Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - The Cloverdale Mall: Toronto Mike'd #804

Episode Date: February 22, 2021

Mike is joined by Andrew Stoakley as they dive deep into the history of the Cloverdale Mall in Etobicoke. Come for the Hot Oven Bakery memories, but stay for the magic of the Home Hardware.

Welcome to episode 804 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer. CDN Technologies, your outsourced IT department contact Barb she's Barb at CDNTechnologies.com Palma Pasta enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees

from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville StickerU.com create custom stickers labels, tattoos and decals for your home and your business. Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. And Mike Majewski, or as I call him, Mimico Mike.

He's the real estate agent who's ripping up the Mimico real estate scene. Learn more at realestatelove.ca. I'm Mike. From torontomike.com and joining me is my audio guru here for a Cloverdale Mall deep dive. It's Andrew Stokely. Hello, Mike. How you doing, buddy? Oh, you know, I think like everybody else, I'm going back to work soon though. So that'll be nice. Okay. What will you be doing when you go back to work? Like you go to work at Walmart or something? Where are you going? Uh, no, I, uh, the reason I'm not in Calgary for the curling bubble right now is because of baseball. Uh, I'll be looking after the Jays again. Um,

and sadly because of COVID and travel restrictions and everything, um, I'm here still, but that's fine. I'll make up for it. Uh, when you hear me bitching about halfway through the season, uh, you'll know why, but yeah, no, it's, uh, it's good. I'm, uh, I'm excited. I haven't done anything other than bake since October 3rd, which was the last playoff game. I've been following your baking online, your social media on Facebook, and it's pretty amazing. You're doing some pretty fancy stuff. I'm impressed. into go to school when I realized back in grade 10 that my dreams of being a shark zoologist was not going to be a reality due to the fact that I suck at math. And to be kind of science, you need math skills. It was 50-50 between culinary and television. My father was a huge cook and my mother was a pretty good baker. And so I picked up both of those.

And in the end, it just ended up being my love for this radio, if you will, that kind of won out. But I've kept up with it over the years. But I haven't had, obviously, the time that it takes to really do it properly. And this last year and a bit has given me time to fall back in love with it. Now that's awesome. But I got to ask you a bit more about this work you'll be doing with the Toronto Blue Jays. So typically, you know, they play the dome downtown and you go there, but they're not at the dome this season. So like, are you traveling with the team? What's the deal? I really can't talk a lot about what's happening um but basically stay

tuned to what sports that's going to talk about um obviously everyone knows that they're starting the season in denean um and that will kind of lend itself to some of the coverage we did last year to start right and i don't know anything past that, to be honest, a hundred percent honestly. And these, the plans that they have, that they, they,

they could change hourly. Like it's unreal. The stuff, how rapidly it's changing, whether for good or for bad, it's just, it's, it's evolving as it should with science.

The science will dictate where they can. And obviously the federal government is going to tell them whether or not they can come and play or not. The team can come in all they want. And obviously I want it because I want our normal crew guys down at the Rogers Center to be there. I want guys working. Are fans going to be in the stands?

I don't know. My gut feeling, my ultimate, what I think would be perfect, was if the Jays returned, if they were allowed to come back after the All-Star break. Obviously not play to fans, I don't think, to start. But come to the Rogers Center by All-Star break, and then maybe in the fall, once vaccination rates are upwards to 60% to 70%, where they're hoping that they will be by September.

And that month when they're pushing to go to the ALDS, you know, what how awesome would that be to have your team in playoff contention for meaningful baseball in September? And then all of a sudden your entire fan base or not maybe a full 50,000, but say 20,000 people in that dome, still going to sound pretty good. Yeah, sign me up. So this is intriguing that you have this, there's something happening we can't talk about. That's kind of exciting. I can look forward to this news leaking out whenever it solidifies or whatever.

I'm very pleased you're a part of it because, of course, you're the audio guru who helped this whole thing, this Toronto Mic'd thing. You helped it launch. I think that was uh let me do the math in my head real quick nine years ago this summer i believe if my math is correct so thank you for that you've been on on the show many times you're a guest that i love having back but today you're actually here as a Cloverdale Mall. I would call you an expert, but basically you're somebody who's familiar and intimately familiar with the Cloverdale Mall. And this is the Cloverdale Mall Deep Dive. So can we start by you sharing a little bit about how you came to know the Cloverdale

Mall? Yeah. So I turned 49 in May. So that would put me in 72. Don't ask me when the Clover Dale came online because I don't know that history. Oh, I have it though. 1956. Okay. So that would make sense. So my mother was born in Etobicoke, grew up in Etobicoke my grandparents my mother's parents moved into number 24 yarn road after the war after my my grandfather returned from the netherlands he spent three plus years in the netherlands um as part of the occupying um force i don't want to say force but part of the occupying he helped liberate we we helped liberate the Netherlands from the Nazi occupation.

Yeah. So my grandfather was a man of very few words. He did not speak. He never spoke of his time there. I think it affected him like most men of that generation, but he was one to keep those stories to himself. one to keep those stories to himself. Sadly, I would have loved to have heard about his experiences so I could have shared them. But you know what? He was a very quiet man. So yeah, they moved into Yarn Road. My mom grew up there and he was there till the day he died. And because of that, if anybody doesn't know where Yarn Road is. Well, tell us because that name is not going to be a well-known name. I know what it is because I played in a softball league that used to have a permit for Silver Hill. Yep. So I know Yarn Road well, but tell us whereabouts is Yarn Road?

So Yarn Road is if you were driving along the West Mall. Was it the West Mall or the East Mall? East Mall. East Mall. Thank you. So if you're driving along the east mall uh yarn road well the easiest way if you know cloverdale mall on the east mall there's a big giant bus shelter just outside it's before the little dipsy doodle that you take to go to dundas street and there's a big beer store and that used to be an empty lot right and so yarn

road is right there it's literally the if you were to look at a city road with houses, it's the main road right across the main entrance at that time of Cloverdale. the East mall, but you know, you got the highway 27. They have, it's, it's kind of that that's in the play here. So it's like you take Dundas, you take East mall highway 27,

and then there's there, the Cloverdale mall. Come South on the four 27 from the airport and get off a Dundas street, uh, West and hang a, hang a Louie, hang a left and, and you'll basically get there.

Right. By the way, already I see a comment. We're actually live on Facebook and moose grie, hang a left, and you'll basically get there. Right. By the way, already I see a comment. We're actually live on Facebook. And Moose Grumpy, she says that your baking looks awesome. Oh, thank you. She has high expectations for the next TMLX because there's a hope that you'll bake for the FOTMs at the next TMLX if you're in town.

