Life in The East End

Live Here

Gerrard India Bazaar is a highly desirable neighbourhood within the boundaries of Leslieville, Toronto, with a notably high public realm ranking. Described as a 'very bikable, walker's paradise with excellent transit options' by officials.

Work Here

Gerrard East is home to over 125 South Asian shops importing specialty groceries and vibrant fabrics. The BIA helps to empower and promote local businesses through shared resources, insights and marketing efforts.

Play Here

Our Mainstreet Market is in the Greenwood-Coxwell neighborhood in Toronto. Nearby parks include Coxwell Avenue Playground, Greenwood Park and Fairmount Park. We have a number of great experiences, festivals and tours during the summer months.

Shop Here

The BIA encourages everyone to exert influence with your purchasing choices. Shopping local has a number of significant community benefits including a reduced environmental impact, job creation, supporting diversity, local prosperity, and increased face time with neighbours.

🇨🇦 🇮🇳 🇱🇰 🇵🇰 🇳🇵 🇲🇻 🇧🇹 🇧🇩 🇦🇫

North America's Largest South Asian Mainstreet Marketplace

This slice of the Indian subcontinent offers a wide selection of products and services exhibited in an exotic display of sights, sounds, tastes and aromas.

Neighbourhood Overview

East Gerrard is a charming, laid-back neighbourhood with a friendly
small-town vibe, located 20 minutes east of downtown Toronto.

Surrounded by cultural attractions and home to a diverse population, the area is highly desirable place to live, work, and shop.

During the summer months, crowds flock to the area to explore, shop, and celebrate the festival of South Asia

The Gerrard India Bazaar Business Improvement Area (BIA) proudly represents over 125 business with over 500 employees.
from cute cafes, desi fashions, art galleries, salons, spas, cozy restaurants, boutique shopping, specialty stores, and more.

Our boundaries span Gerrard Street East between Glenside Ave to Coxwell Ave.

The BIA, a city agency, is managed by a volunteer board of directors consisting of local business and property owners, and staff, who work strategically to attract visitors, beautify the streetscape, and improve the business climate in the area.

Canada’s main streets are iconic symbols of urban life and belonging — where we go to shop and do business, eat, play and participate in civic life.

Public Realm Rankings

Our Mainstreet Market is in the Greenwood-Coxwell neighborhood in Toronto. Nearby parks include Coxwell Avenue Playground, Greenwood Park and Fairmount Park.

Gerrard Street East has a Walk Score of 90 out of 100. This location is a Walker’s Paradise so daily errands do not require a car.

Gerrard Street East has an excellent Transit score of 87, which means transit is convenient for most trips, with streetcar stops located within a 1-minute walk across the BIA.. Car sharing is available from Zipcar.

Gerrard East is considered to be ``very bikeable`` with a score of 75. Flat as a pancake, with some bike lanes. Bike Share is readily available nearby.

Gerrard East is home to over 125 South Asian shops importing specialty groceries and vibrant fabrics.

Demographics

Statistical data relating to the population and particular groups within it. examples include: age, race, ethnicity, gender, marital status, income, education, and employment.

Population

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Average Income

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Households

own vs rent

% at work vs % at home

Psychographics

Personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles.

There are at least 93,000 individuals interested in luxury products and boutiques living within a 2-mile radius of Gerrard India Bazaar.

Urban Professionals

Leslieville has a well-established reputation as a hip village for Toronto’s creatives and professionals.

South Asian Visitors

Because the BIA is such a well known cultural hub, a significant number of South Asians frequently visit the area to shop at the Bazaar – Not only from within the GTA – But across the globe.

#LocalLove Advocates

A number of Leslieville residents are advocates for shopping local to support small businesses, thanks to the #locallove movement.

Sources for statistics, data and analytics have been collected from a number of open sources including: Facebook analytics, walk score, public surveys and more.

Available Storefronts

We are collaborating with local realtors, spacelist.ca, and local landlords to keep this listing up to date.

The Gerrard India Bazaar Business Improvement Area (BIA) proudly represents over 100 business with over 500 employees. Our boundaries span Gerrard Street East from Glenside Ave to Coxwell Ave

Our goal is to provide a digital platform to help recruit businesses to the area that are an ideal fit and truly serve the needs and interests of our local community.

What Our Community is Saying

The Bazaar is a fantastic destination to spend the day exploring with friends, family, or even solo!

By Design Our BIA Is

Fostering Local Economic Development and Revitalization

Historically all BIA’s have helped to promote the area as a desirable place to live, work, and shop. This is often achieved through developing a strong brand, content and marketing practices, coordinating special events and sponsorships, keeping open communication with local community groups, and even recruiting businesses to occupy vacant properties.

Fostering local economic development and revitalization in an area can stimulate new impetus for tourism and investment in the wider community. Increased business activity can improve both the municipal and sales tax base and support public services of benefit to all. Fostering community engagement can strengthen and build community interest, spirit, pride and networks well beyond the boundaries of a BIA.

We're Here to Help

Tools + Resources

Our BIA is committed to helping our community thrive and flourish. Not only do we activly promote our local businesses, we are also working to help connect business owners with the tools and resources they need to succeed.

Welcome to Our

Village of Dreams

From a village in Punjab to the first dedicated Bollywood theatre in North America. The Naaz Theatre, was not an immediate success. But owner Gian Naz refused to give up.

The whole family pitched in. Naz’s wife Shobha worked the ticket counter and prepared snack food to sell. Their children—Tina, Sunila, Ken, and Sonny—distributed flyers at gurdwaras and Hindu temples to advertise upcoming films. Business picked up within months.

South Asian entrepreneurs soon identified the large theatre-going crowds as an emerging market and businesses proliferated in the immediate vicinity of the theatre in the 1970s and 1980s. The majority of businesses were (and remain) mom-and-pop enterprises.

By 1982, the South Asian character of the business strip was formalized with the creation of the Gerrard India Bazaar Business Improvement Area. Over the years, the BIA would fund additional parking spaces, and improvements to the sidewalks and streetlights, and host annual street festivals that continue today.

Watch Village of Dreams to Learn more about how Little India Toronto began

There’s always something happening.

Stay in the Loop

Meet our members and keep up to date with all the happenings in the East End.

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Subscribe to our quarterly community email newsletter where we spotlight champions of local economic growth, celebrate community resilience, encourage neighbours to connect, and share valuable offers from our local shops.

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Contact Us

Gerrard India Bazaar BIA Office

1426 Gerrard Street East,

Toronto, Canada

M4L 1Z6

 

416-465-8513

© 2020 Gerrard India Bazaar BIA
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