Beloved Toronto bakery closing down after 13 years

A Toronto bakeshop that has been a staple for the past 13 years just announced it'll be closing down at the end of the month.

There was a very distinct period of my life, one that I look back on with equal amounts of mortification and nostalgia, when I lived in the Beaches and was a very, very staunch vegan. We're talking the type of vegan who actually believed you could subsist quite easily on roughly three-dozen bananas a day.

Though I'd typically spend my days loading up on sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli and dates, whenever the occasion for a special treat would arise, it was a non-negotiable: I was going to Tori's Bakeshop.

Founded in 2012, conveniently several years before my big vegan adventure, the quaint bakeshop occupies a charming space far east on Queen East, deep in the heart of the neighbourhood — but the location did little to stunt the bakery's success.

In fact, so popular did Tori's become (with no help from my failed attempts to become a vegan food blogger in 2016) that they later expanded their production, supplying a slew of cafes and restaurants across the city with their animal product-free treats, and even selling in a handful of grocery stores.

Thirteen years after opening their inaugural location, the hype surrounding Tori's Bakeshop has never waned, but, despite that fact, the bakery took to its Instagram account on Monday, June 2, to announce that they'll be closing down their brick-and-mortar business this month.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Tori's Bakeshop (@torisbakeshop)

"After 13 years of baking with love, connection, and purpose, Tori’s Bakeshop on Queen East will close its doors on June 22nd as the building has been sold to new owners," the post reads.

As disappointing as the news of the closure may be, though, there is a small silver lining: a new business is already lined up to carry the torch Tori's has kept lit in the community for more than a decade.

"Our space will soon be home to a new non-profit café, Judy’s, with a powerful mission: to provide meaningful employment opportunities to people with disabilities and to create a welcoming environment where purpose, community, and inclusion can thrive,

It's always a refreshing thing when the usurper (if you will) upholds the values of the original business, and it sounds like Judy's will be doing exactly that and then some. Not too shabby.

On top of that, you'll still be able to get your fill of Tori's treats, not only because Judy's will be serving them, but because their wholesale business, which supplies cafes and grocery stores across the city, will remain alive and well.

Tori's Bakeshop is located at 2188 Queen St. E.