Sunnybrook Plaza is down to three or four independent, one-store operators One of those few, gift card and wrapping paper store Wrap-it-up, is about to close after 30 years at the corner of Bayview and Eglinton. “It was just that the rent was too high,” said a clerk today about her boss’s decision to pack it up. And it’s true that the capacity of a stand-alone business to weather bad conditions is not as great as a chain. But there’s also the viability of each business for its own time. In the past, the sale of cards, paper and little china gifts could sustain a large space like that occupied by Wrap-it-up. Now retailers have ever more specialized fare and are misers when it comes to paying for space. The reliable post office in Wrap-it-up will also leave the plaza. All postal services in South Bayview will be consolidated at the Shoppers Drug Mart on Bayview Ave. As for Sunnybrook itself, this is an end-of-lease departure which so far seems to have no new tenant waiting in the wings. Indeed, the eviction of Mountain Bean Coffee over unpaid rent has left a multi-month vacancy at the other end of the plaza for owners RioCan. The Wrap-it-up location is a prime one however, sitting between two important anchors, CIBC and Pharma-Plus. Few independent shops left at Sunnybrook Plaza
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Sunnybrook Plaza is down to three or four independent, one-store operators One of those few, gift card and wrapping paper store Wrap-it-up, is about to close after 30 years at the corner of Bayview and Eglinton. “It was just that the rent was too high,” said a clerk today about her boss’s decision to pack it up. And it’s true that the capacity of a stand-alone business to weather bad conditions is not as great as a chain. But there’s also the viability of each business for its own time. In the past, the sale of cards, paper and little china gifts could sustain a large space like that occupied by Wrap-it-up. Now retailers have ever more specialized fare and are misers when it comes to paying for space. The reliable post office in Wrap-it-up will also leave the plaza. All postal services in South Bayview will be consolidated at the Shoppers Drug Mart on Bayview Ave. As for Sunnybrook itself, this is an end-of-lease departure which so far seems to have no new tenant waiting in the wings. Indeed, the eviction of Mountain Bean Coffee over unpaid rent has left a multi-month vacancy at the other end of the plaza for owners RioCan. The Wrap-it-up location is a prime one however, sitting between two important anchors, CIBC and Pharma-Plus. 