Mohammad Qadeer
Background Ethnic malls and plazas are a new genre of suburban commercial development. They specialize in goods and services of particular sub-cultural tastes and mainly serve the corresponding ethnic group. The cultural characteristics embodied in goods and services as well as the ethnic identity of customers are defining features of these malls and plazas. Chinese shopping centres, Cuban strip plazas or Japanese malls recurrent examples of this genre of commercial development. Some have emerged from incremental cumulation of ethnic stores in a mall or plaza, while others were conceived and designed as ethnic centres. Ethnic malls and plazas are known to have been formed in Los Angeles, Miami and Newark in the U.S. and in Toronto and Vancouver in Canada. This article describes the development dynamics of Chinese shopping malls and plazas in Metropolitan Toronto, particularly in Scarborough — a suburban municipality which has now been merged in the City of Toronto (Map 1). It will attempt to identify their patterns of development, assess the planning system’s accommodation of these new types of commercial centres and outline public issues arising from their formation. This article focuses on the Chinese malls developed up to 1995, though most of those were approved in the late 80's. Ethnic malls are akin to specialty shopping centres. They cut across the traditional commercial hierarchy serving both the daily needs (neighbourhood level) and the periodic shopping and leisure (partially of community and regional scope) requirements of an ethnic group. For the population at large, they function as specialty centres offering a variety of grocery stores, restaurants, gift shops, and health and entertainment services. The cultural characteristics and symbolism embodied in goods and services offered in ethnic malls distinguish them from regular shopping centres. A grocery store as a category of commercial establishments may appear to be the same but a Chinese grocery, for example, is stocked with bok choy, hot bean sauce, pickled pears and chicken’s feet, in addition to bread, milk and steaks. Ethnic commercial enclaves were forged in Chinatowns and Little Italys. Ethnic malls are transforming this central city idiom into a suburban metaphor. They represent a break in the bland uniformity of suburbs. In the Toronto area, new commercial development is taking, paradoxically, two divergent forms. ‘Big box’ retail symbolizing the recent advance in mass market outlets is one form of template development. Ethnic malls are the other form of development combining standardized suburban architectural idiom with specialty functions of a niche market. Demand and Supply Metropolitan Toronto (1991 pop. 2.27m.), comprised of six municipalities centred around the City of Toronto and now (1998) amalgamated into one city, forms the core of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA, 1991 pop. 4.23M.) Stretching along the shore of Lake Ontario in a south-west north-east arc, Metro Toronto is a magnet for immigrants. Its diverse economic base and long tradition of ethnic diversity have attracted large numbers of immigrants since 1970. In 1991, 38% (1.5m.) of Metro’s population were immigrants. Italians and Chinese are the two largest ethnic groups of non-British ancestry. The original City of Toronto’s Chinatown was the historical nucleus of the Chinese community, but recent immigration from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China has resulted in the spilling out of Chinese into suburbs. In distinction to the historical community, new immigrants are better educated, prosperous and mobile. Many of them are businessmen who have migrated as entrepreneurs and investors. They are settling directly in suburbs. The north-east quadrant of Metro, falling mostly in the City of Scarborough, has become the home of the largest Chinese community in Metro. In 1991, the Chinese constituted 12.5% of Scarborough’s population. Scarborough’s Chinese population more than doubled in five years, 1986-1991, increasing from 30,125 to 65,825. The Chinese are spreading out and settling across Scarborough’s boundaries in the Towns of Markham and Richmond Hill of GTA’s York region. Though the Chinese do not constitute a majority in north-east Scarborough and neighbouring towns, they make up a distinct consumer sector and sizeable community. Their number, combined with relatively high income (wealth) and greater propensity to shop and eat out, have created a robust market for Chinese goods and services. This demand has stimulated the development of Chinese ethnic malls. The development of Chinese malls and plazas is a market-driven process. A threshold of consumer demand has built up. Yet there is also a supply side which is brought up by Chinese entrepreneurs willing to start stores offering the desired goods. They have crystallized the demand into malls and plazas. This is a critical element in the development of ethnic malls. For example, despite