When is that? Well, it all depends on the same thing. Oh, that's true. I guess so. Yeah, I guess it's not a virtual one. Right. Yes. If I'm in town and we are able to gather once again as a collective, I will bring treats.

Okay. That's on the record because, you know, I recorded this. So Stokely, your mom grew up on Yarn Road. That's, of course, because your parents lived there from from you said uh post world war ii until the day your grandfather passed away yep uh you've got i because this is literally walking distance you can walk to cloverdale mall from yarn road should you decide to do that uh you must have fond memories of cloverdale mall uh can you share protect could you share some fond memories you have of Cloverdale? Yeah, I mean, I don't think most people also realize

that it was built in the era of the open concept mall. It was an open mall when it first was built. Right. Kind of like the Brampton Mall. I grew up in Brampton, and the old Brampton Mall down off of Highway 10 was an open-air mall. I believe it was just that style of art deco or whatever.

And don't ask me why architects felt that building an open air mall in Canada was a good concept. But yeah, so it was open. It had, it had obviously at that time, and now we're talking in the seventies, my memories would really start around the mid seventies. The biggest one of course being was the sears that they had and a bay uh they would always have it was a two level bay and a two level sears they were the anchor tenants of that mall um the sears would always have in conjunction with cloverdale would be at christmas would be the breakfast with santa

and so my mother would drive us down and my grandmother would take us over. And that was really the first memories of going to Cloverdale. We never had trouble finding parking spot at Christmas because we would just park at my, at my grandparents' house and literally walk the 50 feet or a hundred feet across. So, yeah, like, you know, and, and anybody who's obviously been to a breakfast with santa you know they had they set up the mall there was this before the mall opened up and of course these always happen on sundays before sunday shopping so the mall was open you'd go in you'd have your breakfast santa would show up he'd hand you a couple of candy canes but we did that every

year you know just when i think about that it's like this is the sweetest thing i could cry right now just thinking a little andrew with his grandmother going for breakfast with Santa at the Cloverdale Mall. Like, that's beautiful, man. Yeah. Sadly, I was only I was nine or ten when my when my grandmother passed away. So, you know, it was in the mid 80s. But yeah, you know, it was I certainly remember all of those. And and she yeah, she was a fun lady.

I wish, I wish we had more time with her, but sadly that was not the case. Um, but yeah, Cloverdale, it was, it was a bizarre collection of stores. Um, it, it, it, it was this green aquamarine blue color when it was, it was kind of like sea foam green. I want to say. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was, yeah, it was neat. And it had a huge giant food court, which was bizarre because again, it was outdoor. So it had like an outdoor pat.

If anybody's been to Sherway gardens where they have that big, beautiful food court with the tents and everything, it was kind of like that. But it had, I guess it would have been back there, plexiglass. So yeah, it was that. And then obviously over the years, it changed and it shut down for a number of years when it went under renovation to or sections of the mall, I guess, would have shut down. Well, I have some facts here. So I did do a little homework here. So as we mentioned, the Cloverdale Mall opens in 1956.

And as you pointed out, it's not like it is today. It was an open-air shopping plaza. That location was part of the Edenville Farm. So the land that they built Cloverdale Mall on was the Edenville Farm. And again, we're talking about, those who don't know, here we're talking East Mall and Dundas area of Etobicoke. But the main anchors, and this is before our time,

but the main anchors when Cloverdale Mall opened is one that lingered forever. In fact, it's still there under a different name, but Dominion. Right, yes, the big Dominion, which would have been then A&P. Was it ever A&P? Because I remember going, it was Dominion forever, and then it became a Metro. That's my memory. But do you remember it being anything else?

I think it was always Dominion. I think it stayed Dominion, mainly because of the meat, Andrew. And then, in fact, I was talking to my wife, who's from Alberta. think it stayed dominion mainly because of the meat andrew and then in fact i was talking my wife who's from alberta we were just chatting about dominion the other day because she thinks like i guess she had no idea what a dominion was and i was explaining well the metros were dominions and i'm giving her the whole story and i go it's mainly because of the meat and she goes oh was that the big slogan i'm like yeah of course anyway i was educating her in the the history of dominion but dominion rebrands as metro i don't know know, a number of years ago now. And that's when, of course, the Dominion at the Cloverdale Mall turns into a Metro. But the,

the store that you probably remember best as the Bay was originally a chain of department stores called Morgan's. Oh, wow. That's a name I haven't heard. Actually, I don't even know if I can remember putting a name. I'm sure I was there at some point. and they start, they basically convert, at least in this neck of the woods, I don't know if they did the same in other provinces, but in this neck of the woods in Ontario, they convert the Morgans into the Bay. So that's, you know, obviously you're only a couple of years older than me.

We don't remember Morgans, but the Bay was originally a Morgans at the Cloverdale Mall. So let's get us to the 80s here because that's when you and I are probably most familiar with the Cloverdale Mall. So let's get us to the 80s here, because that's when you and I are probably most familiar with the Cloverdale Mall. And I don't have the exact year, but as you mentioned, it was done in phases.

But in the 1980s, Cloverdale Mall is converted into an enclosed mall and they expand it. So that's sort of the Cloverdale Mall that I think I know best is the mall that comes out of this development in the 1980s. Yeah, and it was big. I mean, coming from Brampton, which if anybody's from Brampton remembers Shopper's World, and I'm pretty sure they were the same owners, if you will, because it had the same stores. It had the same anchor tenants.

We had a Dominion, and then we we had a Bay and we had a Sears before they all went away. Yeah, it was neat. Like I said, it was bizarre when you went from an indoor or the outdoor mall to the indoor mall because it really did change because you could go and not be bundled up in the wintertime. I remember my mom, because Brampton was always an indoor mall. That Brampton mall was never an outdoor mall, at least shoppers world. Right. The other one downtown, the, the one that had the, uh, bowl of Ram or whatever, uh, Brampton bowl used to go there for cosmic bowling on Friday nights. Um, it was pretty, it was pretty slummy. Um, but you know, what can you do? Uh, yeah, it was, uh, geez. Yeah. And then for me, like, I mean, during after obviously I went to I went to Raihai downtown Toronto.

We never really got out to to to Cloverdale. But then when my wife and I bought our house in South Etobicoke back in 2001, Cloverdale became another mall. And so we used to go there a lot. We'd go grocery shopping there. We just do your general shopping, you know. There was a joy. So really, when I think about that early 2000s Cloverdale mall, you've got everything you need, right?

