A growing number of Toronto’s bars, restaurants and shops are closing forever: Here are a few that are gone for good
As COVID-19's deadly toll grows across the world, the pandemic is also forever changing the business landscape of Toronto.
With non-essential businesses ordered to close, some have already said they won't be reopening when the pandemic is over; they're gone forever.
From neighbourhood favourites like Vesuvio Pizzeria in The Junction and hip tiki bar The Shore Leave to the 60-year-old Canadian Jewish News, here's a look at some of the businesses that have been lost to COVID-19, whether it was the primary cause or simply the last straw.
THE SHORE LEAVE, 2015-2020 (1775 Danforth Ave.): After non-essential businesses were ordered closed in late March, east-end tiki bar The Shore Leave decided to try takeout and local delivery of some of its fruity, tropical rum-based drinks. It didn't bring in enough to pay the bills, said co-owner Julian Altrows.
"We were selling a few of our pre-batched cocktails, but it wasn't nearly enough to cover rent. We're a place that depends on people congregating," said Altrows, who let his landlord know in advance he wouldn't be able to pay April's rent because of COVID-19.
This week, the landlord evicted the bar, which had become a neighbourhood favourite, and one of just a handful of tiki bars in Toronto. Altrows isn't looking for pity, but warns that more and more small businesses are at risk of closing permanently.
"The black and white of it is that we didn't pay rent. I get that. I think in a month, my story's going to be super common," said Altrows, who admitted that even before COVID-19 hit he'd been shopping around for another location. The Shore Leave's five-year lease had been set to expire this September. Even if he and co-owner Zach Littlejohn had rent deferred for the next few months, the upcoming end of the lease meant The Shore Leave was likely finished, at least at its current location.
"Best-case scenario we'd be able to open at the end of July probably. That would have left us only a month to go on this lease to make up for all the money we'd lost during COVID-19," Altrows said.
Now, The Shore Leave is gone for good.
"I'm optimistic that I'll be back working in this industry again at some point when this is all over. But this business? It's finished," Altrows said.
CANADIAN JEWISH NEWS, 1960-2020 (1750 Steeles Ave. W., Concord, Ont.): After 60 years of documenting Canada's Jewish community, the CJN published its last edition April 9.
The paper and its website, like many media outlets, had struggled since a brief, two-month hiatus in 2013. With advertising and subscription revenue already dwindling, the economic impact was simply too much to survive, CJN president Elizabeth Wolfe said in a note to readers.
"The economic devastation striking our community has also affected The CJN. The CJN suffered from a pre-existing condition and has been felled by COVID-19," Wolfe wrote, adding that it was a difficult, emotional decision to shut down for good.
"Please know that we have done everything in our power to continue The CJN for as long as possible. It is with tears in my eyes that I conclude: It had a good run. Everything has its season. It is time," Wolfe wrote.
VESUVIO PIZZERIA & SPAGHETTI HOUSE, 1957-2020 (3010 Dundas St. W.): It was a Junction mainstay for 63 years, and the first place to offer New York-style pizza in Toronto.
Ettore Pugliese, the last surviving brother of four siblings who opened it in 1957, told the Star's Karon Liu that COVID-19 made it difficult to survive. And with no idea of when things will get back to normal, he made the decision to close for good.
"We have a fantastic delivery service, but a lot of people are cooking at home and there's no one outside. When you also look at rent, taxes, wages, it's a long chain " I can't see this going for another two, three, four months. I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel. It's too distant," Pugliese said.
WOODLAWN PUBLIC HOUSE, 2018-2020 (1276 Yonge St.): This cosy Rosedale-area gastropub closed in early April, after owner John Oakes gathered his 15 staff members and told them COVID-19 made it too difficult to continue operating. Under previous ownership, Woodlawn had been known as The Monk's Table, and had one of the top selections of craft beer and single malt in the area.
Woodlawn (and The Monk's Table) had also hosted popular monthly open mic story-telling nights.
If you know of a business in the GTA that has permanently closed due to COVID-19, please email business@thestar.ca
Josh Rubin is a Toronto-based business reporter. Follow him on Twitter: @starbeer