When one door closes, another …
[attach]2005[/attach]It had been a while since I’d trolled the shopping climes on Yonge just north of Lawrence, and I must say a recent sojourn there was slightly depressing.
Rent signs abound in Yonge Lawrence Village. True, some of the vacant shops are the result of natural retail deaths, like the retirement closing at Chiltern Place, which after 30 years of biz is closing its doors at the end of August —sooner if all the stock and hardware, like chairs and fixtures, go sooner.
3199 Yonge St. 416-485-6144.
Others may be in a different boat. Rents are too high, many business owners on the strip tell me, and it’s not a newsflash to say that small business has suffered everywhere the past year, not just here.
Gone but not forgotten
My heart broke to see that longstanding Repeats Resale Women’s Boutique at 3313 Yonge had closed up shop recently. A For Lease sign is now in the window, as with Martin House Dolls at 3333, which had recently relocated to the strip from Thornhill. The phone number for the business is disconnected but the website, [url=http://www.martinhousedolls.com]www.martinhousedolls.com[/url], is still online.
There are more. Sandy’s Blinds and Drapes at 3435 Yonge is closed, I’m not sure for how long. And a Skin Vitality medical spa at 3324 Yonge is also no more, though a sign in the door directs people to the 11 Yorkville location.
Other For Lease signs dot the streetscape.
But as sad as it is to see both longstanding and relatively new shops close their doors, I’m a shopping optimist and believe that when one door closes, another opens.
New shops; new life
There are signs of life in Yonge Lawrence Village, and successes to be celebrated.
On the corner of Snowdon Avenue and Yonge, the space formerly occupied by the Euphoria Spa bears a proud Sold sign over the commercial For Sale property sign — a harbinger, perhaps, of what’s in store for the village.
I hear there’s a new Shoppers Drug Mart coming in just a few shops south of the Rexall Pharma Plus at 3402 Yonge. And it looks as though there’s a new chiropractic and rehab clinic called Movestrong at 3310 Yonge.
416-491-5860 [url=http://www.movestrong.ca]www.movestrong.ca[/url]
Culture vulture
In the recently opened Dawon Culture of Asia Tea & Furniture, I meet owner Naomi Kim, an Ontario College of Art and Design grad and artist who immigrated to the city from Korea in the mid-1990s. Her Asian concept is evolving even after being open six months.
I’d like to think Naomi embodies the pluck and adaptability a retailer’s gotta have these days.
At the moment, she’s liquidating the bulk of her furniture inventory to expand the tea concept (Dawon means “place of tea” in Korean, btw)— which means some mammoth pieces are a good 70 percent off.
Naomi’s goal: share Asian culture with the ’hood, and help impart calmness through tea.
By the time this column is published Naomi will be selling around 100 types of tea, 80 percent of which are organic, along with organic coffee, another new addition.
There will also be a new seating area where peeps can chill and quaff tea from lovely Japanese cups.
3467 Yonge St. 416-440-1200 [url=http://www.dawon.ca]www.dawon.ca[/url]
From burgers to blooms
Meanwhile, a new Leaside Blooms sign over the storefront at 3372 Yonge indicates there’s fresh retail life blooming in the former space of Bayview Blooms, which recently closed.
I chat with owner Rick Truckle, who was renovating the space when I pop by. Rick tells me he’s hoping to open Aug. 3. He and his wife Aileen have been running Leaside Blooms at 854 Eglinton at Laird for 25 years, 23 as a foodie and flower shop, and that location will be closing by the end of July.
A butcher by trade, Rick tells me they ended up focusing exclusively on flowers a few years ago when it became apparent that part of the biz was growing over the grocery.
The new shop will sell bucket flowers and also offer floral arrangements for occasions. They take orders and deliver worldwide.
There’s a global perspective for ya.
416-421-4230 or visit [url=http://www.leasideblooms.com]www.leasideblooms.com[/url]
Hair outreach to the ’hood
A few doors south at 3338 Yonge St., Peter Ciardulli and his wife Luisa are celebrating a decade in biz at their unisex hair designs and esthetic salon, Calia Hair Design.
Peter’s been cropping mops for 22 years and, as a new educator with a Canadian hair industry group, is faced with a style task of epic proportions: to bring back the perm.
When he’s not doing perm outreach across the province, Peter will be snipping the ’dos of his clients as usual.
He and Luisa support their community, doing yearly makeovers for harried but deserving moms at the North Toronto Mom’s Group for free; it’s a relationship they’ve been nurturing since opening.
They hope to do an open house to mark the anniversary in September, so keep tabs on the website or Facebook group.
416-440-2696 [url=http://www.caliahair.com]www.caliahair.com[/url]
