As COVID-19’s deadly toll grows across the world, the pandemic is also forever changing the business landscape of Toronto.

With non-essential businesses ordered to close, some have already said they won’t be reopening when the pandemic is over; they’re gone forever.

From neighbourhood favourites like Vesuvio Pizzeria in The Junction to the 60-year-old Canadian Jewish News, here’s a look at some of the businesses that have been lost to COVID-19, whether it was the primary cause or simply the last straw.

SOUTHERN ACCENT 1984-2020 (839 College St.)

After almost four decades of serving up jambalaya, gumbo and crawfish to spice-hungry Torontonians, Cajun-Creole favourite Southern Accent is closing its doors for good.

Owner Frances Wood, who opened the restaurant on Markham Street in Mirvish Village in 1984 then moved to College Street three years ago, says the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to continue.

“It was bad enough three years ago when we had to move from Markham Street. It was like starting a new restaurant. Now we were just finally getting somewhere, and then COVID-19 happened,” said Wood, who made the decision to close after meeting with her accountant and reviewing all the government programs offering aid for businesses struggling to deal with the pandemic. Taking on a loan — even if some of it was forgiven — just wasn’t an option, Wood said.

“We just couldn’t see any point in taking on more debt. What’s the point if I’m only operating at 50 per cent capacity, after having been closed completely for who knows how long?” asked Wood, who expects business in restaurants to be slow, and some form of social distancing to be in place after restaurants and bars are allowed to reopen.

“I don’t see how anyone’s going to even be able to pay rent if they’re only half full. Who knows where this is going?” said Wood, a native of Northern Ireland who came to Toronto as a nurse in 1965.

It was an emotional decision to call it quits, Wood said. She’ll miss the customers, the food, her beloved bar, and most of all, the people who worked alongside her. In an industry rife with staff turnover, Wood had many staff who stuck with her for years, including Thessavan Maniceavasakan, who started 22 years ago in the kitchen, then became head chef and business partner in 2008.

“I feel really sad about it,” said Wood, who started Southern Accent at a time when Torontonians had barely heard of jambalaya and gumbo, let alone be able to tell them apart.

“We had to explain things at every table. People didn’t know what this stuff was. We had to get our own fish import licence so we could bring in crawfish and alligator, because nobody else was bringing it in. We made our own spice mix, once we found out what to use,” said Wood.

Southern Accent’s Mardi Gras parties were legendary. One year, with the crowd at the restaurant fortified by bourbon sours and Sazeracs, they decided to take a stroll and celebrate in public, beads and all, Wood recalled.

“We decided to parade around the block. We were all freezing because there was snow and wind but it was a great time.”

In 1998, Wood got a call from two men who wanted to bring their mother in for a visit, but said she usually only drank Johnnie Walker Black. Wood got some. A few days later, the men came in with their mother — Maya Angelou. The American poet and author was in the Greater Toronto Area working on the film “Down in the Delta,” which she directed; Southern Accent ended up hosting the wrap party.

“She was just an incredible presence. When she came into the room, everyone just listened. She was so kind, too,” said Wood.

While she had been in the restaurant industry previously, having co-founded the Rosedale Diner, Wood said she and her then-business partner Dubi Filar hadn’t eaten much Cajun food before opening up Southern Accent. Serving that sort of fare wasn’t the initial plan.

“We gave it the name Southern Accent because it was originally going to be Southern European food. Italian, Greek, some Israeli. But I really thought we should be only one kind of food,” said Wood.

A short while later, Wood was on a trip to New York. While strolling down a street in the NoHo neighbourhood packed with quaint little restaurants and bars, she was drawn in by the aromas emanating from Great Jones Cafe.

“It was the jambalaya. I didn’t even know what that was at the time. They also had a sign saying ‘Cajun martini.’ I knew I liked martinis, so I went in and had a drink. Everything smelled so good I had dinner too.”

It was love at first bite.

During the first year, Wood closed up shop for a week, and took every single staff member down to New Orleans to soak up some on-the-job culinary lessons.

“I took all the money we were going to spend on advertising and brought everybody down to New Orleans. We all worked in different restaurants for a week,” said Wood, who carried on the tradition afterward, taking groups of staff to New Orleans for periodic refresher courses.

Fans of Southern Accent took to social media to mourn its demise.

“I’m so sad to hear this. I was just telling a friend about this amazing place I use to go to when I lived in Toronto, Southern Accent, and that I really want to check it out again when it all becomes possible again,” Drazenka Saric wrote on Facebook.

The news was also sad for Soraya Haick, who called Southern Accent her favourite restaurant ever.

“Spent so many birthdays, first dates and girls’ nights, and just hanging at the bar enjoying the best bourbon sours on the planet! The best blackened chicken livers ever! Dining in Toronto will never be the same.”

