Burnaby’s Lougheed Town Centre is located at its namesake SkyTrain station. Its shopping directory covers two primary level. These levels is not stacked on top of each other, with a small upper level added to a massive lower level. There’s another layer above them: a very narrow level located on the switcher. So the map’s first job is to drop you onto the floor where the store you’re looking for reside.
Entering through the station doesn’t require selecting a level. It feels like arrival… But you might still be one plate away from your destination. Find what you’re looking for fastest by using the search box in the top left. It find your location, centers the unit and changes the level. That way you know which floor to go to and don’t ride the closest moving staircase.
To get around to places that haven’t been given a clear name yet, use the sidebar. It break down food, electronics, fashion, beauty and services into their own list. Clicking on any one of them pulls up the same description as clicking on an item in the list. At the bottom right are buttons and the scroll wheel to zoom in. On a phone, you can also view the full screen, showing the stack of floors. Level controls is located in the top right.
Lougheed Town Centre Directory Map
A walk on the lower shopping floor aims you toward London Drugs and Tim Hortons. Walmart might be an upper-level destination, so don’t assume you’ll only enter the station at one height; a trip around your home might take you upstairs too. The names aren’t a list of all the stuff you’re going to see. Once you’ve determined the level, find the smaller unit and stick to that wing. If a name opens up the narrow upper level, trust the button. That plate isn’t a replica of the two shopping floor, and no, walking to the end of L1 or L2 won’t get it downstairs.
Food takes a real share of a day that starts at the station. The description lets you know if you can sit down for a meal or just grab something at a counter between the train and an errand. This allows you to weigh your choices and decide on a meeting spot.
Some listings aren’t open doors but announcements. There’s a heading in the sidebar for services and clinics; they’re appointments. If you try to wander around to find them in the fashion wing of whatever floor you entered, you’ll lose them.
The station connection is convenient, but it is prone to abuse. Order errands by level so that you don’t walk over the floor you’re about to return to. One errand is on the lower level; one is on the upper. You get off for an errand at a pharmacy-like store. Then you get back on for a Walmart run on the top level. That’s a vertical route. But if you do those out of order, you’ll end up passing the same escalator twice.
Add to this Austin Road and the bus loop and its own set of doors. The closest door to the train isn’t necessarily the closest door to your pin. Look where the unit is sitting on the plate before committing.
The evening crowd on the station in Burnaby is a different one different than the office lunchtime one that packs the food counters. When the platform is packed, a shop that is easy to visit during lunch may be a bad meeting spot. Best to get your wings and levelling done before you even leave the train. Nobody follows “near Lougheed” directions with plates this broad. They follow a level. And a side of said level.
Find yourself on the slimmer upper floor? Consider it its own appointment. Don’t treat it as part of browsing the two floors of shopping below.
Hours differ by tenant and move faster on holidays then the drawing. Check first which store was worth the journey. The level button on the map will save you time if your building is connected to a station. Getting lost down a corridor is the hard mistake. Spending the visit on the wrong floor. You should of checked first. Making the visit on the wrong floor is actualy a mistake. It’s more luxurius to plan ahead.
