Kensington’s Old-School Spirit, New-Age Prices
Market store owners battles high-income amenities as the neighbourhood becomes increasingly unaffordable
In Toronto’s Kensington Market, dozens of people sit at rows of tables in a large dining room on Augusta Avenue. Exposed white brick walls wrap the space; the Leafs game plays on the TV. Exposed air vents and the remnants of drywall from the Indian restaurant in this space before are barely visible but still present. Conversations are so loud and lively you can’t even tell if there is music playing at all. The red painted sign on the wall reads Trinity Common—a local bar nestled between an eclectic mix of independent businesses selling anything from freshly baked sour cherry pies to fluorescent construction wear. While outside the black steel-framed garage doors people flock to internet-famous vintage shops and surrounding speakeasies, “The Trinity” is a simply designed establishment that customers say stays true to the independent community. They may have international beers on tap but the customers are local.
Kensington Market is a popular tourist destination in Toronto. The neighbourhood, just west of Spadina Avenue’s Chinatown, originated as a Jewish market in the early 1900s. Over the past century it has continued to welcome an influx of immigrants leading to dozens of cultures settling within the food and clothing market. From its Jewish origins to the past half-century’s Chinese and Portuguese influence, the market has a rich history selling produce and international goods.
Within the last decade, the area has been populated with many high-cost specialty stores catering to a high-income audience. Vintage shops selling $150 used leather jackets and $90 Ralph Lauren polos cater to an out-of-neighbourhood audience. Although some longtime accessory stores like Butterfly have been in the Market for decades, newer, more expensive shops are lining the streets alongside corporate weed stores.
“The retail landscape of Kensington Market is becoming increasingly unaffordable for small locally-serving and immigrant-owned businesses”
Mike Shepherd is the co-owner of Trinity Common—which best describes itself as a “local watering hole.” In 2015, he co-created the beer hall that not only provides a range of craft brews and cocktails, but a place for the community to come together for a drink and light bite. Cocktails start at $13 while a pint of house lager is $7. He says the food, drink and music are important to making the atmosphere welcoming but the essence of the bar comes from the conversations.
Shepherd wears a lot of hats within the downtown Toronto neighbourhood. He is a restaurateur, Trinity’s occasional bartender and the chair of the Kensington Market BIA—which has a mission to keep the neighbourhood affordable. As he works the bar on a Wednesday night, not only does he pour pints for customers sitting in front of him but picks up the phone for patron’s queries, communicates with the kitchen staff and takes questions from a reporter sitting at the bar.
The Kensington neighbourhood has been undergoing changes as “the retail landscape of Kensington Market is becoming increasingly unaffordable for small locally-serving and immigrant-owned businesses,” according to the BIA’s Statement on Affordability. The statement warns that legacy local businesses are at risk of commercial displacement due to increased competition with corporations and businesses catering to higher income customers.
Shepherd says although the neighbourhood keeps its sense of community through its passionate and fiercely independent business owners, it has not been unfazed by the rising cost of real estate. “I got my first place [in Kensington] and my rent was $1,200 [a month],” says Shepherd, talking about a previous space on Augusta Avenue he purchased in 2005. “My rent for the same exact space with no landlord improvements in 2020 was going to be $18,000 [monthly].”
“Nights like these can be slow”
Loren March, a PhD candidate in human geography and instructor at the University of Toronto, says as older generations move out of neighbourhoods to find other amenities and services, newer residents and businesses cannot keep up with the increased cost of property.
“The business landscape on those streets…is shifting because businesses that are new and are smaller can't really stay and can't necessarily keep up with rent,” says March.
They mention how as business offerings become more expensive, the area will cater to a higher-income audience, leaving some lower earning residents with less amenities. “I understand gentrification to sort of be like a desire led process, something where people see something somewhere they want to consume it,” says March.
Some business owners are concerned that rising costs in the neighbourhood are keeping customers away after the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the right end of the bar sits a man in a cream knit cardigan and a beige wide-brimmed hat. His name is David Beaver—a longtime Toronto resident. Beaver is the co-owner of Wanda’s Pie in the Sky—a Kensington Market bakery he owns with his wife, the titular Wanda. He came to Trinity Common on “day one” to be served the first pint in 2015.
As he sits across from Shepherd, Beaver says the market has seen a decrease in customers since 2020.
Beaver stressed that since the rise in cost of “everything” in Toronto over the past few years, people need a reason to go out and drink. “You could just drink at home. A lot of people realize, ‘Hey, wait a minute, why am I going out? I could just do that here,’” says Beaver. “That's exactly why [Shepherd] is spending the money to get entertainment here. You can't get that at home.”
“When I started a business here—artists lived upstairs and artists lived next door. Now, they can't afford to live in this neighbourhood”
On one cold winter night, there were few people on the streets; five people sat at the bar in Trinity Common. “Nights like these can be slow,” said Shepherd as he poured another pint.
While some customers come for the music, others for the beer and some for the conversation; the establishment is a gathering place for locals but also a place for those looking to enjoy the Kensington neighbourhood for what it is, a mix of everything and everyone. “When you come to Kensington, you get a bunch of operators with different old school and new school businesses opening up. Kensington is more of a reflection of Toronto,” says Shepherd.
How many beers do you need to sell a month to cover the cost of operating a business in Kensington Market? As rent keeps increasing, it will be more and more. But, Shepherd says in order to keep costs down, business owners need to work together on keeping the market full of independent businesses and residents of all incomes.
“When I started a business here—artists lived upstairs and artists lived next door. Now, they can't afford to live in this neighbourhood,” says Shepherd. “[Kensington] stays a weird neighbourhood…We need hubs for artists to create, live in and feed off each other.”