How's that joke go? She don't look like much but she can shoe a horse. No no. She's not much to look at but she can toss a hubcap. Hrm. I really should have listened to the folksy babblings of my stroked out grandfather. Anyway, Bramalea City Centre doesn't look like much from the outside but I'm rather impressed by what I found inside and outside. As the name implies, it really does appear to be a city centre. In addition to the mall proper, there's a couple civic buildings, a Price Chopper grocery store, and a pretty nice Starbucks in a little strip mall adjunct to the mall proper.
The proper mall is two levels with the large food court on the second level. The food court has some nice booth-like seating and a Manchu Wok. There's a Timothy's coffee within the food court level and a Second Cup on the first floor with its own seating. As noted above, Starbucks die hards can find one within the city centre's parking lot.
There's a Metro grocery store attached to the mall and a stand alone Price Chopper. Also on the grounds one can find a stand alone Moxie's which the single men at my company seem to think is either a pickup joint or a place to go look at the alluringly displayed bottoms of very young waitresses. I dunno.
It lacks many of the upmarket shops one might find at Yorkdale (like a Brown's Shoes, Lacoste store, or Club Monaco). It does appear the mall is undergoing a rather substantial expansion with a better class of stores coming. There's a Best Buy attached to the mall which is somewhat unusual.
Just avoid the Kiss Me I'm Irish store. They appear to threaten prospective customers with arrest for taking photos of their signage with a mind to highlighting a seemingly unique mall store. Seriously, the store needs to hire staff who can recognize an interested customer, not bitch them out.
http://www.yelp.ca/biz/kiss-me-im-irish-brampton