Toronto Time Machine

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy The last weekend ahead of Christmas is typically a time when foot traffic inside Canadian shopping malls pounds the floors with rhythmic fury. The enclosed environment known as the Yorkdale Shopping Centre opens to shoppers providing more than the polarizing holiday music and crowded parking lots associated with other malls. For 2014, Yorkdale offers a host of guest services such as valet and lounges for some customers as well as rare Canadian shopping experiences such as Versace, the Microsoft store, The Lego Store and even a Tesla Motors sales centre (the first in Canada). Photo Credit: Chris Nagy In February of this year, the Yorkdale Shopping Centre celebrated 50 years of serving customers by setting new expectations for how we spend our money. I've written a tribute to the golden anniversary of the shopping centre in February but decided to largely capture what the complex was in 1964 . As a writer who deeply enjoys relating where we ha

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy In a long career for the NHL, Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Tim Horton is remembered is a player will has scored 518 points, 115 goals and been a part of four Stanley Cup winning efforts in the 1960s for the Toronto Maple leafs. Along with the Maple Leafs, his 22-year career on the ice also included stints playing for the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres. However, for many Canadians and some Americans, the legacy of Tim Horton is reflected in a cup of coffee, a muffin or a donut. Today on May 17 th , the memory of Tim Horton is being celebrated with a major milestone for a business that ballooned into Canada’s largest fast food restaurant chain. Much like what many athletes do today, Tim Horton placed his name and money into several investments. During his long stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Horton spent his time away from the ice creating business ventures baring his name. In a plot of land now opposite the Centerpoint

Photo credit: Not Supplied With an election coming up in the city of Toronto for a new mayor, the mention of subway lines is rampant. Extensions to some and the construction of others has dominated the agenda for most Toronto mayoral prospects in 2014. On March 30, 1954, the promise of several early 20th century Toronto politicians came to being igniting today's debates. With a fleet of red subway cars, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) opened the Yonge subway rapid transit line to passengers.   Originally opening as a 12-stop subway running along Yonge street, the first Canadian subway relieved one of the most congested routes in Toronto. 60 years later, the subway now known as the Yonge-University-Spadina line (most recently simplified as line 1) now has 32 connections stretching from Downsview station to Finch station. The expanded Yonge line is an integral part for moving resident as well as travelers to Toronto with links to buses, streetcars and three additional su

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy  A giant red building on Edward Street that at one time lived up to its name, the World's Biggest Bookstore will close on Sunday March 23rd after 34 years of serving Toronto-based Bookworms. Originally a bowling alley, the World's Biggest Bookstore opened in 1980 by Jack and Carl Coles (founder of the Coles Bookstore chain). For years prior to the Edward Street location, a Coles store was found near Dundas and Yonge. Coles Bookstore would eventually become part of Indigo Book and Music conglomerate along with the World's Biggest Bookstore. Consisting of two giant floors of books, magazines or other reading-related items, the store provided a customer with hours of exploration.  For the most part, the World's Biggest Bookstore retained a separate identity from the Indigo chain. The bookstore remained noted over the decades for resisting the trends adopted by other bookstore chains and even some public libraries. Among the standout qual

Gleaming with a facade regarded as an eye-drawing or eye-burning depending on the individual, the Toronto discount store Honest Ed's had stood on the corner of Bathurst and Bloor as a landmark since 1948. Late last year, the sale and closure of the iconic store was the latest testament to how the Canadian city's landscape is changing. As part of the store's farewell, Honest Ed's devised a plan to allow Torontonians to buy a piece of the bargain store. Selling what turned out to be 2,000 hand-painted show cards used for every kind of product sold in Honest Ed's, the sale was definitely one store closing sale where the fixtures were in high demand. Staged as a charity sale for Victim Services Toronto, Honest Ed's allowed patrons to buy some of these signs for as little as 50 cents. David Mirvish (the son of founder Ed Mirvish) as well as sign artists Doug Kerr and Wayne Reuben were on hand to provide authentication to those souvenirs with autographs. For a b

Photo credit: Chris Nagy Diary from a Yorkdale Shopping Centre Customer on February 26 th 1964 As I am driving this Highway 401 on this cold Wednesday morning in February, I conceiving so many thoughts. First, how many more songs from these new group The Beatles will be topping CHUM’s Weekly Hit Parade? I like their music but their constant exposure is driving every young woman insane. With one riding in the passenger seat of my Acadian Invader, I am happy that I married her before The Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan. My second through is how did I let my wife convince me to take a day off work in the midst of winter? I know the answer to that question and I cannot freely confess the reason was all her doing. It involves the opening of a spectacular new shopping Mecca called Yorkdale. Travelling so fast on this highway, I am realizing how this country is becoming so connected and how everything can be united so quickly. National television, Canada-wide phone calls and

Photo by: Chris Nagy Greetings: I am launching this website as an opportunity to explore the culture of Brick and Mortar shopping in Canada. Focusing on malls and shopping centres, I also aspire to explore the news and history of stores part of Canadian spending.