Because you got the department stores like it's still a bay because it doesn't turn into a Zellers until 2005. So at this point, you're talking about now you still have the bay which of course at that point department stores were everything you know just ask the today's special people but you also have your grocery store because you have a dominions and then you have all these like you have a drug store in there i don't know what it was at the time it's a it's a rex all now or it was a Rexall. It might've been a Rexall all the way. Right.

Or converted. What did Rexall buy out? You know what I think? Here's how I remember it. Cause it's the same story for the Galleria Mall, which is by the way, the episode of Toronto Mike with the Galleria Mall deep dive. I, in the middle of recording that,

I realized I need to do this for the Cloverdale Mall. So that was when this kind of was born, but it was like this. Do you remember a chain of drugstores called Boots i had well i worked at music world and shoppers world and right across from the shoppers were from the music world and shoppers was a boots so which of course was the british british brand that came over so i believe the boots were converted to a pharma plus and then now i believe the pharma pluses uh are rexels i think rexel then gobbled that up at some point fairly recently so that's my memory of the uh the russian dolls

with the drugstore yeah it yeah oh geez so okay so let me ask you sorry let me uh because we'll do the history and then i want to talk about some things that some Cloverdale Mall characteristics that I find rather amusing. And then of course we, at some point, do need to discuss that home hardware cause I think it's a magical place. But so I mentioned 2005,

that's when the Hudson Bay Company replaces that Bay Department store and puts in a Zellers. So Zellers basically is now becomes the anchor. And what did they do in the old space, I guess, which is on the other side. Cause I,

cause you mentioned this. I don't remember Sears being there. I don't remember. I remember on one side was, I think the Bay was on one side and then it moved. No, I can get this right. There's two sides of the bay.

Does this make sense? Was it? This is me now misremembering, I'm sure. But if on one side we have the bay, what was on the other side? It was their home, their home store where they sold furniture and towels. So they had both sides. Yes. Yeah.

What was that store called? That makes sense because then when they convert the one side, which if I'm thinking of the city, that's the north side, they convert that into a Zeller's because that is a Zeller's until it becomes a Target, famously.

And of course now, I don't know what the hell it is. It might be completely empty because, you know, Target got the F out of Dodge, as you know, several years ago. So on the other side, they did a big renovation in like 2005 time period where they put in a Winners and a Kitchen Stuff Plus where the old Zeller's Outlet, I think is what they called it, a Zeller's Outlet.

Does that make sense? But anyway, they took away that whole being a Zeller's Outlet, I think is what they called it, a Zeller's Outlet. Does that make sense? But anyway, they took away that whole being a Zeller's Outlet and they made it a Winners and a Kitchen Stuff Plus. And there's an LCBO in there too. Like this is really a very functional mall. Oh, I have not been there since we moved,

which is nine years ago. Listen out, buddy, because they put the Tim Hortons in there and they put the, so they got the Timmy's and then you got the LCBO. I mentioned the Kitchen Stuff Plus. You have a big winners,

which is really cool actually in pre-COVID times anyways, because I like to sort of browse that place because here's the thing. My daughter's orthodontist is in the Cloverdale Mall. So for years, at least two years, like once a month,

I would bring my daughter to the mall. So she'd go to her appointment and I would basically walk Cloverdale. And Andrew, this is a good time to introduce this fun fact about Cloverdale Mall. When I'm walking that mall, which I did once a month for years there, I never felt so young. Like I honestly felt so damn young because one of the interesting, peculiar facts about the Cloverdale Mall is it's the average age of the person there is probably around 78, maybe 77. I don't know if you noticed this, but it's an old person mall. Yes.

And there's a reason for that. Okay, tell me. Because, well, the mall was built around an established neighborhood. And so families came in, like, for example, my grandfather, they bought, they built the house, they moved in, and they never left. They all stayed in those little post-war bungalows. And my grandfather, like I would go and visit him and we would go over to Cloverdale and we would go to the food court where there'd be a hundred plus gentlemen at the ages of 80 plus, and they would sit at the Tim Hortons and they would occupy to the food court where there would be a hundred plus gentlemen at the ages of 80 plus,

and they would sit at the Tim Hortons and they would occupy all the tables and they would, they would just go. And, and that's where they met their friends. They would, they couldn't drive anymore. My grandfather couldn't drive, so he could walk across the street. It was a place for them to go. And it's, it's obviously still a place for them to go. Absolutely. So if you ever, like, you know, you mentioned you're about to hit the big 5-0 and I won't be there, it won't be too long till I join you there. If you ever want to feel young,

maybe wait for this pandemic to end. But once this pandemic ends, go for a stroll in the Cloverdale Mall. Because honestly, I feel like a kid. Like I just, I feel like a kid when I'm walking around the cloverdale mall it's something else but go ahead do you remember do you remember the articles that was maybe a couple years ago where the the blowback the tenants were starting to there was a

movement the owners of the mall were trying to basically put in anti-loitering. Oh, no, no, no. Not bylaws, but the tenants, like the food court people were saying, well, listen, they come, they don't buy anything, but they're occupying all of our tables. Like, we don't want you here. Like, we want you here, but we don't want you here. Go somewhere else. And there was a real blowback. Well, that property owner was quad real is what they're called. a real blowback. That property owner was quad real is what they're called. So if you want to get out your typewriter and type an angry note to quad real, although I guess the pandemic has

helped clear out the old person loitering. Yeah. I mean, it's a sad story, but it's a funny story. I remember as my grandfather was getting up in years in years and you know he would he started towards the last few years he stopped going and i kept saying to him i would and we so my grandfather's name was alan giles bob but my brother when he was born and two whatever couldn't say grandpa and couldn't say bob so he would say ba and so my grandfather to me is Bob BA. And so I would say, how come you haven't been out? He goes, well, because every time I go, somebody else has died. And like it basically came to the point where he was the only one in his group

of friends who was still, you know, and it was, it was like your heart aches. It was, you know, and, and then sadly, you know, he was it was i like your heart aches it was you know and and then sadly you know he um he joined him he had a good life uh but you know it's just it's so it's it's funny you say that that that's still a thing yeah because that's all i remember i would go over and we'd go and visit and and i'd take him out for lunch and we'd go to the food court and he ate the same thing. He, he had a black coffee, hot, um, and like a really overcooked bagel. Oh yeah. Well done. So my grandpa, he grew up and he lived in the war for so long. Like he had some bad food. So he was used to certain things, certain way, especially black coffee. He said, whatever it was, it was just, he wanted bitter, bitter,

