After 73 years at the corner of College and Spadina, the popular paint shop is moving north—because it can no longer afford to operate in the building it owns.
It’s a story we hear all too often: A local business that has been serving its community for decades is forced to move in the face of increasing costs and competition from big-box stores. In this case, the store is Exclusive Paints, a one-stop painting shop that has been operating near the northwest corner of College and Spadina since the late-’30s.
Having closed the store this past Saturday, owner Joe Shiewitz is in the process of moving his massive inventory to a smaller brick-and-mortar up on Chesswood (near Sheppard and Keele) in order to make way for the future tenants: Ontario/Quebec electronics chain Canada Computers. The story has all the hallmarks of a gentrification-gone-wrong tale, except for one interesting twist: Joe Shiewitz actually owns the building he can no longer afford to operate his store out of.
“Everything is just getting too expensive,” says Shiewitz. “The property taxes, the heating, hydro—I pay more in property taxes here than I’m paying in rent at the new place!”
Established in 1938 by his father-in-law, Exclusive Paints was taken over in 1978 by Shiewitz, a former painting contractor who, at the time, acquired the 10,000 sq. ft. property at 284 College St., just two doors down from the original business.
“We used to service the whole city,” he says of his loyal customer base, which includes local residents and tradespeople. “They would come from throughout the GTA to buy from us. But this was before places like Home Depot existed, so we’ve had to downsize over the last few years.”
Shiewitz’s case is curious because he’s essentially evicted himself—unwilling (and unable) to compete with big-box chains, he’s cut his losses and packed up ship. Canada Computers will soon move into the space, further demonstrating the strange dominance that tech stores have on that stretch of College. However, the building will still exist and the façade will remain similar to what it was over 30 years ago (when it was York Furniture), acting as a solemn reminder—as if one was needed—that downtown Toronto is becoming less viable for independent store owners.
