Nostalgia for Cloverdale Mall before it meets the wrecking ball

Cloverdale Mall, the Etobicoke shopping centre that has been an integral part of my neighbourhood for more than 67 years, is set to be demolished and replaced with a mixed-use 32-acre development.

And I can’t shake this feeling of loss.

Cloverdale first opened its doors on Nov. 15, 1956. The mall started out as an open-air plaza with 34 stores on part of the Eatonville farm. The original stores included Dominion, S.S. Kresge, Laura Secord and Tip

Top Tailors. It had an attractive courtyard at the centre of the plaza.

I moved to Etobicoke when I was six years old, and I have vivid childhood memories of Cloverdale. My mother would take me to the playground in the outdoor plaza. I would enjoy the swings and the slide, and later my mother would buy me an ice cream cone. Later, as a teenager, I purchased records at the mall’s Sam the Record Man store.

Through the years the mall underwent many changes. In the 1960s, its Morgan’s department store was acquired by the Hudson Bay Company and was converted into the Bay. The most significant change, however, occurred when the mall was enclosed and expanded.

In 2005, the Hudson’s Bay Company replaced the Bay with their discount Zellers store. Zellers expanded into the main level of the mall but did not use the upper level of the Bay’s former space, which was shut down. In 2013, the U.S. retail chain Target, moved into that space, as part of its shortlived expansion into Canada, but Target’s Canadian experiment was abandoned, and it closed. The Fairgrounds Public Racket Club later opened a pickleball court in the space.

The mall is not just a retail space, it’s a place for community. Cloverdale has become popular for seniors with mobility issues, it’s smaller and more manageable than Sherway Gardens. It’s easy to navigate. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a large-scale vaccine clinic was at Cloverdale. I received my vaccine injections there.

I still shop at Cloverdale, but time is running out. City council has approved the first phase of the mixed-use project. Joint venture partners QuadReal Property Group and Mattamy Homes will bring 606 new condominium units in its inaugural towers at 2 and 10 The East Mall Crescent. The development is said to include shopping, all-season parklands, arts and culture programming, fitness and wellness facilities, restaurants and community uses.

That certainly sounds good. So, why do I feel a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the project? Why can’t I embrace this new plan for Cloverdale as well as other major changes in Etobicoke? They will happen, whether I like it or not.

Call me hopelessly nostalgic or overly sentimental, but I can’t help but regret that another familiar place in my community will be gone forever.

The city is growing at a rapid rate. New housing is essential, but I don’t relish the thought of more high rises blocking my view. Nor do I look forward to fewer retail outlets in my area.

I’ll miss the simplicity of the old Cloverdale Mall.

Call me hopelessly nostalgic or overly sentimental, but I can’t help but regret that another familiar place in my community will be gone forever