especially black coffee. He said, whatever it was, it was just, he wanted bitter, bitter, bitter black coffee. Cause that's what he lived on for years. But yeah, it was, um, Cloverdale was funny. And I know you want to talk about the, the, uh, the home hardware because I remember it, but I don't remember really going into it a lot. Well, we're going to talk about it, buddy. We're going to talk it go we we did go to the target when it opened that was a big thing i remember when when we were living in tobiko and target was making the grand foray into into toronto into canada and i remember looking at it saying oh target's gonna be it's gonna be at the cloverdale yes and i was so sad because if anybody who was a zellers fan knows there's only one reason to go to zellers

club z points when you're going no no no it was the cafeteria all right yes and there's only one thing on the menu you ate at the zellers cafeteria and that was the surf and turf okay tell me okay because i i actually don't believe i ever had the pleasure of eating at the Zeller's cafeteria. Well, I never said it was a pleasure. I just said, that's what you ate. My friend Jeff, Karen and I are friends. Jeff was a Zeller's devotee. He would eat at the Zeller's cafe once a week and he would always have the Zerf and Turf.

Love it because it's 2012. So I'll come in with these facts periodically but uh september 2012 that's when the the zeller store in the cloverdale mall uh closed and its lease so the way it worked as people people remember is a lot of the zellers leases were sold to target so a lot of targets showed up in spots formerly occupied by zellers so that was true for the cloverdale mall so Target opened, it opened on the bottom floor of the old Zeller store in March 2013. And then, in January 2015,

so less than two years later, Target announced it was withdrawing from the Canadian market, and all of its stores would be closed within four to five months. And that Cloverdale store has been vacant ever since. So quick math tells me that was six years ago. So it's been six years of nothing on that one end. And it's funny because when they did the

whole Target thing, they put those cement balls outside. I guess Target's got a thing of cement balls. Yeah, the big red balls. Right. So I think they think they have painted them i think but they're still there all those balls you can still see them and that is fun fact for my two teenagers basically i took them to that um that uh parking lot on the north side where normally people would park to go to uh target but of course there's no target. So it's always empty. We both, they both learned to drive in my crusty old Mazda protege by, we would start by driving around that parking lot. So that's where I would always take him. Cause it was a huge empty parking lot for six years now. Yeah. That's when my son is about to turn 17. So he's,

he's going for his G2 G I don't know. The first one, the first one. Yeah. first one yeah his his his so he can drive by himself uh in april he booked the appointment back in january for april so fingers crossed it happens but i taught him i taught him to drive last year in march because his birthday is on the 11th right so of course we have this big 16th birthday party uh and that was the last social thing we did that's funny yeah it was so you know so i learned i i uh he got his he got his 365 as i like to call it um and i i taught him how to drive in the uh strip uh strip club parking lot the sundowner just around the corner because there was nothing going on the sundowner was closed and it's a nice big parking lot so uh he'll have that

story to tell his kids now that that that being it's funny that you remember that as your last social event because my last social event was my daughter turned four. Her birthday is March 15th, but we had a party for her on March 14th. So if you remember, March 13th was the last day of school, and everything started, you know, was shutting down that week. We had the Rudy Gobert and all that stuff was happening. But we still had this big party for her friends at this gym thing. And we actually,

I remember it cause we had all, they'd all been at school together on the Friday. So we decided like, should we cancel this? And we almost canceled. And we said, no, they all played together the previous day at school or daycare,

I guess at the time. And we said, well, we'll just do this. And that, that's the very last thing. Like that was the 14th of March, 2020.

And that was my daughter's fourth birthday party. And then that was the last social event we attended essentially. So we have the similar, similar touch points there. I flew home from Halifax on the 9th of March after lacrosse, a couple of games came home, had his party on the 11th. I did the Leafs Tampa NHL game on the, it was a 12th or the 12th.

It was a 12th, I think. 12th. Okay. So it was a 12th. And then I was on my way driving downtown to do the Raptors game. When I got a phone call that said the game's been canceled. And that was the last thing I had done up until July 25th, when we started to get ready for the Blue Jays.

And so it became a baker yeah and then exactly then uh yeah i just need to be the candlestick maker and we're good um so yeah clover but getting back clover so okay i know you want to talk about the home hardware but first uh moose grumpy thinks that you remember you were struggling for a name for that old zeller's outlet that was on the southern end and you were trying to think what the name was she thinks that it was called home outfitters that's it thank you moose grumpy yes the home outfitters hbc home outfitters so that's what it would have been um because we used to go and buy home supplies because this was before if we if anybody doesn't know the south etobicoke area, there was a dead empty space of industrial land between the north end of Sherway Gardens, so Dundas Street, or the Queensway, sorry, and Dundas Street West. It was a big industrial west of the 427. It was a lot of, I can't remember what was in there, but it was a big, big industrial zone.

But the Home Depot was there and then a couple of the little malls. And then in the, I'd say the mid 2000s, that area started to be developed and it really exploded. I don't know what's in there, Mike. I'm sure you know. A Walmart. So you're thinking like North Queen, right? This is like. Yeah, North Queen.

Yeah. So, I mean, a Walmart went in there. So they had a Walmart on Dundas. In fact, this is a dead mall. I would do an episode about this, but it was the Honeydale. Honeydale Mall. So the Honeydale Mall,

which is a ghost town, although I think there's an MTO in there. But by the way, we should shout out, there is an MTO also in the Cloverdale Mall. So it's a very functional mall, I find. But okay, so the Walmart closed down that was in the honeydale mall because it reopened they reopened a new one at the north queen by sherway

gardens and this is a good time and a lot of points i want to hit but i should point out that if you are so i've been living in south etobicoke now for like seven and a half years and it seems to me there are these three malls that serve these three different purposes like the upper end uh rich person mall i now call it because of all the work they've done with the sacks coming in and you know all these places i'm not allowed to visit uh is sureway gardens like sureway gardens they've completely renovated it i don't know if you've been there in a while but they now check your like t4 at the door i was gonna say you have to bring your tax statement to see if you can go in yeah seriously

and i'm forgetting the name of these rich places because I never go in. But like I mentioned Saks, but there's another rich place. Well, you have Holt's, you have Saks. Keep going. What's the other rich place I'm thinking of? Where's Moose Grumpy when I need her? It'll come to me, but I have never been inside of it.

But anyway, Sherwe Gardens is for the rich people. It's a very high class thing. But then on the very opposite end, you have the Dixie Value Mall, okay? This is, and again, there's no judgments here because I love, this is not me saying, oh, there's anything wrong with it. But the discount stuff is all at the Dixie Value Mall.

