Vaughan Mills is a regional

outlet mall An outlet store, factory outlet or factory store is a brick and mortar or online store where manufacturers sell their merchandise directly to the public. Products at outlet stores are usually sold at reduced prices compared to regular stores du ...

located at the southeast quadrant of the Highway 400 and

Rutherford Road York Region, located in southcentral Ontario, Canada, assigned approximately 50 regional roads, each with a number ranging from 1 to 99. All expenses for York Regional Roads (i.e: maintenance, traffic lights, and snow clearing) are funded by the ...

interchange in

Vaughan Vaughan ( ) (2022 population 344,412) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Regional Municipality of York, just north of Toronto. Vaughan was the fastest-growing municipality in Canada between 1996 and 2006 with its population increa ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, just south of

Canada's Wonderland Canada's Wonderland, formerly known as Paramount Canada's Wonderland, is a amusement park located in Vaughan, Ontario, a municipality within the Greater Toronto Area. Opened in 1981 by the Taft Broadcasting, Taft Broadcasting Company and the Gr ...

. It is one of the largest enclosed shopping centres in Canada, and the largest shopping mall in

York Region The Regional Municipality of York, also called York Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, between Lake Simcoe and Toronto. The region was established after the passing of then Bill 102, An Act to Establish The Regional ...

with almost of retail space. The complex has over 200 retail stores, restaurants, and entertainment outlets. The mall is served by

York Region Transit York Region Transit (YRT) is the public transit operator in York Region, Ontario, Canada. Its headquarters are in Richmond Hill, at 50 High Tech Road. YRT operates 65 full-time rush hour and limited routes, 35 school services, and six Viva ...

bus routes at the Vaughan Mills Terminal, with frequent service to Vaughan Metropolitan Centre subway station, the northern terminus of Line 1 Yonge-University of the

Toronto subway The Toronto subway is a rapid transit system serving Toronto and the neighbouring city of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). The subway system is a rail network consisting of three heavy-capacity rai ...

, to the south along Jane Street.

History

The shopping centre was designed and built by

Ivanhoé Cambridge Ivanhoé Cambridge Inc. is a Canadian real estate company based in Montreal, Quebec. With assets around the globe, its areas of activity are investment, development, asset management, operations and leasing. The company's real estate portfolio co ...

and

Mills Corporation The Mills Corporation was a publicly traded real estate investment trust headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, United States, acquired on April 3, 2007, by an investment group composed of Simon Property Group and Farallon Capital Management. ...

, the latter of which owned a portfolio of malls across the United States. JPRA served as the design architect for the centre, with Bregman + Hamann Architects as the project architect. Like its American counterparts, Vaughan Mills incorporates a "

race track A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also us ...

" layout to maximize the exposure of the mall tenants. When Vaughan Mills was conceived in 1999, it was meant to be a slightly larger complex at 1.4 million square feet (130,000 m²), with up to 18 anchor retailers and a combined 245 stores and services. The shopping centre was intended to be a stepping stone for American retailers who wanted to enter the Canadian market, however Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World was the only U.S. retailer to make its exclusive launch there, while other anticipated retailers such as

Bed Bath & Beyond Bed Bath & Beyond was an American big-box retail chain specializing in housewares, furniture, and specialty items. Headquartered in Union, New Jersey, the chain operated stores in the United States and Canada, and was once counted among the ...

and

Burlington Coat Factory Burlington, formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory, is an American national off-price department store retailer, and a division of Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation with more than 1,100 stores in 47 states and Puerto Rico, with it ...

never opened at Vaughan Mills. In September 1999, Bed Bath & Beyond and Sun & Ski Sports were among the six American retailers that were announced as Vaughan Mills' first anchor tenants. An

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

X Games The X Games are a series of action sports events founded by ESPN Inc. and aired on ESPN networks and ABC. In late 2022, ESPN sold the long-running property to MSP Sports Capital, a private equity firm co-founded by Jahm Najafi and Jeff Mo ...

Skatepark A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, Freestyle scootering, scootering, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairw ...

was also planned as the main entertainment venue site. Construction of the mall began in June 2003. It opened on November 4, 2004, and was the first regional enclosed shopping complex to be opened in the

Greater Toronto Area The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the Toronto, City of Toronto and the regional municipality, regional municipalities of Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham, Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton, Regional ...

