Metro Square n Steeles Avenue, close to the large T&T Supermarket on Warden Avenue and not far from Highway 404, sits a bland two-storey building complex with a sad-looking fountain in front of it. This medium-sized unit is Metro Square, a Chinese mall built in 1997, with a more community-minded bent than Pacific Mall. In other words, think Eglinton Square Mall as opposed to Eaton Centre.
What makes this mall slightly more unique is that it was designed for a Taiwanese audience. Unlike most other Chinese malls that are created with a Mainland Chinese or Hong Kong/Cantonese market in mind, this mall once bore a significant Taiwanese influence, with distinctive restaurants, bakery, grocery store and cultural centres prominent within its walls.
Even the posters that used to adorn the food court were all promoting Taiwan tourism. As time marched on, the Taiwanese presence has waned somewhat (the aforementioned grocery store stocked with specialty goods from Taiwan went out of business, for example), but the mall itself remains worth visiting for the many interesting businesses that still populate it.
www.metrosquare.ca - 15849 - Metro Square
