City staff finalize stall shakeup to relief of longstanding tenants
Officials had vowed location wouldn’t become tourist trap
Two prominent stalls that have sat empty for months at St. Lawrence Market are finally getting new tenants, city staff confirmed this week.
Blackbird Baking Co., a respected bakery with two locations and a significant wholesale business around the city, will move into a stall left vacant when Sausage King closed last fall.
Scheffler’s Delicatessen and Cheese, a mainstay at the market for decades, is leaving its current location and moving across an aisle into the former Whitehouse Meats location — prime real estate at the centre of the main floor that has been empty since veteran butcher Leila Batten retired in September. It’s not yet clear who is taking over Scheffler’s old location.
So far, the shakeup at the market means the city is keeping its promise to not let the historic destination be overrun by tourist traps or turned into another fancy food court.
For months, some shopkeepers worried the vacancies were a sign that the market’s future was at risk after a series of controversial changes to day-to-day operations. The city, which owns the building and acts as landlord to the shops there, has been trying to modernize the market and attract more visitors by extending operating hours and opening on Sundays.
Some of the old guard argued the city was catering too much to tourists who typically buy souvenirs and peameal bacon sandwiches but not raw meat, fish and vegetables.
The concern was if the city kept chasing tourists, they’d end up squeezing out the butchers, fish mongers and green grocers who have been the core of the market for more than two centuries. So the two vacancies became a test of where the market was headed. If the city tried to bring in another sandwich shop catering to tourists, “everybody is going to revolt,” as Bob Stoyanovski, owner of Upper Cut Meats, told the Star last month.
But Daniel Picheca, the city’s manager of the market, said he wouldn’t let that happen. The process took so long, he said, because he wanted to find the right tenants. In bringing in Blackbird bakery, he kept his word.
Simon Blackwell, who owns Blackbird, said he’s been interested in getting a spot at the market for years.
“I shop there myself,” he said. “I think we’ll be a great fit there.”
Blackbird is investing $325,000 to renovate the space, and expects to open in June, he said. The stall will have a single oven to bake some product on site, but the rest will be supplied by Blackbird's two other locations, in Leslieville and Kensington Market.
While Blackbird sells sandwiches at its other locations, the city won’t allow the bakery to sell sandwiches at the market.
Borys Wrzesnewskyj, owner of Future Bakery — one of three shops selling bread and baked goods at the market — welcomed the competition.
“We’ll see how many bakeries a market can sustain,” he said. “Competition is good for everyone. It keeps everyone on their toes.”
Scheffler’s is planning to move into its new location by June, to be ready for the summer season when foot traffic peaks.
Owner Odysseas Gounalakis said he’s making the move because he needs more space. His current shop has an aisle that leads to a dead end and creates a bottleneck to the point that it’s almost impossible for a parent with a stroller to turn around.
The larger Whitehouse space, in the centre of the market, will also give his staff more room behind the counter.
Right now, they’re crammed together in one narrow pathway, surrounded on all sides by meat, cheese and slicers.
“It will be a little bit more humane,” Gounalakis said. “My guys, they’re too tight.”
Samantha Wiles, a spokesperson for the market, said the city is in talks with potential tenants for the soon-to-be-vacant Scheffler’s stall and wants to fill the space with a vendor that specializes in raw ingredients, not prepared food or souvenirs.