Pie shop shutting down location after new landlord more than doubles rent in Toronto

A local mini chain of pie shops is shutting down one of their locations after operating at the space for four years due to a new landlord more than doubling the rent.

Sweetie Pie sells fresh handcrafted artisanal pies, and has locations across Toronto and Unionville. Fortunately they have locations where you can get your fix in the Distillery District, First Canadian Place, Unionville and Leaside, on Queen Street West, University and Yonge, and at The Well.

Still, their longstanding location in Harbord Village will be missed.

“Recently the building at 326 Harbord St. was sold. Our lease was up for renewal and the new owner sent us the lease the last week of June. We were expecting an increase however we were not expecting that the rent would be more than double with another increase yearly after that. We tried to work with the new landlord but without success. Because of this, we have made the difficult decision to not renew our lease and to move from our home at 326 Harbord St.,” reads a post from Sweetie Pie on social media.

“Please don’t take this as a goodbye as we are going to work really hard to bring you a new location in the neighbourhood as soon as we can. Because this happened all so fast, we haven’t had time to figure this out, but we do know we will miss each and every one of you.”

The post has nearly 300 likes and dozens of comments, many from people upset with the new landlord.

“I don’t understand a landlord who’d rather have an empty building as opposed to helping out small businesses that contribute so much to a neighbourhood,” wrote one person, to which Sweetie Pie replied, “We just sponsored a little league team as well and now I can’t even have them come for ice cream. This is so infuriating and heartbreaking.”

Other commenters wrote, “Greedy landlords are a cause of so many business to suffer,” “It’s disgusting how greedy these landlords are,” and “Landlord greed is killing our society!! Do they not see how vital pies are to the success of humanity?!?”

Fellow pie business The Pie Commission commented, “A good landlord is hard to find.”

Sweetie Pie was at least able to work out a deal with the new landlord, recently making a comment of their own on the post saying, “We have worked out with the new landlord to be able to stay until the end of the month! We can enjoy July together.”

Sweetie Pie will be open at 326 Harbord St. until July 27.