Harewood Mall and Robin's Donuts

February 13, 2026

Harewood Mall in the 1980s and 90s was a wonderful place for a kid like me.

What wasn't to like? It had a ton of great shops – like a sports card dealer, an arcade to play video games, a San Francisco novelty store to buy stickers and other weird stuff, a mmmuffins location in the mini food court, and an amazing Robin's Donuts that made the whole mall smell like coffee, bismarks and cigarette smoke.

The mall – now called University Village Shopping Centre – has gone through some big changes over the years, since it's opening in 1958 as Harewood Plaza.

The photo of Harewood Mall above with the bunny-ears logo (published by Adrienne McLellan on the I Love Harewood Facebook page) was taken at a time when the mall still had an indoor area between stores you could walk around in.

Robin's Donuts had a sliding glass door that opened into the indoor part of the mall, as well as the front outside door you can see in the picture below.

Inside Robin's was a long bar and stools running down one side, and tables and chairs on the other side. For a period there was even a Pac-Man cocktail table (or was it Centipede?) where two players could go head-to-head under the glass tabletop as they drank coffee, and yes – smoked!

Rows of those old brown ceramic coffee cups with white insides were stacked behind the counter – as well as a few yellow plastic ones for Robin's Donuts Coffee Club members – and trays of fresh donuts were brought out and placed on racks in the morning and throughout the day.

Chain stores like SuperValu, Pharmasave, and SAAN brought in the crowds, video stores like Crazy Mike's racked up the late-return charges, and restaurants like Toby's Fish Hut served-up amazing french fries and tall plastic cups of Coca-Cola.

Below is a picture of the restaurant when it still was called The Glengarry.

I took the picture below in the 1990s outside of the Bank of Montreal, just a few doors down from Robin's.

Still remember those brown bricks like it was yesterday.

See more historical articles and photos of Harewood Mall – including a Harewood Mall Monopoly board from the 1980s.

Read more about Harewood Mall's transition into University Village in this fantastic 2008 article by Nathaniel Christopher.