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The 1997-built Toys ‘R’ Us building occupies most of the city block, featuring nearly 29,000 sq. ft. of retail space on the ground floor — which also contains the Babies ‘R’ Us store — and a rooftop parking lot.

However, the store’s closure is driven by the looming expiration of Toys ‘R’ Us’s long-term lease on the property — not a direct reflection of its sale performance.

Toys ‘R’ Us signed its lease for the property in 1997 for an initial term of 20 years, with renewal options of two additional five-year periods. Both additional terms were exercised, with the store now operating at the location in the middle of its last five-year term.

BowMac sign’s preservation legally linked to Toys ‘R’ Us lease

Critically, the future of the heritage BowMac sign, which stands over the Toys ‘R’ Us building, is directly tied to the retailer’s lease on the property.

The vertical BowMac sign was constructed in 1958 for the property’s previous BowMac car dealership. According to a 1997 staff report by the City of Vancouver, this area of West Broadway was Vancouver’s auto row in the 1950s, and a number of car dealerships had begun to erect an increasingly number of large signs to compete and attract attention.

Standing 80 ft tall, this neon sign was once the tallest structure outside of downtown Vancouver and briefly held the title of the largest freestanding sign in North America. Erected during a time when neon signs were proliferating throughout Vancouver, when the city was referred to as the “neon capital” of the continent, it became a symbol of controversy — leading to public backlash, new City signage policies restricting new neon signs, and the eventual removal of many neon signs beginning in the late 1960s and 1970s.

But the BowMac sign structure has stood the test of time so far. In 1997, Vancouver City Council approved a Heritage Revitalization Agreement (HRA) that legally links the retainment and preservation of the BowMac sign with the lifespan of the Toys ‘R’ Us tenancy.

This HRA secures “the repair, protection, and on-going maintenance of the BowMac sign for the duration of the Toys ‘R’ Us lease.” Moreover, “upon termination of the lease, a new HRA will have to be negotiated or the sign will be demolished.”

Even in 1996, before the HRA, City staff and Toys ‘R’ Us struggled to reach an agreement on preserving the sign’s original 1950s character, while also meeting the retailer’s construction budget and corporate signage needs. The rejected original proposal by Toys ‘R’ Us was to retain the BowMac sign structure, and fully remove any reference of BowMac to make blank canvas space for the Toys ‘R’ Us logo.

With construction on the new Toys ‘R’ Us building nearing completion by Spring 1997, a decision had to be made sooner than later.

Both parties worked towards a solution; the HRA and sign bylaw relaxations were eventually secured even after a demolition permit for the sign had already been issued.

This compromise is what exists today, with both sides of the BowMac sign partially covered by perforated metal screens that support an overlay — a hovering additional layer of text — for the illuminated Toys ‘R’ Us logo signs.

Toys ‘R’ Us retained, repaired, and repainted the old BowMac sign, but under the agreement, it was only illuminated by a uniform front light wash. The BowMac sign was originally illuminated by 1,200 incandescent bulbs and extensive neon lighting, while the colourful letters of the Toys ‘R’ Us logo are internally illuminated.

The blend of artefact and contemporary signs has sparked varied opinions over the past few decades.

Could a future redevelopment be tied to the sign’s preservation?

Within the City of Vancouver’s Broadway Plan, the redevelopment of Toys ‘R’ Us to its highest and best use is inevitable.

Under the area plan’s prescriptions and stipulations, a redevelopment of this site can reach up to 30 storeys for rental housing uses, 24 storeys for office/hotel uses, and 20 storeys for strata condominium uses. In all scenarios, the lower floors of the building must be dedicated to commercial uses, such as retail and restaurants, to maintain the active streetfront uses along West Broadway.

This transit-oriented development site is about three blocks east of SkyTrain’s future South Granville Station and three blocks west of the future Oak-VGH Station.

With recent amendments to the Broadway Plan and the introduction of new City guidelines and policies for more flexible development, there is some potential for considerations for even greater building height beyond the prescriptions and stipulations, possibly linking added density with the preservation, restoration, and integration of the BowMac sign into any new development. Previous projects elsewhere in Vancouver have set a precedent by linking heritage preservation and restoration in new developments with heritage agreements, which in some cases have been voluntarily proposed by the developer.

As well, the preservation of the sign could theoretically be linked with the City’s public art contribution requirements for new major developments.

Now 68 years old, the BowMac sign last underwent restoration 28 years ago and is likely in need of restoration work to further extend its lifespan, should a preservation approach be adopted.

The sign has also been damaged by vandals, with significant graffiti seen at the very top of the 80-ft sign, suggesting that the vandals may have scaled the structure to carry out the act.

Following the imminent closure of Toys ‘R’ Us in Vancouver later in 2025, the chain’s remaining store locations in Metro Vancouver will be at Station Square at Metrotown district in Burnaby, Lansdowne Mall in Richmond City Centre, and Willowbrook Shopping Centre in Langley Township.

The longtime Toys ‘R’ Us store inside Metropolis at Metrotown mall in Burnaby closed in September 2024 in preparation for the second phase of construction of the Concord Metrotown development, which involves the demolition of the mall’s closed Sears wing, with Toys ‘R’ Us located on the lower floor. In 2023, the former Bed Bath & Beyond store at Station Square was converted into Toys ‘R’ Us in preparation for the eventual closure of the adjacent mall location.

Lansdowne Mall is also set for redevelopment, which would involve the eventual demolition of the wing that houses Toys ‘R’ Us.

The West Broadway store in Vancouver was constructed at the height of Toys ‘R’ Us’s success, during a period of major global expansion.

The past decade has been highly turbulent for Toys ‘R’ Us, leading the U.S.-based chain to declare bankruptcy in 2017 and 2018, and selling its international markets, including the Canadian division, to various ownership groups.

In 2024, Toys ‘R’ Us Canada announced it would be bringing back HMV as a store-within-store concept, as a home media merchandise department within its toy stores. In the U.S., following the sweeping closure of standalone Toys ‘R’ Us locations in 2017/2018, the American division has opened hundreds of store-within-store locations inside Macy’s in more recent years.

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