‘Bittersweet’ festival for Danforth businesses forced to close due to Ontario line

While the Taste of the Danforth festival has brought hundreds of thousands of people to the Greektown area to try new cuisines and businesses after being dormant for the last three years, for some, it will be their first and last time participating in the festival.

Many businesses on the Danforth will have to close to make way for the Ontario subway line that Metrolinx is building, and that has left some with no plans to relocate elsewhere.

“We’ve been around 30 years. We started on Queen West near Bathurst in 2014, we had to move from there because the rent went up really high. So then we found this location on Danforth in Greektown. We just love it here so much, I wish we didn’t have to move out,” said Kalsang Dolkar Gyaltong, co-owner of Tibet Shoppe.

“We survived COVID, so we were thinking now good things ahead of us. And now this terrible thing happened, it’s kind of a devastating kind of shock for us.”

For Tibet Shoppe, they will be moving their operations online, but other businesses may not have the same future to stay open.

Not all business in the designated area have officially closed, but are expected to by the end of the month.

“This is my father’s building, so I just assist with my brothers. This is a family business that we have, we’ve been here for 28 years, it is our legacy, it is our home,” said Tassia Sgouromitis, who helps run Eton House with her family.

“There’s no words to describe how much we’re gonna miss our building, it’s not something we’ve ever wanted. This building represents out family, our kids, my kids work here, it was never to be sold.”

For many family businesses, like Eton House, the future is uncertain with no immediate plans while others will be relocating within the area to Pape Avenue or Chester Avenue to remain in the community.

But many people who live in the neighbourhood know the values of Greektown and believe the community will stay vibrant, with plans to keep as many businesses close as possible.

“Obviously that’s a huge and gaping hole because some of those businesses are not relocating in the area. It’s like a death in the family, the Greektown family,” said Mary Fragedakis, executive director of the Greektown BIA.

“We fight hard to maintain what is ours and we’re not going to give up and we’re going to continue to fight to keep our thumbprint, footprint, whatever print on this neighbourhood.”

The Ontario Line is a 15.6-kilometre subway line that will run from Exhibition Place, through the heart of downtown Toronto, all the way to the Ontario Science Centre. It’s scheduled to open in 2031.