Results tagged “yorkdale”

When I was young and stupid, I took a job in the small animal department of PJ's Pet Store at Yorkdale Shopping Centre. I was really excited about earning extra pocket change and, even more than that, playing with cuddly animals all day long. Now, as someone older and wiser, I recall with disgust all the reasons I should have run screaming from that job. Like that, during my interview, I was told their motto was "The customer comes first" (translation: the animals come second). Like that, during the hot summer months, the guinea pigs and ferrets languished in poorly ventilated cages. Like that, during Easter, I was encouraged to push bunny sales, as though they were a type of candy or greeting card and not living things.

The night's journey could begin one of three ways. On this evening, it starts at Yorkdale subway station, where you take in the illuminated beauty of Michael Hayden's Arc en Ciel before boarding a train to head downtown. You stroll along the streets, eventually winding up on Yonge Street. Passing on buying a slice from any of the pizza joints south of Gerrard, you soak up the neon lights of record store giants A&A and Sam the Record Man. Another night, you take a similar journey from the comfort of a car, passing several of the same sights and ponder as you listen to the jazzy background music if you should check out that early Coen Brothers movie playing at the Rio.

The Santa Claus Parade is over and done with for another year, but jolly old St. Nicholas and his clones have still hardly had time to get comfortable on their thrones in the shopping malls. All the same, there’s already no room at the inn—or the parking lots, anyway. As seen from a helicopter in the early afternoon on Monday (here's a larger shot), Yorkdale Mall doesn’t have an unoccupied spot, just a gaggle of aisle-crawlers cruising and waiting for someone to leave.