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Toronto non-mall retail (Odds & Ends)

  • Thread starter marksimpson7843
  • Start date
It looks like Rogers is taking over the Forever 21 building at Yonge and Dundas - unless it's just advertising.

Yes, this has been in the process for a while. The scaffolding surrounding the store just came down. They are in the midst of replacing the signage on the top of the building with a larger LCD billboard that curves around the roof.
 
Apparently Balzac's is set to go national.

Today there are 14 of the artisanal coffee outposts with 4 under development.

But the goal, it seems is now 100-150 across the nation.

The owner is remaining w/the company; though ceding the CEO post to a former Swiss Chalet/Nandos etc. exec.

.

Personally, I'm dubious, I like this chain; and I'm all for it if they can maintain what makes it special; but I'm concerned that's hard to do at 100+ outposts.

Hopefully it'll work out.
 
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I believe it's also to do with the QRC Phase 2 development getting ready to start soon:

 
Sadly, 'Meat on the Beach' has closed suddenly, as of yesterday.

Meat on the Beach was a butcher at heart, but had really evolved into a near full-service grocer, with produce, dairy, condiments/sauces, pasta and assorted frozen and baked goods.

A neighbourhood institution of more than 20 years, first in the 'Beach Mall' and more recently on the north side of Queen, a bit west of Woodbine.

You will find this note on their website:

It is with great sadness that we must announce that Meat on the Beach’s last day of business was Friday, January 3rd, 2020. We have served this community for over twenty years with great honour.
Thank you to our valued customers and supporters for shopping with us over the years. We have made great memories and friends along the way.

All good things must come to an end. We don’t know what the future will hold but when one
door closes another will open.

Love,
Anna and Martina


www.meatonthebeach.com

From what I understand from a friend there are indications the space is already being gutted today.
 
One has to be very brave to open a business with these rents. I don’t like the odds.

I had a friend of mine suggest him and I open a restaurant in Downtown Toronto and I quickly shot it down. He wanted to open an Indian restaurant but was looking for a cheap space downtown.

I called him crazy and skipped out on the idea because the costs to open any small business in Toronto is insane. You cannot open anything in Toronto for less than 4 grand a month all in these days. When you factor in staffing, product costs, rent and electricity it is not cheap anymore. Unless you are an established chain or have a stellar product/service it will be hard to succeed.

The beaches in particular is has been bad for business in the past decade. So many small businesses have gone tits up recently along Queen Street East and no doubt it is because of artificially high rents. The services and products these former businesses offered were not of high enough value to warrant the high rents and the foot traffic in the off season along Queen East is not exactly high.

Look at the Tulip that just went out of business at Queen and Coxwell. Rumour has it the landlord wanted to charge 10000 a month in rent. The consensus is they wanted to force out the tulip to sell the property to a developer.
 
I had a friend of mine suggest him and I open a restaurant in Downtown Toronto and I quickly shot it down. He wanted to open an Indian restaurant but was looking for a cheap space downtown.

I called him crazy and skipped out on the idea because the costs to open any small business in Toronto is insane. You cannot open anything in Toronto for less than 4 grand a month all in these days. When you factor in staffing, product costs, rent and electricity it is not cheap anymore. Unless you are an established chain or have a stellar product/service it will be hard to succeed.

The beaches in particular is has been bad for business in the past decade. So many small businesses have gone tits up recently along Queen Street East and no doubt it is because of artificially high rents. The services and products these former businesses offered were not of high enough value to warrant the high rents and the foot traffic in the off season along Queen East is not exactly high.

Look at the Tulip that just went out of business at Queen and Coxwell. Rumour has it the landlord wanted to charge 10000 a month in rent. The consensus is they wanted to force out the tulip to sell the property to a developer.
The Tulip story is very sad. I have had more than a few brunches and late night dinners there.
 
Rockwell Jeans, located on the alley way behind the Imperial Pub (Dundas East & Victoria), is closing after 40 years in the biz. ?

 
Random tidbit of urban trivia. Rockwell Jeans is the later adaptation of the World's Biggest Jean Store, which used to be right at Yonge & Dundas.

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