It was a beautiful morning of April, when after I decided to have an impromptu “expedition” through random streets in Toronto, I came across an old building, whose location seemed at first quite unfortunate, considering that it is surrounded by sky scrapers and office buildings. Being intrigued by its simple and old architecture, I decided to go into the building whose name was engraved in granite on one of the side walls – Saint Lawrence Market.
The market, which looks at first glance more like a warehouse, is the home of many small and quite unique businesses. Most of the shops are specialty shops like Cheese shops, Wine Shops and Meat Shops. I was quite surprised of seeing an independent shop that sells Wine, considering that in Toronto, one can only buy alcohol from a shop called LCBO ( Liquor Control Board of Ontario).
I really like small, independent, family owned shops. And this market is full with them. One of the shops I adored is called Scheffler’s. Opened in 1955, the shop offers a big range of cheese from different countries, as well as old bottles of wine, many types of olives and Italian salami. Curiosity made me buy and try out cream cheese with olives. I must say, eating this was one of the simplest, cheap and delicious lunch I had in Canada.
Another shop that got my attention was a meat shop called Upper Cut Meats. Within this shop, one can find any type of meat. Besides, by being a retail, I believe that many restaurants are buying the meat they serve from this shop.What I like about this market is that I was able to also find things that I wouldn’t necessary expect to find. In the basement of Saint Lawrence Market, I was able to find a family owned jewelry shop that was selling semi-precious stones, a shop selling hats, a shop selling specialty food for vegans, as well as a shop claiming to sell traditional gypsy clothes and jewelry. Besides, in the basement of the market, there was a Polish shop, a Chinese shop, few bakeries as well as a couple of shops selling souvenirs. A flower shop and a fruits and vegetable shop were also there.
Another thing that I really liked about this market is that even though there are many shops selling the same type of products, each of the shops is special in its own way. As a visitor and a client, I did not get the feeling that the shops are competing with one another, but that each shop is having its own loyal clients. The only restaurant of the market was actually a Fish restaurant. There were a lot of business people having their lunch there.
When I got home and did my research about St. Lawrence Market, I found out that the building of this place served as Toronto’s first city hall from 1845 to 1899 and its Toronto’s premier market. Besides, I also found that that the actual market is split in the South Market ( which is the one I visited) and the North Market which is also called the Farmer’s Market.
In the end, I enjoyed a lot discovering such a wonderful building which is the home of more than 50 specialty vendors. I recommend to future exchange students to definitely visit the place and even have a lunch there. The market is very close to Sony Centre, as well as CN tower, which are also a must see places in Toronto.
