Before starting your walk, familiarize yourself with the layout of Complexe Desjardins. Located downtown adjacent to Place des Arts, the complex link to nearby office building and the underground pedestrian network. To get around, use its digital directory mapping out the lower levels to the upper retail levels. It is designed for a specific purpose. It won’t tell you which corridor lead to the lobby of an office building. But once you’re on the right floor, it’ll direct you to the retail shop you want on the same level. Once on that floor, it will point you toward the unit.
The best way up in a building this high is with Search: it takes you directly to the unit (upper left). And it opens that level’s view, which makes all the difference. You might be on the wrong floor and think you’re making progress until you hit a dead end. If you only know what kind of errand you want to run, then start from the sidebar. It could be for home goods, services, fashion, or food. In the list, clicking the names or yellow shapes open the same note you would get from a search. The note tell you what the business does. It does not pitch the store.
Complexe Desjardins Directory Map
Zoom controls is in the bottom right corner. Or just use the scroll wheel to zoom. It’s readable on a phone, too. But of course it’s full screen. The level selector is up in the top right hand corner. In fact, that’s how you navigate around in the building: you change floors by changing the level. You don’t walk from one end of a floor to the other and then go upstairs. The retail space is not evenly distributed throughout the complex. Some floors is full. Others are thin, with just a few unit cut out of the towers’ structures.
If you’re meeting someone in one of the shops, try to find their name and start browsing at that level. The directory will be the busiest. If you don’t know the name but want to browse, trust the floor number that pops up when you do your search. For example, both Dollarama and Winners is easy pins to find. These stores won’t replace the level button. They’ll simply indicate which section of the floor you’re aiming for. First, settle the floor.
Like most downtown complexes, food offerings split into two categories: the kind you grab at a counter between the metro and your next errand, and the kind that requires a reservation in a dining room. And some directory listings seem to predate the opening of the door. Read the write-up first, so you don’t mistake it for a destination. Bank-like errands… Clinics and services… Is their own sidebar heading. They’re appointments, which have their own doors. Try to locate them by roaming the fashion wing and you’ll get lost.
It’s connected to other buildings. You might find yourself entering the door far from the shop. Before committing to an escalator, check out the level. The underground link is convenient. It’s also easy to come out on the wrong side of the block. First, name the level. Second, name the wing.
You make two trips for a fashion stop and a food stop on separate plates. They both seem to be indoors in Desjardins. The office lunch hour is one thing, but show nights at Place des Arts are another. At noon, it’s an easy detour; at night, it’s a bad meeting spot when the sidewalks are full of people. While you’re underground on the metro, decide where you want to meet by picking a specific wing and level. Plates is wide. No one will know what “near the complex” means. A level number is a clear direction.
A walk around during weekday errands is a different pace different than a browse on weekends. The food counters capture the lunch rush from the offices. The retail floors slow down later. Each tenant has its own hours. On holidays, those hours shift faster than the directory drawing gets updated. Confirm the store before making the trek. Those control shapes and that level number is there to put you on the right plate. They don’t serve as a brochure for all businesses in the towers.
