Award-winning Toronto ice cream shop closing location due to rent increase
A Toronto ice cream shop known for its French-style custard scoops is preparing to close one of its locations due to a significant rent hike.
Ruru Baked is a small-batch speciality ice cream shop with a rotating menu that includes innovative flavours like everything bagel, banoffee pie, brown butter + honey + sage, and mais con yelo (Filipino sweet corn dessert), as well as baked goods such as sticky toffee cake, Hawaiian butter mochi, and cookies.
The shop's team announced that they'll be closing their Pacific Mall location on March 23, roughly two years after first opening in April 2023. The decision comes after the shop's lease ended, and the landlord proposed a steep rent increase that the team said wouldn't be sustainable based on sales at the location.
"We decided to move because the rent raise was going to be too high for the amount of revenue that store generates, it just wouldn't be worth it for us. There are also a lot of restrictions at Pacific Mall like no cooking at all so we can't offer coffee or tea, make waffle cones, or bake there. The hours of the mall are also very short," Ruru Baked said in a statement.
The Pacific Mall location faced challenges with limited operating hours, closing at 8 p.m., while their Lansdowne location typically sees a surge in customers during late-night hours, particularly in the summer.
The closure sparked heartbroken reactions from loyal customers, with many lamenting the loss of their favourite ice cream spot. "The only reason why I go to this mall. A tragedy," one customer shared, while another wrote, "Their loss. Best ice cream and staff around. Looking forward to the next chapter!"
Speaking of the next step, the shop's team teased in the initial closure post that the business would be taking on a new direction very soon, and now, we have all the details.
In the spring, the shop will be rolling out the Ruru Truck, which will park in private lots for about a month at a time across Toronto, from Parkdale to Queen East and The Distillery to Leslieville.
The business even asked their customers to suggest potential parking spots in Scarborough, Markham, Pickering, Mississauga, Etobicoke, and North York.
A calendar of locations and dates for the truck will be available on their website in April.
Until then, you can still get your ice cream fix at their flagship location at 659 Lansdowne Ave.
Fareen Karim
