Construction hoarding went up June 7th on Level 3 of CF Toronto Eaton Centre. LEGO is taking over the former Rodd and Gunn space beside Harry Rosen, near the Queen Street entrance. No opening date has been announced, but the pieces are moving quickly.
For Toronto, this is the LEGO store the downtown core has never had. The brand’s existing city locations are at Yorkdale and Fairview Mall, both well outside the core. Getting to either has always meant a deliberate trip. Downtown shoppers looking for LEGO have had to make do with third-party retailers carrying the line, including Indigo, Best Buy, and Canadian Tire. A branded store is a different experience entirely, built around exclusive products, in-store events, and the kind of hands-on discovery that third-party retail cannot replicate. A location at Yonge and Queen, sitting above two subway stations in one of the most visited retail buildings in the country, puts that experience in front of the tourists, families, school groups, and downtown shoppers who pass through this building every single day.
Across Canada, LEGO has been building its physical presence steadily. Stores are open at CF Richmond Centre and Metropolis at Metrotown in Vancouver, Guildford Town Centre in Surrey, and Toronto Premium Outlets in Halton Hills. A second new Ontario location is confirmed at Square One in Mississauga, with in-mall signage pointing to a fall 2026 opening. The LEGO Group also owns the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre at Vaughan Mills, which came under direct LEGO ownership in late 2025 as part of a £200 million acquisition of Merlin Entertainments’ global Discovery Centre portfolio, a deal 6ixRetail covered at the time. That attraction is a separate concept from the brand’s retail store network, but together they give LEGO a meaningful multi-format presence across the Greater Toronto Area.
The Level 3 placement is where this gets interesting. On the surface, it is not the obvious choice. The floor is not a high-impulse, high-traffic corridor the way Level 1 is. The only food option is the Vereda Central Coffee Roasters across the hall. But that reading misses what this floor actually is, and what it is becoming.
Level 3 is home to Arc’teryx, lululemon, Indigo, Sephora, OVO, and Harry Rosen. These are not brands people stumble into. They are destinations. The shoppers on this floor arrive with intention, spend time, and come back. That is exactly the behaviour LEGO is built around. The brand’s stores are designed for discovery, with exclusive product drops, hands-on experiences, and in-store events that generate repeat visits. Placing a LEGO store among those anchors is not a mismatch. It is a tenant that understands the same shopper.
The floor is also in the middle of significant change. Browns Shoes is confirmed moving down to Level 2, with hoarding already up. Sephora is mid-renovation. Escalator construction in front of Nike is reopening access to Level 4, including a former Indigo entrance that has been closed since the American Girl shutdown during the pandemic. Victoria’s Secret is temporarily occupying the former Club Monaco unit while its own space is renovated, which means that unit will eventually need a permanent tenant. There is real activity happening on this floor right now, and LEGO is arriving into the middle of it.
Next door, the former Hudson’s Bay building remains the biggest open question. Nothing has been officially confirmed for that space. The Ontario Line construction has closed the Queen Street traffic, with the pedestrian bridge connecting Level 3 to the former Bay, and Cadillac Fairview has installed wayfinding elements to keep flow moving through to the PATH in the interim. The landlord owns that building outright, having acquired it from Hudson’s Bay in a $650 million sale-leaseback deal in 2014, which means the decisions about its future rest entirely with Cadillac Fairview.
What gets announced in and around the former Bay building over the next few years will shape the retail character of this part of downtown for a generation. LEGO opening on Level 3 right now is not a passive leasing decision. It is a statement about where Cadillac Fairview believes this section of the building is going, and a signal to the market that the floor is worth betting on.
That signal extends beyond the address. A LEGO store draws families who plan their visit around it. It draws collectors who follow the brand’s exclusive drop calendar. It draws tourist groups and school trips that now have a reason to go to Level 3. None of those audiences need a food court nearby to make the trip worthwhile. They are coming for the brand.
On timing, the job posting makes clear that this is not a distant announcement. The LEGO Group has listed an approved store manager role with a salary range of $70,385 to $105,578. That is an active, funded hire for an existing vacancy. Construction hoarding is already up. The brand is hiring and building at the same time, which does not happen when an opening is years away.
Downtown Toronto has waited a long time for this store. Based on everything visible right now, it will not be waiting much longer.
6ixRetail will have more on this story as details are confirmed.
Dustin Fuhs is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of 6ix Retail, Toronto’s premier source for retail and hospitality industry news. As the former Editor-in-Chief of Retail Insider, Canada’s most-read retail trade publication, Dustin brings over two decades of expertise spanning retail, marketing, entertainment and hospitality sectors. His experience includes roles with industry giants such as The Walt Disney Company, The Hockey Hall of Fame, The Canadian Opera Company, Starbucks Canada and Blockbuster.
Recognized as a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert in 2024, 2025 and 2026, Dustin delivers insider perspectives on Toronto’s evolving retail landscape, from emerging brands to established players reshaping the city’s commercial districts.