海角社区官网

鈥淭oday, with heavy hearts, we share the unfortunate news of Superfresh’s permanent closure,鈥� Superfresh posted last Friday. 鈥淲hile the doors to our establishment are closing, we hope that the story and foundation of Superfresh continues to live within our beloved communities.鈥�

When reached by phone, Superfresh co-founder Trevor Lui told the Star the decision to close was a combination of factors, such as trying to keep a buisness afloat in the aftermath of pandemic restrictions, increased operating costs as well as diners cutting down on eating out.

鈥淲e鈥檙e a big space and people lack disposable income. Students haven鈥檛 come back as much. With summer in its heydey, not a lot of people want to eat inside,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou need everything to come together to make a restaurant work.鈥�

The spot opened last year at 384 Bloor St. W., and quickly became a social media favourite, with people sharing selfies of the neon signage and graffitied walls housing an array of 鈥渦napologetically Asian鈥� cuisine. Lui told the Star Superfresh鈥檚 opening last spring coincided with the rise in anti-Asian sentiment and hate, as well as Asian-owned businesses seeing a larger drop in businesses due to the pandemic.

鈥淲e always built (Superfresh) for the community, a safe space to learn about the (Asian) diaspora. That鈥檚 the saddest part about this (closure).鈥�

The market provided late-night eats until 2 a.m. on weekends and sought to share Asian food, drink and arts programming.

Its offerings included Japanese sandwich spot Katsupan, Indonesian street food vendor Kaki Lima, and Auntie鈥檚 Supply, an Asian-owned snack and grocery store.

鈥淲e did lot of community events like mahjong for Lunar New Year, comedy nights, people were looking for a place for small businesses to coexhist,鈥� said Lui. 鈥淲e鈥檙e proud of what we did. Community isn鈥檛 based on four walls and an address. Maybe what we did could be carried on down the road, and I鈥檇 love to see other people do it.鈥�

Lui said he cannot comment on what will happen to the space once they鈥檙e vacated, but says the Superfresh vendors continue to or have , and hope diners will continue to support them.