After 40 years of calling Bathurst Manor Plaza home, Metro Hardware and Maintenance is moving.
The family-run business at 221 Wilmington Ave. in the Finch Avenue and Dufferin Street area will close its doors at the end of the work day Thursday, March 11 and will open in its new location at 72 Martin Ross Ave. Monday, March 15. "All the customers are saying how much they'll miss us, but they will see us in the new place," said Jacob Benbihy, son-in-law of owner Aby Moses.Benbihy said the family had toyed with the idea of expanding the business for quite some time and spent about two years looking for a building that could accommodate the growth."We still wanted to stay in the community," he said. "The new location is five minutes away. So people who are used to walking to us will now have to drive. That's what people are going to miss. We outgrew our space a long time ago."With plaza property owner Monarch Waterview Development Ltd. saying it doesn't have the space Moses would need for expansion, the decision was made to uproot, Benbihy said."Our present store is 3,500 square feet with the basement and the new space is 20,000 square feet," he said. "We are like an old-fashioned hardware store. Here, everything was stocked on top of everything, but the new place will be more efficient and we will be able to stock a lot more items."Noting his father-in-law will miss "everything" about the old location, Benbihy said Moses will set eyes on the new space for the first time Friday, March 12, three days before opening. "For me, relocating is bittersweet," Benbihy said. "I've been working at the store for only four years but it's hard for me as well. We have all grown accustomed to how things work here. We all yell across the store to each other and we'll miss that part of it and the camaraderie with the clientele. But it's an exciting time as well. We're going to really miss everyone in the plaza."In 2006, the plaza owner proposed to build a 150-unit townhouse development on part of the Bathurst Manor Plaza land.The application, dating back to 2002, called for the housing project to be built in the plaza where a vacant grocery store stands.At a community meeting held that year that attracted some 500 residents, many who spoke were against the proposal, noting concerns with increased traffic, crime, litter and added pressure on the city's sanitary sewage system.Several residents said at the time they welcomed development that fit in with the neighbourhood, adding efforts should be focused on fixing up the plaza and not building townhouses. A recent revised application now calls for 377 apartment units in two buildings of six and seven storeys, 44 townhouses and 10,000 square feet of retail space.