Devonshire Mall renovations on track

By Tate Harris

The retail manager at Devonshire Mall expects new additions will be completed this June, including Mandarin Buffet and a new separate food court.

A new food court is part of the current $70-million renovation and is expected to be open June 27. The old food court had 550 seats and the new one will have 810. Aaron Edwards, Devonshire Mall retail manager, said chain restaurants Moxie’s and Buffalo Wild Wings drive a lot of traffic to the mall and is eager to have Mandarin Buffet open in the food court as well.

“We’re excited about the Mandarin,” said Edwards. “They’re looking forward to opening this summer, hopefully in line with the food court. Progress is steady in the space. They have a good team that tends to stick to making all the Mandarin restaurants.”

According to the Mandarin website, they have been voted, “best buffet” by readers of the Toronto Star for over 20 years.

Barbara Peacock, who has been to four different Mandarin locations, said quality of the food is the reason her and her husband like the restaurant.

“When you’re going up to pick up your different kinds of food, there are always people coming from the kitchen filling up certain trays,” said Peacock. “They don’t have giant trays of stuff, they have a nice size, so it gets used regular and I assume they have people in the kitchen making things regularly.”

Peacock said she enjoys how not only Chinese food is offered, making it good place for everyone to go.

After the opening of the new food court in the south west wing of the mall, Edwards said renovation of the existing one will begin. The current food court has nine units and will be reduced to seven and used for retail business instead of restaurants. The raised floor in the centre will be demolished. Edwards said use of the centre space has not been decided but may be another option to hold activities like meeting Santa, which is normally held in front of Hudson’s Bay.

“We got different renderings,” said Edwards. “We’re working on getting new Santa Clause castles and new decor. We are trying to have that option to do big events there.”

Edwards said there are plans to add environmentally friendly operations to the mall including solar panels, a rain harvest system and six electric car charging stations. The charge stations will be located in front of the new entrance. Also, a new sorting system to recycle in the food court is currently being tested. Customers bring their trays to a specified location and employees sort between plastic, paper and garbage.

New white floor tiles, accent wood panels and more natural lighting is currently being added throughout the mall as well.

Edward said the current success of the retail stores in the mall have been the biggest reason they have been able to make the renovations and add the new food court.

“We are proud to say Devonshire, right now, is at is at the highest sales per square foot in the history of the mall,” said Edward.