"9"^^ . "7"^^ . "2009-08-04T00:00:00"^^ . . . "3"^^ . "4"^^ . "Vaughan Mills mall does strike one as having been built with a Plan B in mind. If the mall thing fails, it could be quickly turned into a warehouse, a factory producing light industrial goods, a movie sound stage, or maybe even an airplane hanger where Bombardier could build its next generation turboprops. It's always good to have a Plan B. I got mine. Oh wait, my current job is my Plan B. Never mind.\n\nVaughan Mills is basically a big long box you kind of have to just walk around with no apparent ability to cross over save for the food court.\n\nThe mall proprietors try to soften the warehouse/airplane hanger feel by unconvincingly dividing the big long box into different \"neighborhoods\", each with its own theme. There's a fashion neighborhood, a nature zone, a fish under the sea-o-rama, etc. It basically amounts to a change in colors, different bench styles, and some faux fireplaces. It all reminds me of my childhood where we'd turn our garage into a haunted house and subdivide the garage with ropes and blankets, forming little \"zones of terror\". It's a solution that works for 10 year olds but when you're designing your city's signature mall, you might not want to start with the premise that a long metal box is inherently exciting, warm, and welcoming.\n\nThere are some interesting enough stores here, many of the \"outlet\" variety, like a Benetton Outlet. It's also one of those rare large sized malls not anchored by a Bay or Sears. This is a mall purely for the NASCAR dad demographic.\n\nThere's no Manchu Wok but there is a Timothy's, a Second Cup, and a Starbucks. The major joe chains represent and that could keep peace in some families. It would in mine. If I had one. A family."^^ . .