sizeable populations, South Asians, Caribbean, Italian or Portuguese immigrants have not spawned suburban ethnic malls, except for a few commercial strips. The locus of ethnic shopping for these groups remain in old neighbourhoods. The point is that Chinese malls and plazas have emerged essentially due to ethnic entrepreneurship supported by strong demand. Yet they are articulating an idiom of ethnic shopping centre which may become a model for others. Development Patterns of Scarborough's Malls A detailed analysis of Scarborough’s twelve Chinese malls and plazas in terms of size, location, layout and the planning process reveals the following common characteristics. Chart 1 provides developmental data about these malls and plazas. They were the pioneering developments which forged the idiom and laid the base for the acceptability of ethnic commercial centres. The landmark event in the evolution of Scarborough’s Chinese mails was the proposal in 1983 to convert a roller skating rink into an indoor Chinese shopping mall. It initially met with considerable opposition from the surrounding community and the local alderman, but eventually it received city council’s approval leading to the development of Dragon Centre. On a 2.27 acre site, an enclosed mini-mall of 32,500 sq. ft. was developed. It has about 25 stores, including a bank, a large restaurant, noodle shops, beauty salon, grocery store, butcher, bakery, electronic goods store, book, gift and video shops, etc. This range of goods is typical of Chinese shopping malls. Dragon Centre was quickly filled up, even in the middle of a recession (1983-1986) and it started a new trend. It was followed by other shopping malls, plazas and office complexes in rapid succession over a short period of three years, 1984-1987. Five malls/plazas were developed by Chinese investors and presumably were targeted at the ethnic market. Another seven developed by British/Canadian corporations turned into Chinese retail and/or business centres on being leased predominantly by stores specializing in Chinese goods. The Chinese sector was the booming component of the commercial market in Scarborough in the late 1980s. By 1991, the development of Chinese malls leapfrogged across the northern boundary of Scarborough into the Towns of Markham and Richmond Hill -- relatively high-income outer suburbs. There are three types of Chinese shopping centres: (i) 1-2 storey enclosed shopping malls; (ii) single-storey strip plazas opening into inner-parking courts; and (iii) mixed commercial and. office complexes. The majority (7 out of 12) are mixed development combining retail commercial centres establishments and offices of service professionals. The professionals’ offices have mostly Chinese lawyers, doctors and accountants reinforcing the attraction of retail malls for a Chinese customer. The typical layout of these mixed complexes consists of a single-storey retail building flanked by two- to four-storey office blocks around a parking lot. Their designs have to conform to the city’s urban design guidelines. What makes them Chinese malls architecturally are their signage, decorative features and displays. They are modernist boxy buildings with no architectural flair that could be called distinguishably Chinese. The enclosed Chinese malls in Scarborough range in gross floor area from 17,000 to 40,000 sq. ft -- barely reaching the neighbourhood centre level in size. The new malls in Markham are beginning to approach the 100,000 sq. ft. mark. Most developers of these malls and offices are small- to medium-sized family firms. They are largely (9 out of 12) local in origin and operate primarily in Scarborough. Only one mall was developed by a national firm. Five (40%) developers in Scarborough were Chinese-Canadian. Except for two, all other malls and office complexes required zoning changes and, in some cases, amendments to the Official Plan for approval. These amendments were necessitated by site configurations, mix of proposed commercial, office or industrial uses, parking requirements, etc. There are two distinct routes to the formation of Chinese malls and plazas. One is the filling in of a newly built or largely vacant shopping centre by Chinese stores in the course of its leasing out process. The second is a shopping centre conceived and targeted from the beginning for Chinese stores. The latter mode of development is largely the preserve of Chinese developers. Whatever the mode of development, Chinese malls and plazas come to have appropriate signage, a mix of shopping, eating and entertainment establishments and a predominance of Chinese customers and merchants. A Chinese shopping centre combines commercial, leisure and social functions. It is a place to hang out, meet friends and savour familiar sounds and smells. Its noodle shops, tea houses and video stores stay open late at night, and restaurants are crowded with business executives and grandparents wheeling babies and toddlers until early afternoon. A