MARCHÉ MOVENPICK, 1992-2020 (Brookfield Place)

For more than 25 years, Zenon Polejowski got up before dawn to bake thousands of muffins, cook hundreds of omelettes, and serve them up to appreciative customers at the downtown restaurant where he worked.

Now, Polejowski is at home, bored, frustrated and in shock after having learned that the restaurant — Marché Movenpick — is closed for good. The news came in two waves — one disappointing, and one shocking, Polejowski said.

First, Swiss hospitality giant Marché International told employees in a letter March 31 that it would be closing its Canadian operations at the end of May, citing a slowdown in business punctuated by the COVID-19 pandemic; employees would be getting any money owed to them, including salary, severance and banked vacation pay.

Then, April 17, came a letter from bankruptcy trustee BDO, saying that the company was issuing a “notice of intent” to creditors that it intended to give them a “proposal.” In other words, he’d be getting a fraction of what he’s owed, if anything.

“I was in shock. First I got the letter saying I’d get the wages, and the severance pay, and the vacation pay. Now, I’ll probably get nothing,” said Polejowski, who had been expecting 10 weeks severance pay, and roughly the same in vacation pay.

Marché International executive Hermann Ircher, in an email to the Star, said the company had decided to focus on its core operations in Europe and Singapore, but that COVID-19 had hastened the departure from Canada. He said the company will try its best to help employees, but its hands are tied.

“Marché feels a very strong moral responsibility toward its employees. The management will do its best for its employees, but in the current situation it is also obliged to follow the advice of our trustee and comply with the legal rules of the NOI (notice of intent),” Ircher said.

Polejowski, like his 200 or so colleagues, is now trying to find work. But given the destruction COVID-19 is wreaking on the hospitality industry, many are finding it slow going, particularly those who are in their 50s and 60s.

“I’ve got a friend there who’s 62, and she was planning to work for another 10 years. Now, she’s saying, ‘Who’s going to hire me?’ ” said Polejowski, who had worked at the Brookfield Place location since shortly after it opened in 1992 as a franchise.

He stayed when the franchise collapsed amid lawsuits over failed U.S. expansion plans, and then was replaced by its former franchisee, Richtree. In 2010, Richtree left, and Marché Movenpick came back, this time as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Swiss company. At its peak, Movenpick had restaurants in several Canadian cities, including Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa. The first one opened on York Street in 1980.

The notice sent to creditors, including employees, written by BDO Canada’s Josie Parisi, said Marché Restaurants Canada owes more than $1.4 million to a list of creditors ranging from the LCBO to a downtown law firm, and small food suppliers such as HUH Imports Inc.

HUH owner Hans Ulrich Herzig, who’s owed $4,532.40, was discouraged when he got a March 31 letter about Marché pulling out. He was furious when he got the letter from the bankruptcy trustee.

“Movenpick is a big, rich company. The first thing you should do is pay your employees and small suppliers. This is shameful,” said Herzig, a chef who runs a small business importing cheese and charcuterie, mostly from Switzerland. The restaurant, which includes the Movenpick Café, was still placing orders six weeks before the notice from BDO, he said.

“They were placing orders right up until the end of February and early March. The last one I delivered was for around $2,500 the first week of March,” Herzig said. “The little guy gets hit. Every thousand matters. It’s not fair, but what can I do about it?”

A spokesperson for the LCBO, which according to the BDO letter is owed $163,813.48, declined to comment.

BDO declined to respond to interview requests.

Insolvency expert Bryan Gelman, owner and managing director of Albert Gelman Inc., said filing a notice of intent is usually the first step in restructuring by a company looking to free itself of some debt in order to stay in business. If creditors don’t agree to the restructuring and a court doesn’t approve it, a company can file for bankruptcy. (That also happens if the company simply doesn’t make a proposal within 30 days from the notice).

“Typically the concept in a restructuring is that you offer creditors more than they’d get in a bankruptcy,” Gelman said.

If Marché does end up declaring bankruptcy, Polejowski, as well as other employees and creditors, are more than likely out of luck, Gelman said.

“Typically in restaurants, the underlying value of the equipment is so small that bankruptcy produces very little, if anything, for the creditors,” he said.

PROHIBITION GASTROHOUSE 2007-2020 (696 Queen St. E.)

Construction and COVID-19 were a one-two punch that knocked a favourite east-end watering hole out for good.

First, construction delays on the Eglinton Crosstown transit line forced Michael Summerfield to close the money-losing midtown location of his Prohibition Gastrohouse in November; then the coronavirus pandemic forced his original Queen Street East location to close along with other businesses. Summerfield decided this week he won’t reopen.

“It was a bit of a perfect storm for me. I couldn’t even make the last payroll. I feel terrible,” he said.

