The Globe and Mail

Maple Leaf Gardens, built in 1931, sits on Carleton Street in Toronto.

Quiet in December, 2009, this corridor was a bustling area as players would walk through this area on their way back to the locker room.

Rows of empty seats at Maple Leaf Gardens.

Rows of empty seats at Maple Leaf Gardens.

Harold Ballard, former owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, would watch games from the private box (just above the yellow seats) in one corner of the arena.

The old Toronto Maple Leafs locker room.

Photo showing the last time the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup (1967).

The empty ice surface at the venerable Maple Leaf Gardens was the site of an announcement that will see supermarket chain Loblaws opening a store there.

Galen Weston Jr. and and Jim Flaherty at the start of the press conference.

Artist rendering of the renovated Maple Leaf Gardens.

Construction begins. The seating has been removed and most of it sold off, exposing the corridors and windows and allowing natural light to fill the empty space.

All construction photos taken on May 7, 2010.

Peter Gilgan, founder and CEO of Mattamy Homes, left, faces off against Sheldon Levy, president and vice-chancellor of Ryerson University during a ceremonial puck drop by John Carmichael, MP for Don Valley West, inside the old Maple Leaf Gardens on Nov. 29, 2011.

Peter Gilgan, who has contributed $15-million to Ryerson for its new athletic facility, speaks at a news conference. The new facility will be named the Peter Gilgan Athletic Centre.

People work to deliver items to the new Loblaws store inside the old Maple Leaf Gardens. The official opening of the new store is Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011, at 8 a.m.