Toronto Airport to Yorkdale & the City's Shopping

Where can I shop from Pearson Airport, and how far is each?

The public options reach two of them: the UP Express to Union and the subway to Dundas for the Eaton Centre, and the subway to Yorkdale station from downtown; the outlets, Vaughan Mills and Square One are a bus and a walk. None of them carries eight shopping bags and two suitcases, and none waits at the door; the chauffeur is the version that does, and the Pearson complete guide covers the arrival itself.

Yorkdale: the luxury mall fifteen minutes from the runway

Yorkdale is the mall the international visitor flies in for — the flagships along its luxury wing, the Apple store, the Canadian brands that do not exist at home — and it is fifteen minutes from the Pearson curb on the 401 to the Allen, with the chauffeur dropping at the entrance nearest the store on the list and the return pickup at the same door with the bags. The layover version is the booking this page sees most: a traveller with five hours between flights, a fixed fare to Yorkdale with the luggage in the boot, two hours in the mall, and a fixed fare back to the correct terminal timed to the check-in cut-off with the terminal finder confirming which. Yorkdale's own valet and concierge handle the bags inside; the chauffeur handles them outside.

The Premium Outlets and Vaughan Mills: the outlet day

The Toronto Premium Outlets at Trafalgar Road are the designer outlets twenty minutes west of the airport on the 401 — the open-air village of a hundred and fifty stores that a visitor from Brazil, China or the Gulf fills two suitcases at — and Vaughan Mills at the 400 is the enclosed outlet mall twenty-five minutes north by the 407, with Bass Pro Shops at one end and the Canada's Wonderland coasters visible across the road. The outlet day is a chauffeured half-day with the car holding by the hour — the drop at the outlets at opening, the bags to the boot at noon, the drive to Vaughan Mills or back to the hotel — and the extra suitcase bought at the outlets rides home in the Sprinter with everything else. The outlets' parking on a Saturday is the reason a chauffeured drop at the entrance is the point.

The Eaton Centre, Bloor-Yorkville and the downtown day

Downtown's shopping is the Eaton Centre at Yonge and Dundas — the glass galleria with its Hudson's Bay and Nordstrom successors, the Apple store and the PATH beneath it — and Bloor Street West's Mink Mile from Yonge to Avenue Road with the luxury flagships, Holt Renfrew and the Yorkville boutiques behind it; a visitor from overseas with a list does both in a day by the hour with the chauffeur holding on Hayden Street or Cumberland and the bags going to the boot between stores. The Four Seasons and the Park Hyatt are the shopping hotels on Bloor, the Chelsea and the Marriott at Eaton Centre are the downtown ones, and the Pearson transfer to each is the downtown fare; the downtown route covers the Gardiner.

The personal-shopper day by the hour

The visitor from overseas with a list — the bride's family from Lagos, the executive's spouse from Dubai, the family from São Paulo with a Christmas list — books the chauffeured day with the three-hour minimum: the chauffeur at the hotel at ten, Yorkdale, the outlets or Bloor Street on the list, the bags to the boot at each stop, lunch where the list says, and the hotel at the end with the chauffeur carrying the day's shopping to the lobby. The stores' own personal shoppers book the appointments; the chauffeur keeps the day moving and the bags safe, and the corporate account serves the concierge services and the hotels that book the day for their guests. The Sprinter is the vehicle for a family's shopping week, and the extra luggage on the flight home is the one thing we cannot fix.

Square One, Sherway and the Mississauga stops

Square One in Mississauga's city centre is ten to fifteen minutes from the terminals and the first stop for a visitor at the Dixon Road hotels or a family that has just landed and needs the things left at home — the department stores, the Apple store, the food hall — and Sherway Gardens at the 427 and the QEW is fifteen minutes with the luxury wing that Etobicoke prefers to Yorkdale. Both are a short fixed fare from the airport and a stop of up to twenty minutes on the way to a hotel is part of any fare; a longer shopping run is by the hour.

Tax, duty-free and the flight home

Canada refunds no sales tax to visitors at the border — the visitor rebate ended years ago — and the outlet prices already include the difference; the duty-free shops at Pearson's departures are the last stop, and the chauffeur's advice to a visitor with two new suitcases is the airline's baggage allowance, checked before the shopping rather than at the counter. The departures page covers the check-in cut-offs and the terminals, and the Sprinter carries a family's shopping week to the terminal with room for the extra cases.

What the fare includes

The fare from Pearson to any of the malls is fixed by vehicle class for the address and includes the chauffeur, the vehicle, fuel, the 407 toll when used, taxes, curbside pickup at the pre-arranged area and the included waiting with the flight tracked; meet and greet is the paid add-on; gratuity is never added; a cancellation before dispatch is free; a wait at a mall is billed at the hourly rate in fifteen-minute units when the same car holds, and the shopping day is the hourly booking with the three-hour minimum.

The Christmas shopping trip and the December calendar

December is the shopping page's season: the visitor from overseas in the city for Christmas with a list, the family from Calgary or Halifax with the cousins' presents, the corporate visitor with the last-minute gifts before the flight home. The malls' hours run late through December and the parking lots are the reason the chauffeured drop is the point; the Distillery's Christmas Market and the Eaton Centre's holiday windows are the evening after the shopping, and the chauffeur holds by the hour with the bags in the boot. The Boxing Day sales on the 26th are the busiest shopping day of the year at Yorkdale and the outlets, and the chauffeur's advice is opening time.

The cross-border shopper and the Buffalo alternative

The shopping trip works in both directions across the border, and the chauffeur's honest note is the exchange rate: Canadians drive to the Buffalo outlets at the Walden Galleria and the Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls when the dollar favours it, on the cross-border service with the border wait read before leaving and the duty limits explained; Americans fly into Pearson for Yorkdale and the Bloor Street flagships when it favours the other way. A shopping weekend that takes in the Premium Outlets on Saturday and the Buffalo outlets on Sunday is one confirmation, and the Buffalo airport is the flight home for the American shopper with the new suitcases.

Yorkville's boutiques and the appointment day

Beyond the malls, Yorkville's side streets — Cumberland, Yorkville Avenue, Hazelton Lanes — hold the boutiques, the jewellers and the galleries that a visitor with an appointment book flies in for, and the appointment day is a chauffeured day with a different rhythm from the mall's: the chauffeur at the Four Seasons at ten, the first appointment on Bloor at ten-thirty, the car holding on Cumberland while the fitting runs long, lunch on Yorkville Avenue, the jeweller at three, the gallery at four, and the bags to the hotel at the end. The stores' own staff book the appointments; the chauffeur keeps the day on time, and the corporate account serves the hotels' concierges who book the day for their guests.

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