Canada's first Robotic Water Fountain featured in Urban Village

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New Urban Lifestyle Mall opens in Toronto

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Shopping Mall Developer Cadillac Fairview has adorned the city of Toronto with a new outdoor urban retail store village named 'Shops at Don Mills' located at Don Mills and Lawrence, displaying various artworks including refurbished Eaton Centre sculptures, creative wall art installations and featuring Canada's first exterior 'Robotic Water Fountain' that is embedded within its trendy outdoor town square pathways surrounded with hundreds of trees in 450,000 square feet of retail space and 65,000 square feet of office space.

After a 3 year construction process, with rumoured archaeological remains of an aboriginal origin  beneath the soil,  the modern outdoor village retail mall finally opened its doors during last Wednesday's media tour of the urban lifestyle town square.  

During the first opening phase, the 'Shops at Don Mills' had about 60 per cent of the stores open their doors with community oriented celebrity star-studded weekend celebrations that started on Friday April 24 ending Sunday April 26; guest appearances by Canadian Idol winner Eva Avila, former neighborhood resident and successful international R&B singer Jully Black and infamous chef Mark McEwan just to name a few.  The outdoor urban village retail mall festivities are hoping to largely attract the Toronto public through its pathways over the summertime. 

Reminiscent of the upscale Yorkville street shopping design, the 'Shops at Don Mills' outdoor mall has radically changed from the former 30 year old enclosed mall, to an open concept design aspect with overhead canopies that promise to help protect visitors from the harsh weather elements. The drastic outdoor concept change, however, was first met with much opposition from what the neighborhood customers were accustomed to; the customer base average annual income is $180,000 (the area roughly stretching from Eglinton and Avenue Road to the Bridal Path).

Neighbors and nearby residents feel that the Cadillac Fairview developers did not completely address their consumer needs during the 3 year delayed construction process; most felt relieved the amenities were finally there and were also appreciative of the featured artwork, sculptures and modern concepts.. but with over 5,000 petitioned signatures opposing the expensive upscale stores with integrated outdoor design, time will only tell if the 'Shops at Don Mills' urban lifestyle design and privately owned pedestrian walks will step up to what was already there.

~Tomitheos reporting from Toronto