Markham: Pacific Mall

Pacific Mall is a three story Chinese mall located in Markham, a suburb of Toronto. Majority of the retail is on the ground floor, with miscellaneous tenants selling electronic accessories, Asian (mainly Korean and Japanese) beauty products and Asian CDs and DVDs (both legit and counterfeit). Many of these stalls are random, unheard-of shops, but the chain brands include The Face Shop, Holika Holika, and to my surprise, soon Tony Moly! Here I'll highlight the shops I went to and what I bought.

Broadcast
This store occupies a corner spot, so despite there being hundreds of repetitive shops throughout the mall, it isn't too hard to find Broadcast if you just circle the perimeter. To further stand out, there are kpop posters against the exterior, but I'm not sure if they're for sale.

Out of all the shops at this mall selling Asian CDs and DVDs, I think Broadcast has the best (and is probably the only shop with a) reputation of selling only authentic discs. There are rows of fully packed shelves containing kpop and kpop CDs and concert DVDs, as well as Asian dramas and other genres. They carry newly released media, as well as older ones like Ss501. The latest kpop CDs and DVDs are at the front counter. There are two older Cantonese ladies running the shop, who were very helpful. Though they were out of the Infinite CDs I was looking for, she directed me to other popular and highly demanded CDs. She was more knowledgeable than I thought, but I did have to correct her about a few things.

There are also not authentic Kpop merchandise, such as scrolls, mouse pads (roughly $10), playing cards (Infinite's for $15.99), notepads, keychains, pens, and more.  Just a side note, no photos allowed inside the store. Whoops, I only saw the sign after I had started taking photos.

The Face Shop

The store is very simplistic and pristine with its glossy white panels.

Sadly a Kim Hyun Joong cutout doesn't greet customers at this location, but his face is still plastered throughout the store. The Face Shop is really using Hyun Joong as the face of the brand, even placing his face on the mirrors and business card. The workers are also friendly and helpful, so don't be afraid to approach them. Sometimes there's no worker at the register, however, so just seek one of the workers.

I wanted to buy something from The Face Shop despite not actually wanting any of their products, so I just bought their cheapest products. I chose three face mask sheets, costing $1.70 and $2 each. Sadly my purchase didn't come with any samples.

Holika Holika

This Holika Holika location is the only one outside of Asia, so I was thrilled to visit this one. The layout is simplistic like The Face Shop, but the storefront has two gorgeous Jung Il Woo cutouts greeting customers.

I had to take photos with them, as they'll be the closest I'll get to the real thing! Around the store are little advertisements of Jung Il Woo holding various Holika products and labels of his recommended products. Sistar also endorses the brand, but there was only a poster of the group on the side of the store. Prices are fairly expensive compared to other brands. The workers are friendly and helpful when I asked her to show me their lip balms; she ended up walking me to all of their lip products and describing each to me.

My first purchase (top) was the milk lip butter and nail polish, which came with a free sample. My second purchase (bottom right) was the strawberry lip butter and face mask sheet, and sadly that didn't come with a free sample. It may just be the worker, because during my first purchase the first worker sent me off without giving me a sample but then a second worker peered over and got one for me before I left. I think it just depends on the worker.

Debbie
This shop carries various Korean cosmetics. There are workers of different Asian nationalities, so if you're not confident with English, you might be able to communicate in Cantonese or Korean. They are all friendly and helped me test out products by getting the product and placing of on my hand themselves. One customer was even getting a makeover done. The prices seem a bit more expensive, but they can give you more samples as a compromise.

I ended up buying Tony Moly's Tomatox and Silky Smooth Balm and received samples for a full skincare routine that included four different products, which she determined by touching my cheek for my skin type, and she let me choose from a whitening and natural BB cream. All of my samples and the bag were from Missha, despite not buying any from that brand.

Tony Moly
I was so ecstatic to see my most favorite skincare brand about to open a store in North America! Though the glass walls are boarded with construction paper, it appears that construction is almost finished. According to the work permit posted on the front door, construction period is supposed to end on April 2nd, which is coming up!

I also took a sneak peek inside and can already see JYJ endorsing!

I got so excited about this Tony Moly location that these photos ended up extra blurry :/

Also outside of Pacific Mall is a sports shop that has large a 2NE1 for Adidas advertisement on the storefront. Unfortunately inside the store is only posters of soccer players.

If you're ever in need of cosmetics, there is an abundance of them throughout the entire Pacific Mall.  For the best selection of CDs and DVDs, your best bet is probably online.