[ComptoirGeneral]

Canada Computers has opened in the basement. Not a single person was in the store. In fact, this whole mall is surprisingly dead - lots of empty stores, and even the food court at the west end is down to only three vendors. Even the Popeyes closed!
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I genuinely didn't even know there was a mall to be accessed down there.

 

[ComptoirGeneral]

The fact that the Land Registry Office (upstairs) no longer welcomes the public must also have greatly reduced the 'customer base'

What was to be seen there before?

 

[DSCToronto]

What was to be seen there before?

One could search the paper files and get personal help in finding property and land transfer records. Now one is forced to do it all online and, though that is better for some things, it really was sometimes easier to just go and find the paper copies and sometimes 'browsing' brings up unsuspected bits of information. (Of course, I am also a bit old fashioned too!)

 

[Towered]

I genuinely didn't even know there was a mall to be accessed down there.

How? It has direct subway access

 

[Rascacielo]

I still think the basement here is better than Aura’s. It’s not as dead, and even if it will be eventually, the design will still make it less claustrophobic.

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

How? It has direct subway access

There's an underground PATH literally links AoB to the Eaton Centre right next to the subway.

 

[DSCToronto]

I still think the basement here is better than Aura’s. It’s not as dead, and even if it will be eventually, the design will still make it less claustrophobic.

That is VERY low bar!

 

[Northern Light]

I genuinely didn't even know there was a mall to be accessed down there.

There's an LCBO, a flagship Muji, Marche Leo's (small supermarket, replaced Kitchen Table which was similar). Also Red Lobster.

Once home to Pickle Barrel and the Olive Garden.

Leo's seems to do ok'ish, but may be hurt by T&T opening across the way.

LCBO usually does well, so does Muji.

***

Historically, I always found the upper level quiet, away from the restos at each end. Bookstore Lichtmans used to be in here and do well, but it was a quiet clientele.

The lower level had pretty good volumes in/around Olive Garden and the food court on weekday lunch.....not so busy the rest of the time.

 

[xmyth_]

How much of the traffic in that food court went away once the bus terminal moved?

 

[Rascacielo]

That is VERY low bar!

I know, but we're talking about basements after all

 

[Bayer]

I used to go to that Kitchen Table all the time in the late 80s, early 90s, back when there were no supermarkets in the Bay and Gerrard area. I'm trying to remember another chain restaurant that was in the Atrium's lower level at the time, before Olive Garden.

 

[wmedia]

The Pickle Barrel in this building was the first restaurant I ever ate in when I visited Canada for the first time, on a hot July Friday night in 2001. I remember how "foreign" it all felt compared to the UK, and I loved it. It probably means nothing to most people here, but it has a sentimental value for me for sure, right up there with the Cinnabon smell of Union Station!

 

[thaivic]

The company that i worked for in the late seventies early eighties built the pillar and elevator cladding on main levels, if i recall correctly the cladding on the elevators was one orange and one yellow. It was a Union site and i was not allowed to do any installation got paid for holding my coffee and supervising.

 

[GenerationLee]

How much of the traffic in that food court went away once the bus terminal moved?

Honestly, COVID dealt the majority of the damage once people were out of the office. Like, the Canadian Tire did well, but, there wasnt much traffic here in those years...not enough to justify the business case for some of the longer term tenants that had been here.