While disappointed customers took to social media to express their sadness, Summerfield said he feels worst about not paying his staff, some of whom had been with him since Prohibition’s opening 13 years ago.

“I’ve got a lot of staff pissed off at me right now that they didn’t get their last paycheques and they should be. They’ve got every right to be.”

While government wage subsidies are in place for companies that keep their employees on staff, Summerfield wishes there were some assistance other than the Canada Emergency Response Benefit for employees who don’t get their final cheques.

Even before COVID-19 struck, Summerfield said he sold his house months ago to pay off some of the debts he owed from his failed midtown expansion. While closed, the Queen Street location had $25,000 to $30,000 in costs per month, he said.

“There was rent, there were equipment leases, hydro, gas, Rogers, you name it,” said Summerfield, who says he didn’t offer takeout and delivery during the shutdown because it wouldn’t have been worth it.

“We would’ve been losing even more money. People go out to bars and restaurants to socialize. If you can’t do that, why would you go, especially at a time when people are losing their jobs? You can eat and drink more cheaply at home.”

Even with a reasonable landlord, Summerfield said the idea of sticking around until the pandemic passes didn’t make business sense.

“If you open up again, not only do you have all that deferred rent to pay, but all your suppliers would be having terms, like COD for all your produce and dairy. That would make it even harder.”

Disappointed customers took to Twitter to mourn the loss of their beloved local, which offered high-end pub grub like smoked duck wings and house-made pulled pork nachos, as well as discounted drink specials, an extensive craft beer list and high-end spirits.

“My heart is breaking with news of more beloved small businesses and restos closing down,” tweeted Arij Al Chawaf.

“I’m thinking by the time COVID is over, a number of businesses we loved and frequented will be no more,” Matt Faulknor tweeted.

Summerfield agreed.

“It’s such a fragile industry. I know I saw some estimates that 50 to 70 per cent of restaurants were going to close down permanently because of this. Now I’m convinced it’s 70 per cent. It will be a ghost town once this is all over,” said Summerfield. “In this industry, if you’ve made it for 13 years, you’re usually there for good.”

THE HIDEOUT, 2006-2020 (423 College St.)

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It survived a crosstown move, noise complaints and gentrification. But The Hideout, one of Toronto’s most beloved live music venues, couldn’t survive COVID-19.

Owners Dan Good, Jimmy Good and Phil Dodd announced this week that the bar at College and Bathurst Streets, which had been shuttered since March 15 because of government decrees closing non-essential businesses, is shutting down for good.

The landlord offered them a bit of a break on rent, but Dan Good said there wasn’t much point in plugging along without any clear end in sight to the government-mandated closure.

“I figure it’s going to be another three months at least. And bigger places like ours are probably going to be the last ones to be allowed to open,” said Good. “We were a month to month kind of business. This was a very tough decision.”

Bands and customers were distraught at news of The Hideout’s closure — and the loss of yet another live music venue when they had been closing left, right and centre even before COVID-19.

“Noooo! So sad to hear this. We love The Hideout and love playing there and thanks for giving us so much support,” wrote Alissa Vox Raw, the drummer for garage punk duo Queens & Kings, on The Hideout’s Facebook page.

In an interview with the Star, Vox Raw (known offstage as Alissa Klug), paid tribute to The Hideout as “a really special venue” and expressed her worries about the damage venue closures are doing to Toronto’s live music scene, especially for newer acts.

“Between inflating rent and noise complaints, we have seen a lot of venues that were so beloved by the musical community close down in this city. But with the global crisis that is happening now, I fear that even those that fought tooth and nail to hold on will have to shutter their doors,” she said.

“ We just can’t afford to keep losing great venues like this one or the local music scene will just wither away. I think now that we don’t have the option to go out and see live music, I am hoping people begin to really appreciate what we had and not take it for granted when we finally get it back.”

Customers like Karen MacIntyre also mourned The Hideout’s loss.

“So thankful for the many amazing nights that I’ve had at both Hideouts over the years. My last night out, before all this craziness, was at The Hideout. I hope for your sake & the sake of your staff, all of the amazing musicians … and for all of us lovers of live music, that you are able to reopen somewhere after this is all over,” MacIntyre wrote on the bar’s Facebook page.

The disappointment wasn’t limited to Toronto.

“Hope that this is just temporary! Even for me, an infrequent visitor from Scotland, this place holds lots of beautiful memories for me and my family!” wrote Jean Shedden.

Even when non-essential businesses are allowed to reopen, Dan Good isn’t so sure customers would immediately flood back to The Hideout, which had room for 330 people.

“It’s not just when we’re allowed to open. It’s when will people be willing to come out and stand shoulder to shoulder on a sweaty dance floor?” said Good, who opened the bar on Queen Street West in 2006 with his brother Jimmy, later bringing their cousin Dodd on board.

