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site of "last who gig" sold to supermarket chain



DANA FLAVELLE
BUSINESS REPORTER

One of hockey's greatest shrines is being turned into a grocery store. 

Maple Leaf Gardens, host to eight Stanley Cup championships, as well as rock 
stars and royalty, is being sold to Loblaw Cos. Ltd., the country's biggest 
supermarket chain.

Loblaw says it plans by 2005 to open a combined food and general merchandise 
superstore, along with other retail, while preserving the building's roofline 
and faC'ade. 

A store featuring Maple Leaf memorabilia is planned b a skating rink is not. 
The offer to buy the building is conditional and is expected to close early 
next year.

A mixture of sadness and relief greeted the long-awaited announcement. 

The 72-year-old building has been closed since February, 1999, when the Maple 
Leafs moved into the new Air Canada Centre.

"It's a sad day when stuff like this happens but I guess you have to go with 
the times," said legendary goaltender Johnny Bower, who won four Stanley Cups 
with the Leafs. 

Former Leafs captain Doug Gilmour, who lived next door to the Gardens when he 
first arrived in Toronto in 1992, said: "It's tough to see it go.