Bloor may have its Mink Mile, but Coxwell has its Dollar Block. A Dollar Tree store (almost) opened today, to compete with the Dollarama a few doors away. A store inspector was late arriving, so no one knew when the public would be let in. [I don’t think the doors ever did open on Opening Day.]
An independent dollar store at the intersection went bust a few months ago, but a little independent bargain store is hanging tough. I wish him well in his struggle to survive the chain stores.
Coxwell and it’s intersection companion Gerrard East are hosting an odd mixture of businesses these days. Some aspire to serve those who like their lattés and buy nice toys and things for their children and pets. Goodlife Fitness is there to keep them trim. The Gerrard Art Space hopes to decorate their renovated homes with paintings and sculptures.
There are plenty of empty stores in the neighbourhood, where older businesses have decayed away. A Coffee Time on the corner serves the donut crowd, its sidewalk a conversation place for people who still smoke. Home Hardware has been on the block for a long time. Everybody needs hardware, but the new dollar stores will steal away sales of smaller items.
No Frills feeds us groceries… often selling products 20% cheaper than other supermarkets, for the same brands. The price for this is a down-at-the-heels building, limited stock availabilty and a kind of us-versus-them approach to customers. Security guards, so say the signs, might poke through your bags and buggies if they want to.
Some Indian Restaurants, textile shops and grocery stores are surviving in the Gerrard Street strip we call Little India, but hard times are evident. Much of the Indo-Pakistani customer base has moved out to the ‘burbs. Whether or not a specific ethnic character can be sustained remains to be seen. Some efforts have been made with street festivals and mural decorations, but the attempts are sporadic and spotty.
It’s a mixed bag. A lot of the little houses on the side streets sell for half a million dollars and up. Apartments over stores offer low rent. Toronto old timers share the streets with new Canadians. Young and old, fit and infirm, well off and hard up… it’s not a neighbourhood in transition to gentrification, although there are pressures in that direction. It’s more of a melting pot… like Toronto as a whole.