Kingsgate Mall — Attraction in Vancouver

I need to preface my review with a story.

The setting: Metropolis at Metrotown. Sometime before the turn of the century. Walking through the mall, I had a sudden gastrointestinal plea for help and had to doubletime it to a bathroom. McDonald's was right in front of me and, for lack of closer options, I opted to use their bathroom.

I shoved the door marked "Men's" open and looked for the nearest open stall. It wasn't much of a choice in that there was only one: tucked into a shoe closet-sized cubby in the back of the bathroom, irritatingly close to the one and only urinal. Panic sweating, I burst into the stall and did what uncouth thing we all do but can't politely speak of in these situations.

There I was: in way outside of my McComfort Zone; my day entirely stalled by the pretzel my insides had formed with nary a long-curve preemptive warning. Uncouth by most any biological standard. Attempting to lock the stall door, I am met with the realiziation that the lock itself was missing from the stall door, leaving only a vacant, cylindrical hole where a lock should have been. This meant that the door could not, would not lock or even close.

Well, okay, I thought. The door itself stopped in the closed position without listing inward or outward, and so this was fine.

A fleeting security, this.

Less than a minute into my McSituation, the door into the bathroom outside crashed open, and immediately there is a push on the stall door. Reflexively, I extend my hand and prevent it from opening. A second push, which again was countered. A very understandable anxiety grew while I did my best to be publicly courteous and pause my crisis. "Occupied!", I blurted out.

A shuffle of feet. An audible exhale of frustration. These are tangible things I registered through the inch and a half of composite materials that the stall door was made of.

And then, something happened. Something that twenty years later, I still remember with excrutiating detail.

While keeping my hand extended to brace against any further intrusion, I watched as some sort of movement was occurring by way of the open circular hole in the door where a lock did not reside.

A second later, a singular, bloodshot eyeball lowered into view. Pinpoint pupil peering directly at my face. We made eye contact for more than a second, though that moment disobeyed the laws of time in that it lasted for what felt like millenia. A Dali-esqe gaze formed into a dagger that at that moment piered the core of my existence. Framed by rough-shod bathroom stall door materials, this look of curioisty, discriminate resentment, and a sour envy locked me into a reciprocal stare of which I could not disengage from. My insides evacuated in unease and helplessness. A moment later, the eye disappeared from view and a pair of feed stamped off. The door outside thrust open once more, and once more I was alone.

Now, this may have been a long-winded story, but it remains relevant. It represents the feeling I get, in perpetuity, every single time I walk into Kingsgate Mall. It is as though there is a manic, investigative eye upon me during the worst bowel crises of my life.

Other than that? Some cool shops, and a throng of downtrodden golden-age individuals playing the lottery on a schedule you can set your watch to. Check it out...

This is more of a Buy Low Foods review, than a review of the entire Kings Gate Mall. Although I like both of them.

Buy Low is a very cool grocery store.  For starters, its perched on top of a mall...the Kings Gate Mall.  Both the mall and the grocery store have a disctinct vintage vibe that I love.  But I think I'm biased because I'm a photograper.

I come to the Kings Gate Mall a lot because it has a Marks Work Warehouse and I buy a lot of stuff there.  But I have never gone upstsirs to the grocery store…until today.

The reason why I've never been to the Buy Low Foods grocery store is because it's very low key. It's kind of hiding in plain sight.  You can't see it unless you know it's there.  But once you’re there...everything is big and spacious.  Starting with the parking lot.  It's big, open, and bright.  Affording a very nice view of West Broadway street below.

When you step inside the Buy Low you are greeted with a mellow unpretentious vintage vibe.  There's lots of windows.  Wide aisles.  The music playing in the background was fantastic.  The voice on the intercom announcing store specials was also fantastic.  And the store also contains the largest shopping cart I've ever seen in my life.  Its clearly a store that should be in a Wes Anderson movie.

Buy Low has all the essential grocery store items that most people could ever need or want...including a wide selection of fresh fruits, veggies, bread, and meats.  The deli selection is pretty decent too.  But this grocery store doesnt really cater to the health food organic everything tree hugging crowd.  It tends to focus mainly on providing good value for your dollar.  Hence the name of the store.

This was my first time at Buy Low but I was happy to find that it carried three of my staple foods.  Potatoe chips, guacamole, and beef jerky.  So I was very pleased with my shopping experience.  It's hard to find good Guacomole that doesn't have sugar in it, and Buy Low carried two sugar free brands.  The Wholly Guacomole is especially good.  Highly recommended.

As a bonus on your way out...you will find that the checkout is still run by actual human beings instead of the soulless automated tills that silently await you at most modern grocery stores.  My clerk was very friendly and outgoing.  I bought a lotto ticket as well, and she said don't forget about me if you win.  We both had a good laugh about that one.

Paying a real life human being for your groceries is an experience that is hard to put a price on.  It makes you feel good about spending your hard earned money.  It's just feels satisfying.  That's Buy Low...

I witnessed the mall security staff physically assault a shoplifter today. Four guys jumped on him, kicked him, twisted his arms and tried to beat him to the ground while the shoplifter immediately handed over the item and screamed “I am sorry and I am not resisting” over and over again while they kept kicking him. Bystanders (like myself) asked them to stop since the guy was not resisting and was compliant. I wonder if the approach would have been different if the shoplifter had not been a black male since the aggressive approach for the security staff did not match the level of the petty crime committed.

BCL staff shared that they had seen way worse from the security company.

After the incident I went to speak to the Manager of the KingsGate Mall about the incident and he basically told me to ‘mind my own business’.

The Kingsgate Mall promotes itself as a family friendly mall. I am a father of two and I am happy my five year old did not witness this, she would have been traumatized. It’s never ok to shoplift but the people who work security at the Kingsgate Mall should be equipped with Trauma Informed Training and Non-Violet Crisis-Intervention training and Cultural Sensibility Awareness due to the neighborhood demographics. From what I witnessed the security staffs only qualification to carry handcuffs were having watched the complete selection of Jean Claud Van Damme movies and having an unprofessional mall Manager. This was traumatizing for me, even as a Non-profit Director who works with marginalized populations. I will be following up with the police about...