(GTA) since the Erin Mills Town Centre in 1990 as well as the first in the GTA built in the 21st century. The mall had its two-millionth visitor less than two months after its opening. Vaughan Mills receives over 13.5 million patrons per year. In August 2006, the Mills Corporation sold its stake in Vaughan Mills to partner

. In January 2013, plans were announced for an expansion of 150,000 square feet and 50 new stores to the mall, which opened in late 2014. On March 17, 2016,

Saks Off 5th Saks OFF 5TH, formerly Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th, is an American off-price department store chain founded in 1990, and a sister brand to the luxury department store chain Saks Fifth Avenue. Both chains were owned by holding company Saks, Inc., a ...

opened a store in the mall. The store is expected to close in June 2025. StyleSense and

NASCAR Speedpark PARC Management, LLC is an operations company based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. which operates a Go-Cart Family Entertainment Center, in Sevierville, Tennessee.

were closed in early 2012. They have been replaced by

Calvin Klein Calvin Richard Klein (born November 19, 1942) is an American fashion designer. In 1968, he launched the company that later became Calvin Klein. In addition to clothing, he has also given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and jewellery. ...

and Legoland Discovery Centre. In 2018, Japanese retailer

Uniqlo ( ; ) is a Japanese casual wear designer and retailer. The company is a subsidiary of Fast Retailing, Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. Clare Waight Keller is the creative director. History Men's Shop OS was founded in Ube, Yamaguchi. It was rebrand ...

announced an expansion to open four new locations in malls, including Vaughan Mills, which opened on September 28, 2018, in the former HR2 location (which had opened in 2013).

Name

The mall was named following a trend by one of the real estate companies involved, The Mills Corporation, who named their "Landmark" mall developments ending in "Mills", hence "Vaughan Mills" was used for the mall name. The local origins of the name "Vaughan Mills" can be traced back to the location of a saw mill built near a farm on the main branch of the Humber River on Lot 12, Concession 8 in the 1830's, up the river from Woodbridge. A grist mill was later added to the site. This area was known as "Vaughan Mills" in historical maps and was located around where the present-day Vaughan Mills Road crosses the Humber River in the west end of the city, a notable distance away from the today's shopping mall complex. The farm and surrounding lands were redeveloped into residential housing in the 1990's. Vaughan Mills Neighbourhood 1 seating area 2022.jpg , Neighbourhood 1 seating area Vaughan Mills Neighbourhood 2 seating area.jpg , Neighbourhood 2 seating area after the renovation Vaughan Mills Neighbourhood 4 2022.jpg, Shops in Neighbourhood 4 Vaughan Mills Expansion Area shops 2022.jpg, Expansion Area opened in late 2014 Vaughan Mills Roadside Picnic Food Court 2022.jpg, Food Court after renovation in 2017 Vaughan Mills Neighbourhood 6 2022.jpg,

located in Neighbourhood opened in 2018

Public transit

The Vaughan Mills Terminal is a York Region Transit (YRT) transit terminal located at 1 Bass Pro Mills Drive, near the northeast corridor of Vaughan Mills near the intersection of Rutherford Road and Jane Street. The terminal has ' ticket machines. Only YRT routes connect to this terminal.

Sister malls in Canada

stated in 2011 that their strategic plan was to have four sister malls in Canada, with Vaughan Mills as the first, and additional locations to be located near Calgary, Vancouver and Montreal.

CrossIron Mills CrossIron Mills is a fully enclosed shopping centre development just outside the northern city limits of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and immediately east of the hamlet of Balzac in Rocky View County. It was developed by Ivanhoé Cambridge, a major ...

, located outside of Calgary, Alberta, opened on August 19, 2009. It has a number of the same retailers as the Vaughan Mills Mall, including Bass Pro Shops. The CrossIron Mills location opened in the spring of 2009, several months ahead of the main mall. The construction, leasing, and opening of the mall has paralleled Vaughan Mills to a degree, as it, too, has occurred during an economic recession.

Tsawwassen Mills Tsawwassen Mills is a shopping mall on Tsawwassen First Nation land, in Delta, British Columbia. The mall was built by Ivanhoé Cambridge and opened on October 5, 2016. It features of retail space and a 1,100 seat food court. It features 200 r ...

, located in Delta, British Columbia, at Highway 17 and 52nd Street on Tsawwassen First Nation Lands south of Vancouver. Construction began in January 2014 and the mall opened on October 5, 2016. Tsawwassen Mills is designed in a similar format to its sister malls and includes approximately of retail. Plans call for 16 anchor retailers, including the first Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World location in British Columbia announced as the first anchor tenant.

had originally planned to build what would have been called Laval Mills in

Laval, Quebec Laval is a city in Quebec, Canada. It is in the southwest of the province, north of Montreal. It is the largest suburb of Montreal, the third-largest city in the province after Montreal and Quebec City, and the thirteenth largest city in Can ...

near Montreal, at the intersection of Quebec Autoroute 440 and

Quebec Autoroute 25 Autoroute 25 (or A-25, also called Autoroute Louis-H.-La Fontaine in Montreal) is an Autoroute (Quebec), Autoroute in the Lanaudière region of Quebec. It is currently long and services the direct north of Montreal's Metropolitan Area. A-25 has o ...