The upper crust, you know, valet parking stuff, that's all happening at Sherby Gardens. And then in the middle, because they've done a good job fixing it up, in middle i find in my humble opinion is the cloverdale mall which is what we're talking about today yeah and it's a great neighborhood and nordstrom's that's the name i couldn't oh nordstrom's oh okay thanks yeah no as you can tell i don't shop there you're smart avoid that place i don't i i liked it as a walking mall because you can do a figure eight in a cold day when there's no pandemic. It's actually not a bad place to go just to walk for a while.

It's a good walking mall. Well, they had a mall walking club, I remember, if you'd be in there waiting for a store to open. And all the little ladies in their white running shoes, you know, packs just pumping, just getting their steps and up and down. Sure. Yeah. We left, well, we left in 2012. So the renovations would have happened after that. I mean, I've been there, you know, on the occasion if we've come in to the city to visit friends and stuff like that. But I mean, we've had our own, I mean, our, our target went away.

It used to be an old Walmart. Then they opened up a big brand new Walmart and then it sat empty for a couple of years and it's next to a home Depot. And then the target came in and then it sat empty for another three or four years. And it's just the gentleman who owned both of the Canadian tires. So, so sorry, not, there was two Canadian tires in Niagara Falls, the North and the South end. These own the two owners decided to Niagara Falls, the North and the South end.

These own, the two owners decided to get together and they bought out the target and renovate it. And it's, it's spectacular. It's gorgeous. Right. So that's now what's in this empty and it's really changed that whole mall. I was just there this morning when you, when you called me and said, can you come on? I was driving home from the Zares. I'd gone grocery shopping. So, you know, I had that to look forward to. Whenever I hear the word Zares, I think of like cottage country because I, I've only ever seen a Zares in like, uh, I don't know, Sego beach or something like, uh, some cottage country. I knew Zares because my dad, uh, well, my parents divorced and my dad

remarried. Uh, he moved to Bolton and bolton always had a zayers and i remember zayers from from that see it's funny because uh i've always lived in toronto and i don't believe that i don't believe there's ever been a zayers in the gta there wasn't one in etobicoke there sure wasn't one here but but okay so a couple of spots i want to first of all shout out fotm mike grigoski becauseotsky because he wrote me and said, I'm excited for another mall episode because he enjoyed the Galleria Mall episode. He says, Cloverdale is a favorite mall of mine.

Can you ask your Cloverdale guest, who by the way was going to be somebody else, and then in an emergency, I reached out to my good buddy Stokely because I just learned yesterday when you messaged me or tweeted at me that your grandparents lived on Yarn Road. So I'm like, oh, you know, Stokely would be great for this. And thank you so much for doing this.

But Gregoski says, who do you think was the best food vendor at Cloverdale Mall? Oh. Tough one. oh tough one don't ask me the name but at the chinese food restaurant in the food court don't ask and it's not it wasn't like a uh a tiki ming or uh or a walk with yan style like it was uh it was an independent it wasn't part of the chain and he made what's that pick and choose is it pick and choose yeah maybe i don't know i don't know great garlic broccoli um last time i was there so there's you know going on eight year nine years ago garlic broccoli and he made a really good um like a honey garlic beef okay good stuff now so yeah pick and choose that's been there a while i remember my

buddy when i was in high school my my buddy worked at the Cloverdale Mall at a Jumbo Hot Dogs. Do you remember Jumbo Hot Dogs? It's long gone now, but there was a, I think it might be a, is it a KFC or something? I'm trying to remember.

But there's a Thai Express in there now. There's a Sushi K Express in there now. They've got some interesting food options for sure. But there's a store, not a fast food place at all, but one of the very last, in fact, it just closed during this pandemic. So I actually haven't been in this mall since it closed, but it was kind of an institution because my grandmother worked

at a different location but worked for this place. Laura Secord. There was a Laura Secord in Cloveroverdale mall forever and it just closed uh like just during the pandemic it shut down i what did the whole chain go down there's like one left i think uh maybe young and eglinton or something like that oh because there's a there is one in the penn center here in in st catherine's but i haven't been there's still a few left in a year yeah but in toronto i think there might be one left. Still the best. I remember, I mean, Laura Secord was there because it's been there for years.

My grandmother would buy me one butterscotch sucker. Those little horizontal oval-shaped suckers on the wood stick or the wax stick. Right. Yeah, they had good stuff. Oh, yeah. Sorry, that name just brought back well she go ahead no she loved um my grandmother loved uh their toffee chocolate toffees the little square ones that you could buy by the by the box yes pre-made or you could ask

the lady to get you four or five of them wow you're getting the memories now right this is the nostalgia right you you think back at going to laura seacords in the cloverdale mall and suddenly you're like you know six years old again well the whole mall talk um i mean if you ever want to get into a deep dive i'm sure you could bring brother bill back and we could go to town on shopper's world in brampton because i worked there for six years working at the music world from grade eight all the way through to till to or i guess it would have been grade nine all the way through the first year university when i was still doing double duty at cf and y and working all year long at the music world i'll do this i'll bring you and brother bill in for that episode i'll do that oh if anybody doesn't know brampton and and shoppers

world uh i tell you it was, it was, it was a legend at mall. I don't know what it's like now. It's probably dumpy, but man in the heyday. We're going to totally do that, man. Are you kidding me? By the way, are you into American hardcore punk? I, so I don't travel as much right now, but I downloaded that episode. I'm going into Toronto tomorrow. So I've downloaded that one and I'm going to listen to it. And and yes i was following along on a stream yesterday and i love all that stuff i'm a big husker do fan uh bob mold is a legend um yeah oh yeah no no i i'm looking forward to that one because i was as episodes go you know a lot of people because you're right a lot of

commutes have dried up and there's some people that literally just have less time to consume podcasts and uh I was thinking that you were a cherry picker of episodes of Toronto Mike I can see because you know that's an acquired taste American hardcore punk it's not like when I throw in 100 songs to hear zero of them are from that genre typically like that's a typical random 100 songs I'm going to listen to today or whatever. Like I feel like it is kind of a niche acquired taste. So a lot of people won't be like, oh, wanting, you know, they don't think they,

they may not even think they like that music. And it's three and a half hours long. So as far as cherry picking episodes go, I can just imagine so many people taking a pass on the three and a half hour American hardcore episode of Toronto Mike. So I'm just here as a public service to say, trust me, Brother Bill and Cam Gordon deliver. And it's fascinating, even if you don't think you care for that genre of music.

