750 Burrard Street (also known as 969 Robson Street, or "Robson Central") is a building in

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada, at the northeast corner of Robson Street and Burrard Street. The site was home of the main branch of the

Vancouver Public Library Vancouver Public Library (VPL) is the public library system for the city of Vancouver, British Columbia. In 2013, VPL had more than 6.9 million visits with patrons borrowing nearly 9.5 million items including: books, ebooks, CDs, DVDs, video game ...

from 1957 to 1995
Vancouver historicplaces.ca
In December 1996, Canada's first (and ultimately only) Virgin Megastore opened on the lower level; Virgin eventually decided to exit the Canadian market and sold the location to

HMV Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...

in September 2005. In late 2011, HMV Canada, now separately owned by

Hilco UK Hilco Capital is a British international company that specialises in restructuring and refinancing other companies. Notable projects Hilco has been involved with these companies, and in some cases owning and operating them for a period of tim ...

, announced plans to close the Burrard location in January 2012 as part of a corporate refocusing towards smaller locations. HMV closed at this location on January 23, 2012. The southeast corner of the building was also the first

Planet Hollywood Planet Hollywood International Inc. (stylized as planet Hollywood, planet Hollywood observatory and ph) is a themed restaurant chain inspired by the popular portrayal of Hollywood. The company is owned by Earl Enterprises corporation. Earl En ...

in Vancouver opened on March 16, 1997. The main entrance was on 969 Robson Street. It was closed in October 1999 after bankruptcy. The upper levels were taken over in fall 1997 as studios for the newly launched independent TV station VTV. The station later became part of the

CTV Television Network The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned television network and is now a divis ...

(now owned by Bell Media), and the site now serves as Bell Media's west coast headquarters. The site selection, and much of the VTV format, had been inspired by

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

station

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and the iconic downtown studios that were at the time synonymous with the station. Incidentally, CTV would later acquire the Toronto building in question (but not City TV). ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', which was co-owned with CTV from 2001 to 2010, later moved its Vancouver offices into part of CTV's space; its offices remain in the building despite no longer sharing common ownership with CTV. Later, radio stations 94.5 Virgin Radio, 103.5 QMFM (now Move 103.5), TSN Radio 1040 (now Funny 1040) and TSN Radio 1410 (now BNN Bloomberg Radio 1410), all co-owned with CTV since 2007, also moved into the building. In the early 2010s, CTV reduced its space so that its offices are no longer directly accessible from Burrard Street; though it remains in the same building, it now uses the address 969 Robson Street. Besides Bell Media and the ''Globe'', current occupants include a flagship

Victoria's Secret Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing, and beauty retailer known for high visibility marketing and branding, starting with a popular catalog and followed by an annual fashion show with supermodels dubbed Angels. As the largest ret ...

/ Pink store, as well as a Clearly Contacts retail store.

References

External links

Morguard building profile
{{CTVglobemedia Buildings and structures in Vancouver Government buildings completed in 1957 Bell Media Television studios in Canada Mass media company headquarters in Canada

See also

References

External links