By Laura Hull –
The Shoppers Drug Mart at Queen Street East and Parliament Street will close in early September to make way for a new condo development. A new Shoppers is set to open at Queen East and Sherbourne Street in the fall – but without the grocery offerings that the older store carried.
After the No Frills on Front Street East and Princess Street inevitably closes, affordable and accessible grocery stores will be harder to find in the Downtown East. One of Councillor Moise’s priorities is to attract grocery retailers to the area, according to his office’s site.
Walied Khogali Ali, a community organizer from a coalition group in Moss Park and activist in the community, said the drugstore closure “is frustrating and disappointing. It means we have less options for groceries and Canada Post.”
“The increase in our local population will make it difficult for us to access the important neighbourhood businesses that serve our community,” Ali added. “We need more options.”
Shoppers Drug Mart did not offer a comment when the bridge reached out.
Several community residents expressed surprise at the change on a Moss Park Neighbourhood Facebook group. Marie Emmorey said the closure isn’t fair to seniors “who need [their] Shoppers to stay put.”
Nearly 12 per cent of the population of Toronto’s Downtown East consists of seniors, according to the 2021 census. Nearly 39 per cent of the residents make less than $30,000 a year.
ONE Properties says its 445-unit condo to be built at Queen and Parliament will be 27 stories tall and open for residents in the summer of 2026. The tower is supposed to house a grocer and several retail units.
A major high-rise development replacing the No Frills store at Queen and Princess has been approved, but developer First Gulf says it has “no plans to develop in the immediate future,” CityNews reported. Councillor Moise’s office told CityNews demolition would be “at least a year” away.
Walied Ali expressed concern over these new condo developments “due to lack of housing affordability.”
“We need to implement real solutions by guaranteeing deeply affordable housing through rent geared to income units. Developers should be taking direction from local residents on how development can be done without disrupting the social fabric of the community.”
The community activist added that “benefit agreements with big developers and transit agencies like Metrolinx, the introduction of more local social enterprises, and a neighbourhood association that can support and coordinate local economic development” would entice grocery stores into the area.
1 Comment
This shoppers closing is not going to effect the food desert situation in the area, no one on a low income is getting their groceries at shoppers smh, the new development is going to have a grocery store as per your article. This is a good thing for that corner. Write better content.