I figure it's going to take me two hours to get down and two hours to get back tomorrow from the city. So you know what? That's a perfect episode. I can listen to, quote, part one on the way down and part two on the way back. And I'll say this. I will listen to anything that Neil Morrison slash Brother Bill will talk about. I have said this in the past when I was a 16-year-old doofus who happened to luck out on the job of a lifetime, he was one of the very first people I met and was kind and friendly and has been ever since. And we're now going 30 years, 30 plus years.

So I will listen to anything that man talks about. So I'm excited about that one. I was going to ask you to remind us all that of what years you were involved with CFNY. 88, 88 to 94, 93, 94, in around there. Long stretch. And this is during, that means you're there for a tumultuous period in the history of that station. Yeah. I was there for the big, the mass firings. I was there for sadly Danny's on air resignation.

Right. It was, it was interesting. And I was young, like I'm, I was young and stupid, let's be honest. But I got to experience a lot and it, and it made me, you know, it made me realize that this, this is what I want to do now going to going to university, going to Rye High for radio. I realized very quickly that what we're doing right here was not my strong point. It's it, this wasn't where I wanted to go.

And I wanted to be more like when I can see you on your camera and you got that little mixture in front of you, that's the stuff I wanted to do. And, you know, that's where I ended up going. I realized very quickly that I didn't want to talk for a living. Well, smart move, I think, because I think you're more valuable and would probably be better compensated as somebody who could make, you know, enable others to, you know, be heard. I would guess. I've always liked being behind the camera not in front of the camera so go to facebook.com slash toronto mic to see stokely in front of his camera right now now uh shout out to fotm andrew ward who said that he he pointed out and this will segue us

nicely into the home hardware talk but he says cl he goes, oh, wow, best home hardware and walking loop for the elderly ever. So that's Andrew acknowledging that it is an old person mall, but they don't check your birth certificate at the door. They will let you in if you're, you know, not a geriatric, but it helps. So they like their geriatrics. But let's talk lot of home hardware memories because you, you, you probably didn't go into that store during this magical home hardware period.

Is that right? I know of it. I had been in it, but I probably was more a home Depot shopper on the Queens way than that home hardware. No comparison, but I understand the magic because we have a home hardware here that is similar, not as eclectic, but it's similar in its curation of product, if you will.

By the way, there's also a Music World in Cloverdale Mall. Music World? What's a record store? There's a record store in Cloverdale Mall. Probably Sunrise Records. Maybe Sunrise. Music World is long gone, sadly store. There's a record store in Cloverdale Mall. Probably Sunrise Records. Maybe Sunrise. Music World is long gone, sadly.

Okay, it must be Sun... What is it that has been... Somebody has been taking over HMV outlets. I know... Maybe it's Sunrise. Okay, maybe that's... I think the gentleman who owns Sunrise bought the HMV brand and some of their lease locations.

Okay, so there's... But that's cool because that's cool. Cause that's on the same stretch as, uh, this home hardware I'm going to speak to, but basically I don't know what the deal is with this home hardware, but I guess they have some, they buy in bulk stuff that didn't sell well or something, and then they heavily discount it. So like you have to go in and get in there on a regular basis. This is really cool, for example, for chocolate. Like I like chocolate a lot. And you'll just go in one day and they'll have like, I don't know, these Christmas M&Ms will be like these big packs that would cost you like $9 at the no frills or whatever. It's like,

okay, these are now, you know, $1.99 or these are now $2.50 or whatever. And then you just start buying this stuff in bulk. And this is true for a whole whack of different things would come in there. Like just strange, different, like it looks like clearly this stuff didn't sell as well. And now it's heavily discounted here in the home hardware. So I always thought of it as like a magical place that you could walk in. And suddenly this chocolate was like, I don't know. And I hope it, you know, it never did make me sick.

So that's the good news. I was going to ask you, did you check the best before dates on the packaging? I doubt I ever did. I doubt I ever did. But you give me like a bunch of M&Ms that would be like $10 and tell me that's like a,

it's going to cost you $1.50 for that bag. Like I don't check any expiry dates. Like what's going to happen to chocolate? You're the baker. I can't imagine chocolate. I would eat chocolate if it was like 10 years old. Am I crazy?

Yes. Unless it was Baker's stable chocolate. Remember, there's different types of chocolate and different ways of making chocolate. I don't think I'd eat chocolate that's 10 years old. But with the amount of sugar and salt that's in processed chocolate, I'm not pretty sure. You know what? If you got a bag of 100 M&Ms

and only one makes you sick, maybe you don't eat that one. So, you know, it's M&M roulette. I think you're being very smart to not eat 10-year-old chocolate, but I will tell you that I would eat 10-year-old chocolate. Like, I just feel chocolate is something that,

like, unless, like, I'd look at it if it looked green or something, obviously. But anyway, I've said too much. This all speaks way too much about about me and my habits here but if you want discounted chocolate and it's more than just chocolate i'm just only remembering fondly these chocolates but uh that home hardware in the cloverdale mall is kind of a magic place it's really less a hardware store and more like a discount catch-all like what this cereal this these this size of rice krispies didn't sell and now they're all here for like 50 cents a box like it's kind of one of those places it did did did they actually sell home like i mean obviously it has the home hardware

one side does have some uh does have something you can buy a hammer there right like i'm a big fan of the natura cloth if you remember that's the home hardware brand the natura is their their their you know like the good eats brands of walmart so natura they make these cloths that you buy and they don't smell and they they i bet you could buy really good they're for the sink anyway so i'm a big i'm a big proponent of those. I like those. Uh, and some of the other stuff, like some of the little gadgets that they have that they, you know, they hawk on their commercials. Yeah. There's gadgets there for sure. Yeah. So it does have stuff. It's just, it's just a different kind of home hardware than I remember growing up. Let's put it that way. It's a unique home hardware.

Right. And it's more, it was a shopping experience. It wasn't going to your local hardware store, if you will. Right, right. Now we need to talk about, you know, the future of Cloverdale Mall. I'm going to take a very quick break here, Andrew, and just let you know, as you know, in the good old days when you would visit me here in the flesh, there's always a lasagna for you from Palma Pasta. There's fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery. I would be throwing Toronto Mike stickers at you from Sticker U. That's high quality, great stickers. You can see on my guitar right behind me there.

