VIDEO: Expanding corner stores are rare in Toronto. Mark McAllister reports.
TORONTO – Increased density, supermarkets and big box stores have increased options for people across Toronto but, at the time, have made it more difficult for small, independent grocery stores.
But you can still find them sprinkled across the city.
The Friendly Butcher, on Yonge Street near Lawrence Avenue recently moved beyond just meat and is now offering local vegetables and fruit.
But the move is not just to expand business but connect with the local community.
“We’ve been around for 17 years and we want to be really local with the local clientele right, so they can come in and get a one meal shot here,” Ken MacDonald of the Friendly Butcher said.
But the corner store is a rare example of an independent store trying to expand in Toronto.
Get daily National news
Beverley Don,a representative of the Yonge-Lawrence Village BIA, says high rents make it difficult for small stores to compete.
“Definitely rents are an issue. It is very difficult for a business, that particular kind of business, to carry the kind of rents that are required.” Don said.
Don did not know the average rent for a store along Yonge Street but said many store owners are closing or renting their buildings to businesses willing to pay high rents.
However, high rents are not the only issue making it difficult for small businesses to compete with larger operations.
“Now you’ve got to go through 15 levels of regulatory approval and have everything down to your sandwich board signed off on by a city official,” Dan Kelly, a representative with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said.
Kelly said corner stores in Toronto often times were set up organically because of the need of the local community.
But Katherine Roos from the city of Toronto Economic Development said Toronto is among the easiest places in the world to set up a business.
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.