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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.