In the picture, you can see my Toronto Mike sticker. Okay, look, you're one of the good ones when and that was unintentional i just realized when i looked at it oh look there's a sticker on the on the gift box for those who are new to toronto mike they might not be aware of your uh special history with the program and that truly like i did the first 19 episodes in the humble and fred studio and you you did drop by because i met you through uh rosie yes so shout out and much love to rosie uh my dear friend who was my original co-host on this program until she got a better offer but uh what one that paid right that's right and there wasn't even any free beer back then so

she really did work for free but uh she introduced me to you you came in we had great conversations about things like uh airplane two. Yeah, Airplane 2. That's right. Some of the best TV and work experience I ever had was working on the newsroom with Ken Finkelman and hearing all of his stories. So if you guys want to go back, I don't even know. These are definitely in the first 19 episodes,

but there's a couple of great Stokely episodes that long ago. But then you're the man, because I met you through Rosie, and I knew you were in charge of audio for things like the Sportsnet presentation of Toronto Blue Jays baseball. I'm like, hey, could you give me some tips? I want to create a studio in my home. And the microphone I'm speaking to you on right now, I bought it then because you recommended it.

Like, you were extremely helpful. The board that you helped me, that you recommended, the Mackie, were extremely helpful uh the board that you helped me that you recommended the mackie is actually being used right now by um bingo bob willett for his podcast bob's basement oh good so you can't go wrong with a mackie product yeah so that still lives and still works uh this piece was added to my studio but you were were amazing, a wonderful help. And I appreciate it. And I hope you know, you are appreciated. Well, you know, what was the one thing I said to you, Mike, when you were, what was the one thing I said? You said, I'm going to guess you said, nobody cares about audio until they can't hear you. Well, I did say that, but I also said,

if you want to do it on the cheap, I'm the wrong person and not necessarily on the cheap, but your budget wasn't exorbitant. But I said, if you want to do it on $60, I said, I'm not the person. Well, I know exactly what it was because I remember I had to clear it with my wife before I went down this. I remember distinctly the initial investment in the home studio was $1,600. distinctly uh the the initial investment in the home studio was sixteen hundred dollars yeah and that's for the console the cables the mics the stands you name it and and i think it's paid back for you uh i would guess oh yeah no no doubt and i did upgrade a couple oh i upgraded the board and then i added these swing boom things that uh yeah because we had stands at the beginning and then I added these swing boom things because we had stands at the beginning. And are you kidding me? It was one of the wiser investments I've ever made.

So you can send your consulting invoice. You can send it over now if you like. After 10 years, I can finally get paid? Yes, absolutely. Just tell me how many lasagnas this will require and then we'll take care of you. By the way, Andrew, this is for you and anyone listening who is responsible

for a computer network or just wants to be safe online. Barb Paluskiewicz has a great book called IT Scams and she's going to give you a free copy if you email her at barb at cdn technologies and just say you heard about the free book offer on Toronto Mic'd and she'll send you a free copy of her fantastic book. So shout out to Barb and the good people at CDN Technologies,

your outsourced IT department. And, you know, Andrew, I know you used to live in Alderwood and now you're way Niagara somewhere or other. But if you ever wanted to return and I don't think you do, but if you wanted to return. I can't afford to return. Well, you never know. I got to say, yesterday I did a bike ride and I went through those great old streets in Mimico. And so many signs for Mike Majewski. Like I call him Mimico Mike. He's ripping up the Mimico real estate scene.

His motto is in the know in Mimico. So if anyone is considering a move to Mimico, FOTM Tyler Campbell just did this. Reach out to Mike at realestatelove.ca. And not Mimico, but right next door where I live is New Toronto, Ridley Funeral Home. They're in New Toronto. They're at 14th Street and Lakeshore. Brad Jones there is an amazing FOTM. Pay tribute without paying a fortune. You can learn more about the good people at Ridley Funeral Home if you go to RidleyFuneralHome.com

Andrew? They've been there for a very long time. Since 1921. I think most people I lived on 29th Street from 2001 to 2012. Long Branch. Yeah, Long Branch.

But I also am very familiar with South Etobicoke because my father used to be the principal at Lakeshore Collegiate for a number of years. So I am very well versed and familiar with that whole South Etobicoke. Parts of me miss it. I'm not going to lie uh especially when i'm stuck on the qw trying to get into toronto right um but i certainly love it out here when i come home and i hear the coyotes um you're a happy man yeah yeah no complaints let's put it this way i have no complaints no complaints after this last year but i and and before we finish i have to talk about my favorite store of all time at Cloverdale.

So that's just a little teaser. All right, great. So let's talk about what's in store here, because there's a proposed redevelopment. I don't know if you caught wind of this, but we mentioned Quad Real. They're the property owner, and they've proposed replacing the existing mall with a mixed-use development that's going to cover 32 acres. And they will keep the name Cloverdale Mall, and they will still have Cloverdale Mall as an entity, if you will. But, I mean, I wish I could show everybody the pictures here, but it's like a community. Like, it's a Cloverdale community that's being proposed with, you know,

condosos of course because why else would you do it but you know some green space condos the retail that we're used to from the Cloverdale Mall like it's going to be I don't know how long it'll take and I don't know when this gets approved because it's like they have a

rezoning application they submitted like a year ago but this is going to completely change this neck of the woods in etobicoke i didn't i i'm that's the first i heard that would be wow you got to google pictures of this because you won't believe it it's like basically it's a complete new community that will uh like 32 acres of development so they're going to tear down the mall yeah that's that's for sure my friend the mall will go i guess you know what they do they build those uh they build the residential condos and then the bottom floor

is like retail space like i know they did this at park lawn and lakeshore yeah yeah because i bike by it every day And that wasn't there 20 years ago. No, no. Well, yeah, the Mr. Christie plant's gone. They're building there. I mean, I can see it if the developers think they're going to make more money selling condos and townhomes. But my God, the traffic on the East Mall and Dunn, I mean, it's bad to begin with. I can only think if they put in 32 full square acres of development land.

Yikes. Well, so the same is true. It's funny that this is the second mall episode of Toronto Mic'd. And the first one was for the Galleria Mall because I worked there for five years. And that's exactly what's happening at the Galleria Mall right now is what's on a similar scale. But it's actually going to be a bigger redevelopment at the Cloverdale Mall. But they're blowing it up and putting in condos and uh like a community space if you will like that's happening at gallery mall which is dufferin and dupont and it's going to happen assuming all this gets uh final approval and all that it looks like it's going to happen at the cloverdale mall so

who knows how much time we have left with the cloverdale mall that's there today. Well, I mean, if this last year has taught anything about marketing and retail and, and, and selling, I mean, this is this, this last year of pandemic shopping is going to fuel MBA students for the next generation of, of how people have changed their habits. I mean, it's obviously, it had been changing over the past few years, but this last year has really changed people's habits, how they shop. So our malls in little towns, are they doomed? Are they doomed forever? I don't, I mean, I don't know. Usually the mall was the gathering place, like an arena, you know, it was the,