non-probabilistic sample of store owners in Chinese malls, plazas and strips in Scarborough revealed that 80% of customers were Chinese who came from all across Toronto (50%) as well as from the surrounding neighbourhoods (42%), thereby making them hybrid retail establishments, namely combining neighbourhoods and regional functions. These malls are the hub of suburban Chinatowns (Gorrie 1991). Structure and Organization Typically, a Chinese commercial mall has a Chinese grocery store, a food court or noodle and tea shop, video and music stores, restaurants, book stores, gift shops, electronic stores, an Asian bank, and occasionally a cinema.2 Almost all stores are independents. There are no chains, yet. The stores are generally small in area (600 - 800 sq. ft.) flanked by a Chinese grocery store and a restaurant/banquet hall approaching 20,000 -30,000 sq. ft. in leasable area in big malls. The latter approximate the role of anchors in these malls. A majority of Chinese malls (7 out of 12 in Scarborough) include professional offices above stores in 2-4 storey buildings or in a separate but flanking structure. Most of the doctors, accountants and lawyers practicing in these buildings are geared to serve a Chinese clientele. The relatively small size of stores and absence of anchors are sometimes raised as points of concern by analysts for the future marketability of these properties.3 The demand for Chinese malls has remained robust until recent times. All 12 malls and plans in Scarborough have been fully rented even through the recessionary cycle of 1991-1994. Rentals have been comparable with the market rates, $20-30 per sq. ft. net, without any sales-based add-on. Since 1993 an innovative approach is beginning to emerge in the organization of Chinese commercial space -- i.e., condominiumization. New malls are beginning to be marketed as condominiums and some old ones are beginning to be converted to retail condominiums selling for $500 - 800 per gross sq. ft. A recent study of the retail condominium market in Markham estimates that condominiumization promises large speculative and quick returns to developers. The profit could be as much as 5-6 times the cost. The study cautions about issues arising from condominiumization -- speculation, overbuilding and the market bust following the current boom as well as implications of a large number of commercial property owners on parking requirements and mall management. Chinese malls are emerging as the anchors of Chinese economic and social enclaves. Whether they will, eventually, operate as other shopping centres and thus be assessed by respective criteria is not clear. The condominiumization may be stimulating speculative development, presumably tied to investor-immigrant visa requirements, which could result in high vacancies initially but eventually may result in ethnically mixed malls and plazas. There are some indications that the market for Chinese malls may be getting saturated, or at least shifting to new and larger shopping centres. Scarborough’s small Chinese malls are beginning to have vacancies and they wear a deserted look. The Planning System and Chinese Malls An ethnic mall or plaza presents a dilemma for the planning system. It falls within the zoning category of commercial land use category and a retail activity. Yet it is different, being differentiated by clientele, type and brand of goods and mix of functions. How do planning policies and regulations based on broad land use categories deal with activities differentiated by persons and ethnicity? This dilemma surfaces in the development of ethnic malls. The Scarborough planning department’s response illustrates a common approach. The department took a user-blind stance. It stuck to procedures and regulations for commercial development. The City Council was buffeted by its commitment to promote development on the one hand and by neighbourhood group’s objections to the presumably ‘Chinese features of these malls on the other. Neighbourhood resistance was particularly strong in the case of the Dragon Centre and Chartwell Plaza extensions -- two early Chinese developments which were also located in the middle of settled neighbourhoods. The size of restaurants, parking and traffic, and mix of stores in these malls were issues around which community controversies swirled. The planning department focused primarily on these physical development issues and ignored racial and ethnic subtexts. It raised parking standards for restaurants to 10.7 car spaces per 1075 sq. ft. of leaseable area from the previous standard of 3.0 car spaces for the same area of commercial centre. It exercised site plan controls to screen noise and route traffic. As the city council itself was divided about the development of Chinese malls, the planning department proceeded along familiar legal and procedural grooves. By and large, it supported these developments with some site specific modifications. The mean time taken for an approval was twelve