Tosi’s | institution | Tosi & Company has been selling Italian specialty products to Vancouverites on the edge of Chinatown for over 100 years. Currently run by Angelo Tosi, entry into the store is obtained by ringing the doorbell. Walking inside is like stepping into a museum of early Vancouver retail history. Angelo’s father, Peter Tosi, immigrated to Canada in 1906 and opened P. Tosi & Co. at 550 Union Street in 1913. In 1930, the business moved to 624 Main St., where it currently operates, albeit tenuously. The increased cost of importing specialty products from overseas and ever-increasing property taxes have made it impossible to consistently turn a profit. In August of 2016, Angelo Tosi (now in his 80s) put the building up for sale. The store is still open a year later, but likely not for much longer.
Usage | “After Tosi’s finally leaves the block, then what? More condos that no one can afford?”
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And UBC’s Chinatown office next door (north of Tosi) in the ex-Standard Bank (of Hong Kong), and the ex-HSBC bank building on the corner, (though signs indicate that VanCity CU is moving there)
And 188 Keefer has been sold for $4 million across the street.
Still the new Millennials (18 to 35) don’t care about the district they now inhabit.
I saw a checked-shirt, tattooed, muliple pierced couple come out of the Keefer tower, ignore the wonder Chinese Night Market foods, to to Virtuous PIe and take about 6 flat boxes back to their upstairs apartment.
Trendy, but unfeeling.
Sad.
Is Tosi’s still operating? It doesn’t appear vacant three years later!