As someone born within an immigrant family from Hong Kong, it’s no surprise that communities like Downtown Chinatown hold a special place for Cecilia Chung.
The University of Guelph-Humber student said many of her dearest memories were created with family rendezvous in the neighbourhood, something that quickly became sparse when her family moved out of Toronto.
It wasn’t until she revisited Chinatown, located at Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street, that she realized how truly different it had become. The kinesiology student said the restaurants in this neighbourhood were what she remembered the most, with many of these establishments providing welcoming spaces for the community.
The closure of mom-and-pop shops in this communal neighbourhood, however, is showing the telltale signs of gentrification and displacement. These original businesses were integral parts of the community. They're being replaced by franchise restaurants that don't encapsulate the history and the immigrant experiences that many of these initial stores had. Significant markers of Chinatown's history and culture are fading away.
“I remember my mom would always stock up on pineapple buns and pork buns for me from Furama, but now it’s gone. Where else can I find buns for $1 in the GTA?” she asked.
Chung is referring to a bakery named Furama Cake & Desserts Garden, which used to be located in Chinatown until September 2020.
Many netizens at the time were heartbroken by the closure, posting their qualms about it on social media X. One user, Evy Kwong, posted how they thought the closure of Furama would welcome real estate representation from chain restaurants, such as Jack Astor’s. Another user, Samantha Lui, replied to Kwong’s post, echoing the sentiment.
“I’ve noticed a lot of pricier ones opening up on Yonge St. So not the same, because how people feel it has to be ‘trendy’ for others to buy from them,” Lui said in a post.
Monique Attrux, a graduate associate at York University with the York Centre for Asian Research, witnessed a similar instance with a restaurant named Kom Jug Yuen. She said the now-closed restaurant was something that felt like home to her, with the closure still jarring for her.
“What happened? Everything's gone,” she said. “Where is Kom Jug? It used to be an inside thing where we were like, yeah, I love Kom Jug. And then it's like there's like, guilty pleasures, like, I love, I love the people there."
“And it's like, yeah, they're always like, grumpy as hell. But you still love them,” Attrux said.
Kom Jug Yuen was previously located on Cecil Street, in the core of Downtown Chinatown. Now, its location is currently occupied by a CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice.
“I'm looking back, I was like, wow. Like, we don't even have that anymore. I don't even feel like Toronto has any Kom Jug left,” she said.
This sentiment isn’t exaggerated, however.
Downtown Chinatown has slowly changed from a bustling, welcoming neighbourhood to a shadow of its former self due to gentrification. COVID-19 encouraged developments similar to Furama.
The Chinatown Tomorrow initiative was a community consultation process within the City of Toronto, led by city planners Patricia Cho and Ran Chen. The initiative sought to learn about the distinct history and culture from community members to understand how to better serve Downtown Chinatown.
The project began in August 2023, before its findings were shared in a report in October 2024. One of the points highlighted was the effects of COVID-19 on these communities, with the report specifically mentioning the anti-Asian hate that was amplified during this period.
“While all main streets suffered during the pandemic, impacts to Chinatowns were particularly intensified by anti-Asian hate,” the report said.
“This has heightened concerns of gentrification and displacement, as downtown Chinatowns, which were historically located in the most undesirable fringes of the city, now find themselves situated on highly valued real estate,” the report said.
This concern of displacement is further shown in recent history. For instance, a website titled Making Space acts as a resource to promote discussion on equitable land development and planning for marginalized communities in Toronto.
One development archived as a case study is a proposal for a plaza adjacent to Kensington Market. Toronto forwarded an application to replace several blocks of Chinatown with a 13-storey mixed-use apartment building.
The building would’ve displaced many beloved businesses, with the most notable one being a dim sum establishment named Rol San Restaurant, according to the case study.
The development review process was heavily criticized by the community, with many residents being excluded from the process. The case study specifically points out how invitations were held primarily in English, which excluded many community members.
The case study shows how virtual community consultation meetings were arranged for translators to accommodate these needs. Despite this, development continues for the apartment, with many businesses within this area already displaced.
Attrux pointed out issues within Chinatown that aren’t touched on by mainstream media.
She references an academic paper by Liza Kim Jackson, The Complications of Colonialism for Gentrification Theory and Marxist Geography, that highlights the link between gentrification with settler colonialism, specifically touching on the land of Indigenous people.
“You’re reclaiming Chinatown for the locals? Like, this is not your land, right? And so, for Jackson, it was basically trying to say it’s settler colonialism [and] reappropriate it,” she said.
“There was honestly like a baseline for so many people, including Indigenous people, other white European migrants who were poor,” Attrux said. “And so, the loss of Chinatown affects everyone because it’s a symptom of something deeper in society where we’re just racing to the bottom."
She said she had family who lived there who eventually “gone up into the middle class,” with their experiences echoing the experiences of residents within Chinatown, of immigrants wanting to move up in society for the sake of their families.
Attrux said she has a family member who owned a restaurant but eventually let go of it because of how strenuous the work is and the changes in property values because of gentrification. It’s a similar story to many of the local businesses within Chinatown.
“All of these businesses were the backbone of society,” she said. “That’s why they were driven to get out and aspire to the middle class. In a way, its survival, right? You did it, you want to forget it." She said.
"But then it’s like, once these businesses are gone, who comes to inhabit them?” she asked.
Attrux said these spaces are often occupied by franchise businesses, such as Congee Queen or Chatime, due to the economic incentives. She brings up how CoCo replaced the lot that was previously inhabited by Kom Jug Yuen.
“I love boba tea. I'm not against that. But there is a power disparity here. It's a different business model, right? It's a franchise model. That's been proven to work based on numbers,” she said.
“Whereas a lot of the mom and pops, who started these businesses, were not necessarily … about cost, but it was a different model. It was serving the community,” she said.
Many community-led organizations have come together to fight against this development. Two significant ones are the Toronto Chinatown Land Trust and Friends of Chinatown. Both aim to showcase the needs of the community or simply bring them together.
Attrux said Friends of Chinatown serves the needs of the community and studies how displacement gentrification affects everyone.
“For example, PhD students or academics might have a four-year-long project to study community organization, and then they get funding from the government,” she said.
“It makes the so-called scholars go into the community, work with the community, provide knowledge,” Attrux said. “And then also a lot of the funding can be made to create more community events that bring people to Chinatown, revitalize it through that work. So, there is some good work done for Friends of Chinatown.”
Chung said, despite the changes happening in Chinatown, she doesn’t think it will vanish.
“It’s a convenient place, everything’s close to you. There’s cheap food, cheap groceries, it’s still pretty nice,” she said.
“Whatever the community decides to do, I think Chinatown will still be OK,” she said. “As long as people remember Chinatown is for everyone, I think things will be OK.”