months. If three contentious cases are set aside, in which developers’ frequent changes in plans complicated by neighbourhood objections excessively prolonged the approval process, the mean time drops to 11 months -- which is comparable to the average time (one year) for a normal commercial development. Equally interesting to note is the fact that about half of the projects were approved in eight months and among them were three of the five Chinese developers proposals. Chinese developers appear to have had no particular disadvantage. These figures further underline the fact that the planning system was, by and large, neutral and responsive in processing Chinese shopping malls. It resisted the undertones of prejudice surfacing in public hearings about these developments. To sum up, Chinese shopping malls and plazas have developed under the influence of market forces. The planning system, though somewhat unprepared for this new genre of commercial development, responded fairly and effectively. It accommodated these developments in its statutory framework and focused strictly on issues of land use and physical layouts. The ethnic character and the social issues arising therefrom were not, apparently, a part of its consideration. It has not acknowledged the ‘niche’ market in which Chinese malls operate. It continues to stick with its conventional categories of commercial hierarchy. The ethnic character of Chinese malls is generally not obvious at the time of development. A shopping centre can be filled with Chinese merchants as well as with mainstream stores in the course of it being leased out. The market is a significant determining factor and the planning system comes into play mostly at the time of initial development. Operational changes and turnover of stores are largely beyond the influence of planning system. Yet some Chinese malls and plazas emerged with the turn over of tenants and filling-up of vacant stores. The pendulum can also swing in nether direction, reverting a mall to a mainstream or ethnically-mixed commercial facility. The initial stirrings of such swings are evident in the appearance of vacancies in small and relatively old Chinese malls. In these market-induced changes, the planning system’s challenge lies in ensuring a moving equilibrium between the needs for culturally specific facilities of divergent groups and in integrating ethnically differentiated developments into a coherent community-wide system for the service of all. Scarborough’s approach, though fair, is reactive and static. Public Issues Canada is an acknowledged multicultural society.5. Its multiculturalism encourages expressions of diversity for groups and communities, over and above those of individuals. Chinese malls are commercial manifestations of an ethnic community. They introduce a diversity of forms and functions in what, normally, has become a homogenized landscape of suburbia. They have two roles: (i) serve the needs of their community; and (ii) provide functional and aesthetic variety for others. By serving both roles, they become an integral part of a locality social infrastructure. Scarborough’s Chinese malls have, by and large, functioned well because there are plenty of mainstream shopping facilities around them. Their development has not reduced shopping opportunities of other groups. The principle of integrating ethnic malls in local community requires that balance be maintained among shopping needs and facilities for all groups. A revamped system of commercial establishments has to be worked out to reflect area-wide objectives. Canadian social values promote expressions of ethnic cultures as long as they are open and accessible to all. Ethnic malls are also subject to these norms. They should be celebrated as expressions of diversity but not as symbols of exclusivity. The line differentiating diversity from exclusivity of activities and architecture has to be carefully drawn. Unilingual signage, preferential service to a particular ethnic group, closeness of market to others breed exclusivity. Chinese malls have occasionally come under criticism for perceived 'exclusivity' from customers and tenants (merchants) of non-Chinese backgrounds (The Globe and Mail 1994). Municipal policies and mall management practices addressing these issues are necessary to integrate ethnic mails and other development in local communities. Design guidelines, commercial policies and business development strategies are possible instruments to balance the demand for diversity with public values of social integration. A multicultural local community is an exciting place. Bringing it about is a challenging task involving both public and private interests and requiring a multitude of measures and policies, both developmental and operational Scarborough malls have laid the basis for these possibilities and suggest some lessons. Lessons
Source: Planning Department, City of Scarborough References
ENDNOTES
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