Toronto fish store that supplies some of the city's top restaurants is closing
A beloved Toronto fishmonger that may just be supplying seafood to your favourite restaurants just announced it's going to start winding down operations.
While five years isn't a record-breaking amount of time to keep your business open in Toronto, to become an inarguable local staple and supply some of the top restaurants in the city and its surrounding area in that time is nothing to sniff at.
Such has been the case for Brockton Village's Affinity Fish.
Founded by Jon Klip and Matt Taylor (Actinolite, Restaurant Pearl Morrissette, Sakai Bar), the fish shop has carved out a distinct niche for itself since it opened in 2021, specializing in Canadian freshwater fish, which they offer in a retail capacity, wholesale and serve on their scant à la carte menu.
Ask any chef in the city — home cooks included — where they can find the best fish in the city, and a staggering majority will respond, emphatically, Affinity Fish. Case in point, you can find their catches on menus at dozens of restaurants across Ontario.
The tide is soon turning for Affinity Fish, though, as Klip and Taylor took to Instagram on Saturday, Sept. 12, to announce that they'll soon be shelving the business' retail operation for good.
"After four years at 1581 Dundas St. W, and six years total building this company, we've made the difficult decision not to renew our lease and to close this chapter of Affinity Fish," the caption of the post, which was also shared as an email to the store's mailing list, reads.
It's not a decision that the pair has taken lightly, Klip and Taylor explain, but during its five-year run, they simply "haven't been able to make the business financially sustainable in its current brick and mortar."
Still, Affinity Fish is far from a failed business.
"Over the past five years, we've worked closely with local fisheries to help improve the systems and quality behind the fish that reaches your plate, and we feel we've enriched food culture in Ontario through it," Klip and Taylor write.
Lucky for Toronto's fish fiends, the last day in business for Affinity Fish is still on the distant horizon. The shop will remain open in its regular wholesale, retail and restaurant capacity until its lease ends on Jan. 16, 2027, giving the city a full four months to get their fill.
After that, Klip and Taylor won't be going far. According to the post, Taylor plans to launch a new venture called Satchmo, inspired by Japanese robata, that will focus on local Canadian fish and seafood and kick off in a pop-up capacity, while Klip plans to continue supporting restaurants and fisheries in adapting sustainable practices.
Having already shaped Ontario's seafood scene considerably, it looks like Affinity Fish will continue to do so, even after the business itself is gone for good.
Affinity Fish is located at 1581 Dundas St. W.
Fareen Karim
