucky that Zara is doubling its size which helps. It's going to be 40k square feet with the 2 levels.
To bring it back to Eaton Centre, the mall still has tons of foot traffic and really no competition downtown.
denfromoakvillemilton
Senior Member
That's great! Zara is expensive too. I agree with you, but I wish we hadn't lost Nordstrom and now the Bay.
Johnny Au
Superstar
April 30, 2025:
St. Germain Bakery is open.
St. Germain Bakery is open.
nightstreak
Active Member
Are there any updates on the interior redesign of the former Nordstrom space? Nothing seems to be happening on the exterior besides the Nordstrom signage coming down.
Do we know how they'll build the continuation of the galleria towards the Dundas atrium? Will it be multiple levels flanked by Nike and Eataly/Simons or just a one floor hallway? Does anyone have any peeks behind the hoarding or any drawings from city permits?
Eataly and Simons are supposed to open this Fall so I imagined we'd have seen some activity on the exterior but I can't see any change after all these months of hoarding going up.
Do we know how they'll build the continuation of the galleria towards the Dundas atrium? Will it be multiple levels flanked by Nike and Eataly/Simons or just a one floor hallway? Does anyone have any peeks behind the hoarding or any drawings from city permits?
Eataly and Simons are supposed to open this Fall so I imagined we'd have seen some activity on the exterior but I can't see any change after all these months of hoarding going up.
TossYourJacket
Senior Member
I'd disagree that there hasn't been any changes to the exterior. Every now and then you can see a gap in the coverings around the exterior and it appears that most of the exterior materials have been removed. It's a much bigger change than just taking down the signage. Most notably, near the entrance by Roots you can currently see exposed blueskin on the former Nordstrom box where stone tiles used to be (or at least you could when I walked past on Tuesday). The scaffolding covers so much of the building it's hard to tell if anything new has been installed anywhere yet, but it does seem like most of the Nordstrom exterior has been stripped off as part of the renovations.
nightstreak
Active Member
Thanks, I'll have a closer look next time. What I think we're all eager to see is how the continuation of the galleria will be handled. Eatons/Sears/Nordstrom had a centre escalator well which if I recall is still there for the BMO offices and seems to be where this skylight is:
If they maintain that, it could bring in some natural light into the new hallway that'll run from the mall to the Dundas atrium, flanked by Nike on the left and Simons and Eataly on the right.
If Nordstrom had failed before Cadillac Fairview had pivoted to office space, I think we could've seen a true continuation of the galleria glass atrium but with BMO on the top levels in a newly built space, that won't happen for decades, if ever.
Funny to think about it but I've been hoping for something like this ever since they ruined the Dundas atrium. I still have naive hope for the restoration of the atrium into a terraced space to be in, not just pass through. I'm always sad to think what we lost. This was such a great space:
P.S. If anyone has any pictures or videos of the atrium prior to the H&M addition, please share. I'd love to reminisce. I found one more and added above.
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AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Here is one from 1995 (not mine) of the atrium. If I remember it correctly, the place was already denuded of vegetation and had these (Japanese?) kites hanging around. There was a police station and TD ATMs was in a reddish/brown stone clad "booth" in the centre?
It was so interesting back then - unlike the sterile yawnfest that the mall is today.
AoD
nightstreak
Active Member
Thank you @AlvinofDiaspar !
See, this was such a smart use of that space. It provided a grand entrance into the Eaton Centre while flanking it with businesses that were far more visible than the generic storefronts of today that become invisible in their banality. H&M gained very little from being in the atrium, it took no advantage whatsoever of the atrium ceiling, instead creating an enclosed box.
Cadillac Fairview would be smart to turn this once again into a space for being in, not just passing through. Restaurants with patios would do well here.
And for the love of Thor, bring back the trees and other greenery. What was magical about the Eaton Centre is that it created a city neighbourhood, inside. "The Great Indoors" was their slogan at one point. Today it largely looks like a generic mall. I'll grant CF a tip of the hat for how they handled reglazing the skylight. It came out beautiful and respects the original forms.