In a few weeks, holiday shopping will be in full swing. If you’ve ever tried to park at Yorkdale during its busiest season you know that it can be challenging. This year, Yorkdale is taking an active effort to make parking easier at Canada’s most successful shopping centre.
Yorkdale has more than 8,000 parking spaces and they are available for free.
“Parking is a huge focus because we want shoppers to look forward to their time here. Shopping isn’t a chore, it’s a leisure activity,” said Mina Barbuto, Yorkdale’s Marketing Director. “We elevate our parking services going into the holiday season because we know it will be busy. Parking resources are available in person, online, on mobile and in centre to help make parking easier.”
Finding a parking spot at Yorkdale is fast and easy, yes, even during the holidays. Here are the top parking tips for shoppers driving to do their shopping this season:
Go underground
There are nine underground parking levels at three different parts of the property. Nearly one-third of all Yorkdale parking is below ground so looking at the above ground lots can be misleading. Yorkdale’s underground lots have received certifications under the Parksmart sustainable parking because of their energy-efficient design and electric vehicle charging stations.
Stop light technology
All the underground parking levels feature stop light technology to make parking quick and easy. A green light above a parking stall indicates available spaces and helps speed up the overall traffic flow.
Just ask Yorkdale Parking Concierges
Every weekend leading up to Christmas, Yorkdale’s Parking Concierges will be available to direct drivers to parking areas with the greatest availability as they enter the property. Parking concierges will also be available on Thursdays and Fridays in December to accommodate the busy holiday shopping season.
Call the Parking Hotline
Shoppers can call the Yorkdale Parking Hotline at 416-256-PARK (7275) from a hands-free device to reach a Parking Concierge that will direct them to a parking area with the most availability.
Go online for virtual parking support
Shoppers can search the Parking page on Yorkdale.com, located in the top left portion of the screen, to see where the greatest parking availability is prior to or upon their arrival as well. Yorkdale’s virtual Parking Concierge can be messaged through Yorkdale.com for more personal support prior to arrival.
Outsource it with valet
Yorkdale has three valet parking bays at Nordstrom, off Yorkdale Road near Holt Renfrew and on the north side of the shopping centre. Valet parking is available for $15 and includes a bag valet option that will store bags until the vehicles are ready to be claimed.
Car Wash and Detailing
Now shoppers can get their car washed and detailed when they use Yorkdale’s South Service Road valet. Yorkdale’s exterior hand wash and light interior detailing services include hand wash & dry, tire dressing, interior windows, upholstery and dash cleaning and dressing. Prices range from $40-$55, which include the valet parking fee. Large vehicles are an additional $25.
Take a load off at the valet lounge offering coat and parcel check
This new valet lounge is located adjacent to the Holt Renfrew area valet parking bay and is open to shoppers as well as valet parking clients beginning November first. Coat and parcel check services are available as is gift wrapping. There will be more than a dozen upholstered lounge chairs as well as phone charging stations to help shoppers and their mobile devices recharge.
A while back we published a story about the efforts Yorkdale was taking to improve its parking over the holiday season. While we were writing about the virtues of the new system, it turns out a number of people disagree with us and took to Reddit over the weekend to warn people of Yorkdale’s insane parking wait times.
A thread appeared yesterday that was titled PSA: Do Not Park Underground at Yorkdale on the Weekends. With a subheader “If you do, be prepared to wait at least literally 1-1.5 hours to get out. I will never make this mistake again”.
According to several Reddit users, the parking on the weekend at Yorkdale is getting out of control. Most (users on Reddit) speculate it’s due to The Cheesecake Factory’s wait-times. Currently, on the weekend there is a 2-4 hour wait for a table, which some people suggest causes an entire backlog of people who are just waiting around Yorkdale and not moving.
So the real question is, what do you if you want to go to Yorkdale on the weekend and not be subjected to insane parkin wait times?
A few suggestions include arriving early. If you really don’t like crowds arrive at the mall between 9am-10am. The mall really starts to get busy after Noon.
Additionally, many Reddit users also suggested parking underground underneath the Microsoft store, which also tends to have space.
With the cold weather, everyone is driving so you should expect Yorkdale’s parking lot to be extremely busy until the weather warms up a bit.
** CONTEST ALERT **
Enter Here: http://bit.ly/2z5ogX6
Just in time for the busy holiday season, Yorkdale has you covered when it comes to security and parking. Lots of new features have been added for the convenience of busy shoppers. We spoke with Claire Santamaria, General Manager, Yorkdale Shopping Centre and she told us about her three-year plan to simplify parking. “We will prove parking is not a problem at Yorkdale,” she said. The plan began in 2014 when she designed a system to track vehicles coming in and out of Yorkdale. There are over 600 cameras that capture real-time video, with 200 dedicated to overlook the parking lot. This increases safety and security. The security team knows the average time guests stay at the Centre and manages the communication of where parking is available. Right now, Yorkdale is in first place for best mall parking in the city. 
The ‘Parking Concierge’ program began Black Friday weekend and continues until Christmas weekend. You can check out 8,000 parking spots on their website, as well as their live hotline call in. You can also check online to pre-plan your visit and find spots in advance. The new system offers real-time lot status that directs cars to open slots.
The program will be active on all busy days, with more than half the monitors helping shoppers find parking spots. There are even 20 members on duty on site to help direct confused customers who cannot find a space. This is an on-going project that will continue through 2018 if needed.
The newly-built, well-lit underground parking also features a red-light and green-light system that is ideal for counting traffic. It allows drivers to easily find a parking space with smooth traffic flow.
Pick up and drop off bays for Uber were recently launched to make it easier for shoppers to get picked up at specific locations as opposed to getting confused. This will also increase the movement of cars from one location to another. Three valet bays were also just put into place.
Lots of exciting new projects are happening at Yorkdale. This year they expanded by 300,000 square feet, including 17 new stores. The fresh new pop-up, CONCEPT just opened with amazing food from some of the best street food in Toronto.
Dyson and Laduree will open at the Centre by the end of 2017. In fact, there were more store openings in 2016 than 2017! Yorkdale surveys their consumers every few months and gets upwards of 3,000 responses. They will continue with their surveys to ensure satisfaction for their loyal shoppers.
Make parking easy again! Check here for hours and directions.
What do you think about the new Yorkdale parking services? Let us know in the comments.
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