Mall Wars: Yorkdale vs. Sherway: Inside the big-bucks battle for our disposable income
In the era of e-tail, Yorkdale and Sherway Gardens, two of Toronto’s chi-chiest cathedrals of consumption, are preparing for battle. They’re undergoing colossal renos, dropping huge wads of cash and amping up the pamper factor in an effort to coax us off the couch and back into their stores. Here’s how the projects stack up.
Yorkdale: $331 million to add 298,000 square feet to the existing 1.6 million over two years. Sherway: $335 million to add 210,000 square feet to the existing 988,000 over three and a half years.
Yorkdale: Wooed White House Black Market, John Varvatos and David Yurman, which all arrive by the end of 2013. Sherway: Courted Topshop, Ann Taylor and Express, which all arrive by the end of 2013.
Yorkdale: A licensed, $38-million, 1,000-person-capacity food court that offers real tableware and takes reservations. Sherway: A 900-seat dining room with panoramic two-storey floor-to-ceiling windows.
Yorkdale: The herringbone wood flooring in Club Monaco’s new store was imported from Belgium. Sherway: The mall flooring will be refurbished with limestoneimported from France at a cost of $1 million.
Yorkdale: A $15 curbside valet service and a smartphone app that helps you find a parking space. Sherway: An $8 valet service and an in-mall shuttle.
Yorkdale: A food-court scullery that composts all organic waste. Sherway: A 65,000-square-foot green roof.
Yorkdale: $63,300 platinum Rolex from Raffi Jewellers; $1,000 gold-plated, crocodile-skin Zanotti wedge sneakers from Davids. Sherway: $1,995 Chloé Alice calfskin tote; $115,500 Tiffany Enchant yellow and white diamond ring set in platinum.
Yorkdale: The Tesla Model S electric car starts at $77, 800. Sherway: Iconic 44,000-square-foot Zeidler-designed, Teflon-coated canopy roof which was painstakingly restored over the course of a year.
Yorkdale: There’s a perfume butler whose sole job is to squirt passersby with scents. Sherway: Staff will warm your baby bottles and charge your car battery gratis.
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