I am a fan of Toronto’s Asian malls be they thriving, declining or already gone.
So I was heartened to find my kindred spirits at the Dragon Centre Stories project.
Dragon Centre was Toronto’s first Asian mall, located at 23 Glen Watford Drive. It served as the nucleus of a Chinese community that grew around it in the Agincourt neighbourhood. The mall was in decline for many years as people started spending more time at the fantastic Pacific Mall.
Jane Law has a great writeup that includes some of the mall’s history and the racial tensions it sparked.
The mall shut down for redevelopment in 2019, but before it did, several people contributed their memories of the mall for you to read.
As of 2025 the mall is still standing, unused. The site has not been redeveloped into condominiums and it appears that the mall was sold in 2023.
Other declining malls
I really like Chinatown Centre mall, at Spadina and Dundas downtown. They put on a great cultural show for Chinese New Year, and it is a favourite for my family and I. The mall is in decline for an interesting set of reasons that are described in this Reddit thread.
Recently, a set of art-kids, goths and fashion designers have been breathing new life into this old mall (Doll Funeral and Level 1313 are particularly notable).
Another notable sad mall is Splendid China Mall, just south of the wonderful Pacific Mall. It is very clean but has few visitors. Here’s a writeup about Splendid China Mall from 2012 – things have gotten even sadder, but Graceful Vegetarian is a real winner and we make the trip to the mall just to eat there. One bright spot is Thai restaurant Koh Lipe opening at the mall.
Lately, I also noticed some unique stores popping up in the mall – doing unique things like selling flowers made out of metal wire and nylon fabric & a business run by a young woman who’s a wizard at growing unusual succulents and cacti (Sunshine Garden).
Do you have a favourite story from one of these malls? Please share in the comments!