The mall is on two levels east to west with a vacant space at the west end and the Hudson's Bay at the east end. Its 170 stores include numerous clothing stores, speciality shops and kiosks. The mall also has a multiplex cinema, a food court and a few restaurants connected to the mall. The shopping centre also provides a personal style program that offers clients individual image consultations, personal shopping sessions, and other customized services for a fee. Nearby, the Toronto Public Library's Fairview Public Library branch is located to the north of the mall. A community health centre is located next to the mall along Don Mills Road. It includes a pharmacy, various doctors offices and dentist offices, and eye exam clinics. Fairview Mall is located near the intersections of two major highways: Highways 401 and 404. The mall is surrounded on all sides by parking lot and parking garages. Parking is free. The shopping centre is also served by a Toronto Transit Commissionsubway line and a York Regionbus rapid transit line. The mall is jointly owned by Cadillac Fairview and Ivanhoé Cambridge, two of Canada's largest real estate property managers and developers. Cadillac Fairview Corporation also owns and operates Fairview Park Mall in Kitchener, Ontario, and co-owns Fairview Pointe-Claire with Ivanhoé Cambridge, in Pointe-Claire, Quebec.
History
Fairview Mall opened in 1970 with The Bay and Simpsons as its department store anchors, and at the time was the fourth fully enclosed, as well as the first multi-level, shopping centre in Metropolitan Toronto. In 1991, the Hudson's Bay Company sold its Simpsons store at Fairview Mall to Sears Canada. From 1987 to 1989, the Cadillac Fairview Corporation and previous co-owner Markborough Properties Ltd spent CAD$90M to provide Fairview Mall's first major expansion. Renovations at that time included a glass-tiered ceiling, similar to Toronto's Eaton Centre, which opened much of its interior to natural lighting. In the 1990s, a major portion of the shopping centre's parking lot was redeveloped into a large bus terminal as part of the Toronto Transit Commission'sDon Mills subway station, and also as the southern terminus of York Region Transit'sVivaGreen bus rapid transit line. In late 2008, Fairview Mall completed a CAD$90 million three-phase full renovation and redevelopment project which had been started in July 2006. The redevelopment phases included an expanded Shoppers Drug Mart and a large format Liquor Control Board of Ontario store. The food court was moved to the lower level under a high skylight near The Bay. All entrances to the mall were updated to incorporate hands-free technology and the common areas inside the centre were transformed with greater open spaces and wood finishes. Elevators serving the third floor offices were added for the first time, located near entrance #4. In 2009, retailers Bath & Body Works, Forever 21, Sephora, Hollister Co., and Zara opened within the mall. The facade along Sheppard Avenue received a complete facelift by the end of 2009. During that time, work on Fairview Mall's new "dining experience" area was undertaken. The Rainbow Cinema had originally been an older style Cineplex theatre. The Sears store closed in late 2017 as part of the liquidation of Sears Canadian operations. In 2019, Cadillac Fairview announced the expansion of the mall which includes adding a row of restaurants, a Sears box redevelopment, a renovation of the existing mall, and a new pedestrian access to the TTC. It is expected to be completed in 2023.
Incidents
On 13 December 2006, three handguns, a machine gun, ammunition and drugs were found in a locker meant for shoppers to store their belongings as they shopped. On 25 June 2008, an 18-year-old was stabbed and seriously injured outside of a shoe store within the mall. On 12 January 2009, a serial purse snatcher drove slightly into a woman, striking her leg. As the woman was checking out her injury, a man in the car grabbed her carry-all. The victim attempted to hold onto her purse as he drove away, dragging her for a short distance before she let go. On 13 September 2010, a plainclothes mall security guard, Owen Baker, attempted to arrest a man for allegedly stealing a sample bottle of cologne, resulting in a foot-chase in which the security guard was shot at. Baker originally said he was looking down the barrel of the gun because it was pointed directly at his head, and that he dove into a jewellery store to dodge the bullet. Security camera footage contradicted his statements, and Baker later revised his story to say he didn't know which direction the gun was pointed and that he dropped to his knees as opposed to diving into a store. Once Baker regained his composure he got back up and continued chasing the suspect for the sample bottle of cologne. Toronto Police initially named Christopher Alexander and Shaun Mobeen as suspects. Mobeen turned himself in but was released after police cleared him of being the man in the video footage. On 21 January 2014, an armoured truck transporting from the mall was robbed by two gunmen, leading to an exchange of gunfire. No one was injured, and the robbers made off with a bag of money containing $100,000. On 13 November 2016, a car crashed into the mall, demolishing part of a wall. The driver was trapped in the debris, later being freed by emergency workers. On 12 March 2017, a teenager was seriously wounded in a stabbing near the move theater.
