Dr. Allan Horowitz, published newspaper article, The Liberal, Copyright September 25, 1991
Dear readers:
Once or twice a year, I write about a particularly sensitive subject which brings in mail, phone calls and comments from those who don’t usually respond to newspaper columnists.
A few months ago I wrote a series of articles about shopping malls – how to survive inside one of these places without causing damage to your back. I described how ‘‘malling’’ should be avoided at all costs. (This is the term I used to describe aimless wandering around a mall.)
On July 9, I received a letter on the Trilea Centres Inc. stationery. I presume Trilea owns or operates the Shops on Steeles and 404 shoppingcentre.
This letter was a rebuttal to my mailing columns and was written by Michael Cayley who is the general manager of the centre.
I promised to check out every point he made in his letter. I did.
1, Parking … Mr. Cayley claimed that there is anabundance of parking at his mall. At 7:30 p.m. on Thurs., Aug. 15 we drove to the top of the Sears building as Mr. Cayley suggested. There were approximately 207 parking spots and mine was the only car there. One for Mr. Cayley!
2, Hard floors, benches etc… Yes there were lots of benches. Yes the environment was comfortable. There was a booth available free for non-profit organizations. There was a recycling bin for cans (things that not all malls bother with) I called the floors in malls too hard. He claimed the floors were terrazo, not marble. Okay terrazo … but still much too hard.
3, Service … Mr. Cayley said that all spills and messes would be cleaned up instantly and that they take pride in their facility. It just so happened that there was a spill at the Pic Wiks Hot Potato Stand in the mallway. At 7:40 I told Alf the security guard about the spill. He told Leon the maintenance man to clean it up. By 7:45 and 20 seconds the spill had been cleaned up. They seemed very concerned that someone might have slipped.
4, Service continued … Mr. Cayley said that if you didn’t know where you were going, or if you needed some type of help the lottery-info booth employee would be glad to help. I stopped to talk to Estelle at the lottery booth. She was very nice, answered all of my questions, and even sold me a lottery ticket (that didn’t win anything). Score another for Mr. Cayley.
On the why out of the mall, I stopped to buy a back pack for my son at a cute little cart called “Back Pack to School.” Henry, who owns the business, gave us a free pencil case with our purchase. He and his employee were both very pleasant.
Either Mr. Cayley circulated a picture of me to every mall employee with a warning to be extra nice, or everyone at that mall is just very nice.
I had a nice hour in the mall, my back didn’t get too sore, everyone was polite and Mr.Cayley was correct in all of his comments.
The verdict? I still don’t like malls, and I still don’t like to shop in them. However, as far as malls go, the Shops on Steeles and 404 is probably the best around!
I must also say that as far as general managers go, and I must admit that I have never even talked to Mr. Cayley, he and the people around him are probably all doing a very good job. (Just look at all this free publicity!)
Dr. Allan Horowitz is a chiropractor in the Richmond Hill area. Address any questions to him in care of The Liberal, post office box 390, Richmond Hill, LAC 4Y6.