Nearly 30-year-old Toronto Starbucks location among 4 sudden closures over weekend

The cards have already begun to fall in Toronto after cafe mega-chain, Starbucks, announced late last week that it would soon close 250 stores across Canada and the U.S.A.

Though Starbucks is still gearing up to open new locations in Toronto, you can't make an omelette without breaking a couple of eggs (or, in this case, make a latte without grinding a couple of beans), and four locations in the city have officially closed down as a result.

One of the chain's first Toronto locations to topple also happens to be one of the city's oldest.

Open since the late '90s, the Starbucks at Church and Wellesley has been among the chain's most beloved locations in the city for the better part of three decades.

As of Saturday, Sept. 26, though, the location has officially closed its doors for good, joining other longstanding locations like Queen and Brookmount and Spadina and Richmond, that have similarly shuttered in recent years.

Lamented though it may be, the closure of Starbucks' Yonge and Church location doesn't come out of nowhere. In 2024, a transition from sit-in to pick-up only at the cafe was the first sign that its decades-long lifespan may be in jeopardy.

The neighbourhood reacted with major outcry to the transition, citing the coffee shop's role as a local gathering place, a sentiment that's surely being echoed in the wake of the closure.

6ixRetail reports that 36 locations across Canada, including three more in Toronto that also shut their doors over the weekend, are among the closures slated, adding to a total of nearly 50 Toronto locations that have closed since 2021.

In addition to 485 Church St., locations at 350 Bay St., 2451 Yonge St., and 123 Portland St. have also closed.