Shipping containers whet entrepreneurs’ appetites
Jun 1, 2012 The Globe and Mail by ADRIAN MORROW
WORLD NEWS, Toronto, Canada
Nine of the 12 stalls serve food, and 30 to 40 people are on a waiting list hoping to snag one of the spaces, Ms. Hall says.
A string of orange and yellow market stalls decorates the southeast corner of Dundas and Bathurst streets, where vendors offer everything from crêpes to T-shirts to bicycle repairs.
Metal tables and chairs line the sidewalk, giving passersby a place to stop for lunch, sip a little home-made lemonade or catch some shade under a row of trees.
Two years ago, this spot was just a drab stretch of pavement abutting a concrete wall on the edge of the working-class Alexandra Park neighbourhood. But Scadding Court Community Centre has transformed it into a bazaar, assembling disused shipping containers and renting them out to merchants to convert into shops.
It’s an innovative model that jazzes up the streetscape and gives entrepreneurs a cheap way to get started. Market 707, named after its address on Dundas, is also helping rectify one of Toronto’s biggest failings: the lack of diverse street food.
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Category: World News
