Closing time for Avenue Road cookware store
Since 1984, the Main Course has provided North Toronto residents with table linens, dishes, crockery and décor – the stuff needed to prepare and present an elegant evening’s entertainment.
The store at 1910 Avenue Rd. will be closing for good on April 18, “if we even last that long,” according to retiring owner Marjorie Agnew.
She cites an aging customer base and online competition as contributing to her decision to close up shop. The clientele she has known for the past 30 years are older now, she said, and “don’t really need anything.”
“They’re divesting themselves, if anything,” she commented. “And the younger generation is shopping online, which is a whole other business I don’t really want to get into.”
Since announcing in February the store would close, Agnew has seen a succession of longtime customers drop in to say goodbye and take advantage of her clearance sale. By the first week of April many barren shelves could be seen next to the dwindling supplies of placemats, wine glasses and non-stick frying pans that remained.
Real estate agent Ruth Halperin, a steady customer for more than 10 years, said she has been “very sad” to learn the Main Course would be closing. While browsing the remaining pots, she said she would miss the store’s “friendly service and great selection.”
“Almost without exception, every single person who has come in here has been sorry that we’re closing,” said silver-haired Lynn Dicresce, who has worked at the store for 11 years. She is one of the newest employees. Other staff have worked there for as long as 20 years.
Agnew cited her expert staff, some of whom have worked at the store for 12, 18 and even 20 years, as a key factor that drew customers from throughout the neighbourhood and across the GTA to the Main Course.
Agnew called the closing “bittersweet.” On the bright side, she said, she will now have time to enjoy her many hobbies, which include tennis, bridge and curling.
Not to mention the two activities that inspired her to open the Main Course in the first place: cooking, and entertaining friends.
