Some Toronto malls are booming, but not necessarily because of the shopping

To anyone who visits Toronto's Yorkdale Shopping Centre in the weeks leading up to Christmas, it would appear the death of the mall has been greatly exaggerated.

The parking lot is packed and so too is the mall as people explore its unique mix of high-end retail and array of non-retail "experiences" that most busy malls now include, such movie- and product-related pop ups and installations geared to photo-happy consumers. The two-million-square-foot property is the most successful mall in Canada, with annual sales of more than $2 billion.

"In the mall business, you always have to be fresh. You always have to think about what your customers are after and remain relevant for the customer," said Robert Horst, vice-president of retail at Oxford Properties, which operates Yorkdale. 

"You want to bring them out of their chairs, off their sofa, into a space where they can shop. But it's important to create experiences that the customers will find unique, different and something that they can't do anywhere else."

For nearly 30 years, people have been predicting the death of malls, and their obituaries have been written over and over. Some thought the COVID-19 pandemic and the spike in online sales would be the final nail in malls' coffins. 

But while many tired suburban malls are full of empty stores or have lost their "anchor tenant," others are thriving like never before. Malls such as Yorkdale and The Well, which recently opened in downtown Toronto, are offering fresh takes on retail and expanding the mall experience beyond simply shopping. Yorkdale estimates it has 18 million visitors a year.

"Smaller malls, malls with some of the department stores that have gone into bankruptcy, those are the malls that are struggling, and many of those have died and many of those will probably continue to die," said Alexandra Lange, author of Meet Me By The Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall.  

"I think there's always going to be a set of super-successful traditional malls. But I do think that it is a time for creativity about all the other malls."

The operators of many regional malls, however, have been slow to embrace the idea that consumer expectations of malls are quickly evolving, said  Canadian author Doug Stephens, who recently wrote Resurrecting Retail: The Future of Business in a Post-Pandemic World.

"They really need to revisit the whole notion of place-making and the entertainment factor of going to the mall," he said.

"It has shifted to  either experiencing something, buying something, tasting something, or seeing something that you simply can't find anywhere else, particularly online. And frankly, most malls, not just in Canada, but in North America, really have not yet embraced that new mindset."

Yorkdale is a mix of 270 mostly high-end stores and many other things — particularly attractions designed for shoppers to interact with and post on social media. It currently features a massive pop-up candy store linked to the new movie Wonka and Christmas tree designed by the fashion house Dior that's always surrounded by shoppers snapping pictures and videos.

Abhinav and Garima Sharma, a couple with an admitted penchant for luxury, were hand-picked by Dior to attend a special product showing.

"If there's an event, it's more exciting and you're more enticed to buy because you're here and you know someone's really gone out to reach out to you," Garima said.