Sherway Cinemas
30 Boncer Drive,
Toronto,
ON
M9C
30 Boncer Drive,
Toronto,
ON
M9C
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 23 comments
This theatre (and Oakville Mews) opened on December 18, 1987, with Batteries Not Included THX, Baby Boom THX, Throw Momma From the Train, Dirty Dancing THX, The Princess Bride, Flowers in the Attic, and Wall Street. It expanded to 13 screens on December 13, 1996. Sherway’s final movies when it closed on November 15, 2001, are Shallow Hal, Heist, Life as a House, The One, Monsters, Inc., Domestic Distrubance, K-Pax, Thirteen Ghosts, Riding in Cars with Boys and From Hell. All these films moved to Queensway the next day.
Sears isn’t necessarily leaving Canada. It dropped a few locations at certain malls. At Square One it’s being replaced by Simons of Quebec. At Sherway Gardens, Saks Fifth Avenue. At Eaton Centre, Nordstrom. The one in downtown Vancouver is also to be a Nordstrom. Not sure what the Yorkdale one is becoming because Nordstrom there is in a new addition presently under construction.
So if Sears is leaving Canada that leaves a big hole in Toronto’s marketplace. First Marks and Spencer went, then Eaton’s, now Sears. Who’s going to take over their outlets beside Hudson Bay?
The cinemas were in a different building across the street from the mall. The former cinemas became and still are a Home Outfitters, a Sears Home store and a Homesense. The Sears department store was in Sherway Gardens mall, across The Queensway from where the theatres were. The former Sears department store is becoming a Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom is going where the present Sporting Life store is. Even if the three stores vacated where the former theatre was, I doubt it would ever become a theatre again, unless Landmark wanted to build there. Cineplex obviously wouldn’t since they left as soon as they opened the Queensway cinemas down the street.
That became a Sears before it becomes a Nordstrom. Sears recently announced they are leaving Canada in a few years so it is likely or not it will become a cinema again.
This opened on December 11th, 1987 along with the Oakview Mews and the reopening of the Pantages. I uploaded the grand opening ad.
Big time! I still remembered the expansion back in 1997 bringing the total up to 15 screens or so and them being pretty high end at the time and being equipped with the highest THX surround at the time. Only reason it was closed was strictly the lack of `Stadium Seating, and that was it. Could have defintely found a way to continue making it feasable for sure.
I remember I was so shocked when Sherway Gardens mall across the street from here opened in 1971 and didn’t have a theatre in it. By that time there were several malls in the Toronto area that had at least one screen, or twins but Sherway never did. That’s why it was so exciting when this was opened in 1987 with 9 screens! Which was a lot in those days.
I agree…miss this place a lot. I preferred the large, open lobby here than at the Queensway cinemas that replaced this. Also the convenience to Sherway Gardens across the street was great. This would have made a terrific discount house and who knows, it might still be there. Too bad Rainbow didn’t get a crack at this since all their other local cinemas are former Cineplex Odeons.
Yeah the photo defintely takes me back to the heyday of the chain after the expansion. Still miss catching screenings here ;–(
Luv the photo Elissa great memories ;–)
Picture of Sherway Cinemas—>
View link
I am kind of interested to see what happens to the site since the condos are starting to go up in the area to see if the Sears store is going to remain or if at some point the lease is going to expire and if theyu are going to put something else on the site like a new AMC or Empire.
Yeah the good times, from 98 until 00 always went for drinks at Jack’s and then went in for a double feature ;–) Great memories
I agree. I liked the Sherway lobby much better than Queensway. All that space with the cafe right in the middle. And it was much closer to Sherway Gardens. I used to work next door at the Chapters, and often people would come in to the store before or after the movies.
Yeah it was devastating, from the early 90’s until late 2000 this was where I caught a lot of my movies going through film school ;–( the fact that Cineplex was putting money into renovating the complex almost right up to the end was admirable and unfortunately became a victem soley of the stadium seating craze of most venues not for the best sightlines. Queensway might be the better/newer infrastructure, but the presentation and memories at Sherway which much more memorable.
Still miss these theatres alot. Wish they had been turned into a 2nd run house that Toronto sorely lacks but other cities have such as the Cinema City theatres in Winnipeg or Movies 12 in Edmonton. Still boggles the mind that no major theatre chain in Canada has matinee pricing before 6pm like most major chains do in the U.S. This 13 screen theatre was perfect for watching movies even though it didn’t have stadium seating. Would have made a fantastic 2nd run theatre at lower prices.
It was built as a free standing structure Chad, still is. It was built across from Sherway Gardens mall on the north side of Queensway. It opened in December 97 with 9 screens and expanded to 13 screens in the mid 90s. Eventually a Chapters book store was built next door and restaurants in front of it and beside it. When it was closed, Sears opened a Furniture only store while the regular Sears department store is across the street in the mall. Additions were added to each side of the theatre building which now is a Home Outfitters store on one side and a Homesense store on the other with Sears in the middle. The outside looks somewhat the same as it did when it was a theatre and I remember that the cinemas had a much better box office system than the new Queensway 18 down the road. There were several box offices where you could just walk right thru and into the lobby after paying. You didn’t have to line up at just one line like you do now at the Queensway.
How come you said that the Sherway Ciemas was located in what is now a Sears store and now your saying it was a free standing structure ?
Sherway was a free standing structure located on the other side of the road across from the mall.
It was the Famous Players Coliseum that made attendances decline at Sherway because of no stadium seating or hot food until the very end. Sherway was on land that had a lease signed for 99 years which cause Cineplex to have to buy it out the lease in 2001. The lease was originally signed in 1987.
A newer, even bigger multi-plex with all stadium style seating, (located only about a mile and a half away) was the culprit. I believe, but not positive, both complexes were owned by Cineplex-Odeon. The new multi-plex is called the Queensway and is a free standing structure with its own huge parking lot. It was probably built to save the high rent plus percentage of the gross which malls charge their tennants. Despite its $13.50 admission fee and very overpriced confectionaries, the Queensway is usually very busy.
What caused a 13-plex to go out of business??
I usedg to work at Sherway as a projectionist. The theater had THX in cinemas 1,3 and 5 which were 300 seats a piece. In 1997 Sherway was expanded to 13 screens with four new curved screens.
The theatre now has been turned into a Sears department store with a couple other stores located in the area. The seat count was 3364 after the expansion.