The official opening of the Applewood Village Shopping Centre in October, 1955, was almost a celestial affair.
According to the news reports of the day, two giant searchlights beaming out the opening of the Dominion Store and the Bank of Nova Scotia threw the Malton Airport (now Lester B. Pearson) control tower into a tizzy.
Pilots of four aircraft saw the lights shining on low-lying clouds and thought they were over the airport, while instruments indicated they were still four miles distant.
“What’s going on?” radioed one worried pilot to the tower. “Who’s showing those lights?”
A traffic control officer checked and found permission had been granted by the Department of Transport for the searchlight and the tower notified. However, an airport employee failed to report the permit to the tower controllers.
The opening proved to be a grand affair with Dominion Stores holding a Carnival Contest in which a 1956 Buick automobile was the grand prize. More than 100 other prizes were given away ranging from a Frigidaire automatic washing machine to children’s bicycles. And typical of Harold Shipp’s entrepreneurial ingenuity, four tiny reindeer were penned in the large open area in what are now the garden beds in the indented section of the shopping centre.
Artist’s sketch of Applewood Village Shopping Centre; courtesy of Shipp Corporation
Four tiny reindeer were penned in the indented garden area for the official opening; photo courtesy of Shipp Corporation.
While the shopping complex was always part of the plan for Applewood Acres, it wasn’t until January 1955 that Toronto Township gave its approval and passed a resolution asking the Ontario Government’s Minister of Planning and Development to give it draft approval. Had the approval for the shopping centre been approved at the time of the first plan of subdivision for Applewood Acres, the Applewood Village Shopping Centre would have been one of the first in the Province of Ontario. The first shopping centre in Ontario was Toronto’s Sunnybrook Plaza, built in 1952. It consisted of 17 one and two-storey retailers.
Soon after Dixie Plaza opened becoming Canada’s largest shopping centre. Just 10 months later, Gordon S. Shipp issued an open letter to the community inviting everyone to visit the new 11-acre shopping centre, which boasted enough space to park more than 1,500 automobiles. The shopping centre was built on lands originally owned and farmed by James Guthrie. G.S. Shipp and Son paid $4,000 for the 27 acre farm.