. However, after three years of planning and analysis, these plans were abandoned in May 2011 citing that their criteria of feasibility and profitability were not met, partly because environmental issues as construction would have disrupted a number of wetlands on or directly connection to the project. At the time the project was cancelled

stated they would continue plans for a Mills mall to be built in the Montreal region.

Stores at Vaughan Mills

File:AdidasStoreVaughanMills.jpg,

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...

File:ASICSVaughanMills.jpg, Asics File:AéropostaleVaughanMills.jpg, Aeropostale (closed in 2016) File:ArmaniExchange.JPG, A/X Armani Exchange (closed) File:OutdoorWorld.JPG, Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World File:Bath&BodyWorksVaughanMills.jpg,

Bath & Body Works Bath & Body Works, LLC. is an American retail store chain that sells soaps, lotions, fragrances, and candles. It was founded in 1990 in New Albany, Ohio, New Albany, Ohio and has since expanded across six continents. In 1997, it became the large ...

File:BellWorldVaughanMills.JPG,

Bell A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...

File:Build-A-BearWorkshopVaughanMills.JPG,

Build-A-Bear Workshop Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. is an American retailer headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri that sells teddy bears, stuffed animals, and characters. During store visits, customers go through an interactive process where the stuffed animal of their ...

File:ColesVaughanMills.JPG, Coles (closed in 2018) File:DisneyVaughanMills.jpg, Disney Outlet (closed in 2021) File:DrMartensVaughanMills.jpg, Dr. Martens File:FCUKVaughan Mills.jpg,

French Connection The French Connection was a scheme through which heroin was smuggled from Indochina through Turkey to France and then to the United States and Canada. The operation started in the 1930s, reached its peak in the 1960s, and was dismantled in the 1 ...

(closed in 2016) File:Forever21VaughanMills.jpg,

Forever 21 F21 OpCo LLC, trade name, doing business as Forever 21, was a multinational fast-fashion retailer. It was originally founded as Fashion 21 in Highland Park, Los Angeles, Highland Park, Los Angeles in 1984.Forever 21History & Facts, n.d. Retrieved ...

(closed in 2019) File:GeoxVaughanMills.JPG, Geox File:H&MVaughanMills.JPG, H&M File:HallmarkVaughanMills.JPG,

Hallmark A hallmark is an official Mark (sign), mark or series of marks struck on items made of metal, mostly to certify the content of noble metals—such as platinum, gold, silver and in some nations, palladium. In a more general sense, the term ''Wikti ...

(closed in 2018) File:HMVVaughanMills2.jpg,

HMV HMV is an international music and entertainment retailer, founded in 1921. The brand is owned by Hilco Capital and operated by Sunrise Records, except in Japan, where it is owned and operated by Lawson. The inaugural shop was opened on Lo ...

(closed in 2017) File:HoltRenfrewHR2.jpg, Holt Renfrew HR2 (closed in 2018, replaced by

) File:LegolandDiscoveryCentreToronto.JPG, LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Toronto File:Levi'sOutletStore.JPG, Levi's Outlet Store File:NikeFactoryStoreVaughanMills.JPG,

Nike Factory Store Nike often refers to: * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine given ...

File:ReebokVaughanMills.jpg,

Reebok Reebok International Limited ( ) is an American footwear and clothing brand that is a part of Authentic Brands Group. It was established in England in 1958 as a companion company to J.W. Foster and Sons, a sporting goods company which had bee ...

File:StarbucksVaughanMills2.jpg,

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

File:SunglassHutVaughanMills-DLighting.jpg,

Sunglass Hut Sunglass Hut is an international retailer of sunglasses and sunglass Fashion accessory, accessories founded in Miami, Florida, United States, in 1971. Sunglass Hut is part of the Italian-based Luxottica Group, the world’s largest eyewear company ...

File:TheNorthFace.JPG,

The North Face The North Face is an American outdoor recreation products company. The North Face produces outdoor clothing, footwear, and related equipment. Founded in 1968 to supply climbers, the company's logo draws inspiration from Half Dome, a distinct ...

File:ToysRUsVaughanMills.JPG,

Toys "R" Us Toys "R" Us is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer owned by Tru Kids (doing business as Tru Kids Brands) and various others. The company was founded in 1948 in Washington, D.C.; its first store was built in April 1948, with i ...

/ Babies "R" Us File:Trade Secrets - Vaughan Mills.JPG, Trade Secrets File:Yogenfruz3.JPG,

Yogen Früz Yogen Früz is a Canadian chain of frozen yogurt and smoothie stores that also serves healthy alternative food products. The chain is run through company-owned, franchised, and non-traditional partnerships. The chain operates worldwide and has it ...

References