How the loss of community plazas is affecting businesses, entrepreneurship in Toronto
Posted December 7, 2022 7:20 pm.
Last Updated December 7, 2022 8:39 pm.
With the closures of legacy Toronto small businesses and a surge in housing demand, it once again highlights the loss of local plazas and presents a challenge for entrepreneurship.
The Real McCoy, a beloved 53-year-old Scarborough restaurant known for its hamburgers and pizza, will be shutting its doors on Dec. 24. Owner George Mihail and his wife Sophie have until Jan. 1 to vacate their unit at Brimorton Plaza, which is home to several other small businesses too.
“The gentrification of Scarborough right now, this is just a product of it, right? They’re putting in all these huge towers with rentals in the back and condos right behind us and now this plaza is going soon,” George said in a recent interview with CityNews as part of a look-back at his time in operation.
“It’s going to look nice and shiny, it’s going to look beautiful and whatever, but nothing has been done with the roads to accommodate it … That’s just, I guess, evolution if you want to call it or just whatever, but when it comes to something like that there’s not much retail left in the neighbourhood.”
Its anticipated demolition will take place in 2023. A 38-storey condo is set to be built on the plaza’s property, located at the northeast corner of Markham Road and Brimorton Drive.
While George has to leave the place he’s been coming into for nearly 50 years, he isn’t ready to hang the apron up for good. That desire is fuelled by passion, but also by financial realities.
“If I had the business and sold it, that was like a pension for us in the future but I’m losing out on that,” he said.
RELATED: The Real McCoy, beloved Scarborough restaurant, forced to close after 53 years
George said finding a new place, one that will likely be safe from demolition, somewhat affordable to operate and parking to support takeout operations, has been proving tough to find, and so is setting up the appropriate type of financing.
“To go somewhere else, it’s still going to cost a fortune to open up. It’s going to cost $200-250,000 to open up at another location, and that is a lot of money. So that’s a problem me and my wife have to sit down and discuss,” he said, adding it could cost him thousands to get rid of the equipment he has.
The situation George is in isn’t unique. If you look around Scarborough and elsewhere in Toronto, there are many thriving plazas. But with land values and the housing need growing, the long-term future for many of those plazas is also questionable.
Amid the areas of success in Toronto, you can find spots fading. At the southwest corner of Kennedy Road and Eglinton Avenue East steps away from Kennedy station a plaza remains boarded up just outside an Eglinton Crosstown tunnel. Near the corner of Pharmacy Avenue and Finch Avenue East, a plaza there was set to make way for townhomes. At the northeast corner of Midland Avenue and Eglinton Avenue East, a plaza was demolished as part of the extension of Line 2 further north into Scarborough.
Sid Naidu, the co-founder of Scarborough Made — a group that aims to document the social aspects of Toronto’s east end. He called The Real McCoy a “cultural institution.” Naidu has been sounding the alarm about the loss of places like Brimorton Plaza.
“It’s sad but I feel it’s become so common that we’re expecting plazas to close and it’s just like we’re holding our hearts when it’s the time. And I think it’s the chance that development is happening in Scarborough, we are noting it, and it’s a question of how do we hold onto these cultural institutions for me,” he said, going on to highlight difficulties at certain spots along Eglinton Avenue as a result of construction work tied to the Scarborough subway extension.
“We’ve seen a lot of plazas closed because of that subway extension. In this case with The Real McCoy, it’s another development coming in bringing housing which is necessary too. But we always have to ask at what cost.”
RELATED: Some neighbourhoods choking with traffic as businesses await Eglinton Crosstown delay info
Naidu said Scarborough’s strength is an “arrival city-feel,” a spot where people can “plant seeds and grow” — something that happened often in plazas. He said he hopes larger, commercial entities don’t squeeze out local, smaller businesses.
“I think everybody that’s had this conversation of growing up in these neighbourhoods … I really do feel like that start has allowed hopefully more entrepreneurs to blossom and go from there, but I think the big question is how do you kind of survive in these new developments,” he asked.
The City of Toronto, Naidu said, has a role to play here, especially when it comes to support marketing in the background and provide programming support in certain neighbourhoods such as in Malvern where Malvern Town Centre is at risk being torn down to make way for condos.
As part of this story, CityNews also spoke with Toronto Coun. Paul Ainslie about the loss of The Real McCoy. He represents Scarborough–Guildwood, the ward where the business is located, and said he and his family have visited The Real McCoy all throughout their lives.
“It’s something that the neighbourhood really appreciates. I certainly don’t want to see them go,” Ainslie said.
He went on to cite other parts of the ward where development has threatened to remove small businesses, adding he’s tried to rally residents to make the case for keeping spaces.
“Made sure they understood if this building goes in, you lose your variety store. So, I got them involved (and) the condo owner has agreed to have retail space,” Ainslie said, referring to a project not far away at Tuxedo Court that would see a plaza with a pharmacy too.
“We’re trying to make walkable, liveable communities where you can walk to the amenities. The last thing I need is someone ripping down the neighbourhood variety store for a condo.”
As for what should be done, he said he would like to see more business improvement areas (BIAs) in Scarborough to help support operators and boost marketing efforts. Ainslie said there are 38 BIAs across Toronto and three of those are in Scarborough.
“Scarborough with a quarter of the population of this city, I think we need to do a lot more particularly in Scarborough to support businesses,” he said.
“There’s going to be more and more development in Scarborough along our main avenues and we have to protect those businesses.”
Coun. Shelley Carroll, the new chair of Toronto city council’s economic development committee, said commercial and local retail needs to be a part of the mix into the future.
“Council has watched locations empty out, so when we come to building housing we’re also generating new retail spaces,” she said.
“Anytime you’re building multiplex housing, if it’s going to be multi-storey the main floor should have some retail opportunity in it. What’s important is that it’s useable and so we’ve really got to turn our mind to what businesses need right now so that we really are … what is lost and what new could serve retail.”
CityNews also contacted Ontario Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Minister Vic Fedeli’s office to ask about potential financial supports for small business operators like George being forced to close and/or relocate as well as what’s being done to ensure operators still have access to more affordable rents. During the 2022 Ontario election, Premier Doug Ford even stopped by during a campaign swing through Toronto.
Spokesperson Vanessa De Matteis didn’t fully address the questions posed, but she touted the provincial government’s “support” for small businesses.
“We enable an annual $7-billion in cost savings for Ontario businesses and offer a range of province-wide programs and supports to assist starting and growing new companies,” De Matteis wrote in a brief statement.
“We will continue to help Ontarians develop their businesses by reducing regulatory burden and making it easier to be an entrepreneur.”
Meanwhile, regardless of what happens, George vows to open again in Scarborough after a well-deserved vacation.
“It will be Scarborough, I owe it to Scarborough I don’t care it’s got to be one there and then we’ll worry about anywhere else if we do decide to expand,” he said.
“But the first store has got to be in Scarborough and stuff, right, it’s going to be our flagship, it has to be. It might take some time though.”