it was the, but like, I don't really feel like going to a mall anytime soon. Uh, you know, and, and I certainly don't like going there during Christmas. Uh, I'd rather shop and have stuff brought to me than, than go out, try to find parking and fight people. a trend that had already developed but basically i call it the the amazonification here because you know how many people have changed their habits where they just they go on their laptop they you know click a few buttons and then amazon's there the next day with all this stuff that they used to go to the mall to buy like these habits aren't going to necessarily uh evaporate once we all get inoculated and are vaccinated so it'll be interesting. Like what is the, so maybe the future is these, uh, what they call a mixed use development where, you know, people live there. Like, you know, so if you, you know, if there's a Metro on the bottom floor, this is, I always think of that park lawn, all those condos there, like, you know, you go down, you know, the condo dwellers come down to the Metro, do their shopping and they go up, like they literally come down to the Metro, do their shopping. And they go up, like they literally come down to their pajamas. So we'll see, you know, we'll see what the, but,

but you may be the old school mall that we grew up with. It it's probably safe to call it at least in this city and endangered species. Like, I think it's going to be mixed use development. Henceforth. Well, there's a, there's one here by us called Niagara square. That was, I called it like the 28 days later mall i don't know how it functioned anyway in the last year and a half it's been gutted and they've made the outdoor mall or an indoor mall it was a full indoor mall whatever it's now become an outdoor power

center there's a brand new costco that just opened with it and they gutted the interior and they've made it more of an outdoor um you know, and I can totally see that. I mean, the Penn Center was the, the Penn Center in St. Catharines is the big mall, if you will. And it's not going anywhere. It's well-established. It's got the movie theaters. It's got a giant Walmart. It's got grocery stores. It's got, you name it. If you want to need to go to the mall, you go there. But in this last year, like I'm really a big fan of, of curbside pickup. Um, and you know, I've tried to make a concerted effort in this last seven or eight months, if you will, uh, to not shop on Amazon. buyer and I have to wait a few days, you know what, this is really, it's no longer instant. I've gotten used to, okay, well, if it's going to take two days, okay. So it's going to take two days. You know, I don't need it the next day. There's a baking place that I order an awesome

lady from Ninamo because she has really cool products and it's a great little store. It's called Maison Cooking and bakeware. And, and we've become friends because she's been able to find things for me. I know it's not quote local, but I haven't been able to find a supplier in, in, in the falls. And it's Ma and Pa shop, which is really, it's totally, it's her, it's, it's her and her staff, you know, and I'm, I'd rather do that than then send it to Jeff Bezos and buddies. Right. So, yeah, like I've really tried to make that, you know, and I'd rather do that than send it to Jeff Bezos and buddies. Right. So, yeah, like I've really tried to make that, you know, we try to shop as local as possible.

So, Stokely, let's close with this. Andrew Stokely, you've been a fantastic guest for this Cloverdale Mall deep dive. But please tell us, what is your favorite Cloverdale Mall store of all time? The Hot Oven Bakery. Oh, yes. Well done. Okay. what is your favorite Cloverdale mall store of all time? The hot oven bakery. Oh yes. Well done. Okay. You know,

I find it's in a tricky part of the mall because that's the, that's the stretch that, uh, that's not the home hardware stretch, which gets a lot of traffic. There's a Metro there and everything. Uh, and the aforementioned sunrise,

I've confirmed it was, it's a sunrise. Uh, but that, that I'm glad you mentioned it. Cause it's, uh, it's almost like when you walk them mall, you don't go down this stretch. Then you say, oh my God, there's a cool bakery here.

You discover it. You follow your nose. My dad, his parents, my grandparents on my father's side, they had a place on Martin Grove. Cloverdale back then i mean if you even knew martin grove you're coming to cloverdale uh that my grandfather was the the king of the hot oven bakery that was his daily trip he would drive daily to go pick up big fan of their sausage rolls their butter tarts he wasn't a breads guy Like he didn't go for the breads. He went for the pastries, sausage rolls, uh, the butter tarts and these little puff. Oh, I don't

even know what, I don't even know the proper name. All I know is it was like a sausage roll, but it wasn't a sausage roll. Um, but yeah, he would come home with boxes. And I remember when, when they sold, um, when, when Sally, my, my grandfather passed away then, and then we were moving my, my Nana up to her retirement home and they had this chest freezer in the condo that they had. And I remember when we were, went to empty it, there had to have been about 30 boxes of these little white and anybody who doesn't know the hot oven bakery, they always, the little classic white, um, bakery box with the stick, like it was a stamp. It wasn't a sticker. It was just a stamp that just said hot oven bakery. Right.

And it was filled. There was just, there was treats. There were nine ammo bars. They were butter tarts. There were sausage rolls, you name it. And they were just that he had bought and never ended up using, but it was just, that's what he did. They were just that he had bought and never ended up using, but it was just, that's what he did. Here's a band you love, Lowest of the Low.

I really wish I could see them soon. It's been way too long, way too long. Well, maybe we'll get them to play another TMLX with Baked Goods, courtesy of Andrew Stokely. I could do that. That would be good. Ron Hawkins and Lawrence Nichols. Anyways, I always build them as lowest to low and then I'm reminded, you know, you're not supposed to build them as lowest to low

because there's four members of lowest to the low and I'm only getting 50%. But as I like to say, I'm getting the best 50%, but don't tell the other guys I said that. But Andrew, you're better than the best 50%. You were amazing today. And, uh, thanks so much for doing this. Yeah, my pleasure. It was good. It's been a while since we've chatted. So it was nice to get caught up. And like I said, people looking forward for baseball news, keep your eyes and your ears open. I'm sure there's stuff coming down the pipe.

I'll find out with you at the same time. And that brings us to the end of our 804th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Andrew, are you at Stokely Audio? I am, and I'm also at my new IG account called Frequency Bread and Barbecue.

Oh my god. Okay, so there's a new Instagram account you all need to follow. Frequency Bread and Barbecue While you're on Instagram, following Andrew Follow Mimico Mike there, he's at Majeski Group Homes On Instagram Back to Twitter, Great Lakes Brewery, they're at Great Lakes Beer Palma Pasta, they're at Palma Pasta

Sticker U is at Sticker U CDN Technologies are at CDN technologies, Ridley funeral home. They're at Ridley funeral home. No, they're at Ridley FH. See you all later today. When my special guest is Nikki Reyes,

she covers the Raptors for TSN radio. So that chat's coming up later today at about 3 PM. See you all then. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Roam Phone. Roam Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RoamPhone.ca to get started.