We took a stroll along Queen Street West between Bathurst St and Niagara Street – a block with a normally low vacancy rate at retail level, usually busy with pedestrians passing multi-cultural restaurants and boutiques. Interesting to note that in 2014 Vogue Magazine rated this same strip as the 2nd coolest neighbourhood in North America.
As these photos relate, the majority of stores on Queen Street West are either closing or closed – both small owner-operated businesses as well as franchises of larger companies. We peeked in windows – some shops are locked up and look frozen in time whilst others are boarded up or in the middle of packing their wares.