In 2016, after their then-landlord raised the rent, the bar moved to its current location on College Street. Since the beginning, it has hosted live music seven nights a week, showcasing thousands of mainly local and independent bands. It also took part in music festivals like North by Northeast and Canadian Music Week.

“Being a part of the music scene in this town has been a whole lot of fun,” said Dan, who urged disappointed fans of the bar to follow the exhortation posted on its Facebook page:

“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it’s happened.”

HEY KIDDO, 2016-2020 (365 Roncesvalles Ave.)

As soon as the province announced it was extending school closures beyond March break to help mitigate the impact of COVID-19, Aurelie Chojnowicz decided to close her shop, which sold everything from children’s clothing to books and toys.

“It’s a kids shop. It wouldn’t have been possible to keep people away from each other. There are always kids playing and taking things off the shelves and putting them back,” said Chojnowicz, who took over the store in 2018.

At first, she planned for the March 15 closure to be temporary and immediately told her landlord she was shutting down for the time being and wouldn’t be able to pay April’s rent. Then, early this month, the landlord texted and asked for his money. At that point, Chojnowicz made the gut-wrenching decision to close for good.

“I want to make clear it was my decision. He didn’t force me out. But I knew it was going to be months before I could open again. And owing an extra three or four months’ rent by the time I opened again? That would have killed the business anyway,” Chojnowicz said.

A recent survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business found that more than half of Canadian small businesses say they won’t be able to afford May’s rent without more government assistance.

The proposed government assistance for paying commercial rent hadn’t even been rumoured at the time Chojnowicz decided to close permanently. On April 15, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced they’d be working together on some kind of relief package for commercial rents.

“That would have been nice to know two or three weeks ago,” said Chojnowicz, who was able to salvage merchandise from her shop and store it in her husband’s store.

“I’m doing some online sales for now, but the store is gone. I hope I can open up in another location someday. But I don’t know if it will be months, or a year. We’ll have to see if maybe this situation will make rents a bit more affordable,” Chojnowicz said.

It’s not just the store revenue she misses, either.

“This community has always been so welcoming to me. I miss that interaction with people,” said Chojnowicz, a native of Paris, France.

STEVE’S MEATS, 2015-2020 (1938 Danforth Ave.): This neighbourhood butcher shop and Italian deli was founded in 2015 by husband-and-wife team Steve Miome and Piera Armata.

Along with top-quality rib roasts, steaks, chops and sausages, Miome and Armata offered homestyle southern Italian favourites like meatballs, veal parmigiana, deep-fried arancini rice balls, and a variety of salads and sandwiches.

Miome, who’s been a butcher for more than three decades, learned his trade in New York City, according to the shop’s website, which is still online. (The shop’s number is out of service.)

THE GREEN BEANERY, 2008-2020 (565 Bloor St. W.): This Annex-based roastery and cafe was originally created largely as a fundraising effort for environmental group Probe International and its controversial founder Laurence Solomon. A visit into the Bloor Street storefront, on the site of a former bank, was a trip into the world of coffee. There were excellent Americanos and single- varietal drip coffees, with the beans freshly roasted on site. But there were also grinders to buy, nifty little espresso pots, and specialty coffee makers. The Green Beanery got some negative press because of Solomon’s stance as a self-proclaimed “climate-change skeptic,” but judging by how busy it was most sunny weekends, many customers either didn’t know or didn’t care. The Green Beanery announced via Instagram March 24 that its last day would be March 29, but would still be selling beans and some coffee makers online.

THE SHORE LEAVE, 2015-2020 (1775 Danforth Ave.): After non-essential businesses were ordered closed in late March, east-end tiki bar The Shore Leave decided to try takeout and local delivery of some of its fruity, tropical rum-based drinks. It didn’t bring in enough to pay the bills, said owner Julian Altrows.

“We were selling a few of our pre-batched cocktails, but it wasn’t nearly enough to cover rent. We’re a place that depends on people congregating,” said Altrows, who let his landlord know in advance he wouldn’t be able to pay April’s rent because of COVID-19.

This week, the landlord evicted the bar, which had become a neighbourhood favourite, and one of just a handful of tiki bars in Toronto. Altrows isn’t looking for pity, but warns that more and more small businesses are at risk of closing permanently.

“The black and white of it is that we didn’t pay rent. I get that. I think in a month, my story’s going to be super common,” said Altrows, who admitted that even before COVID-19 hit he’d been shopping around for another location. The Shore Leave’s five-year lease had been set to expire this September. Even if he had rent deferred for the next few months, the upcoming end of the lease meant The Shore Leave was likely finished, at least at its current location.

“Best-case scenario we’d be able to open at the end of July probably. That would have left us only a month to go on this lease to make up for all the money we’d lost during COVID-19,” Altrows said.

Now, The Shore Leave is gone for good.

“I’m optimistic that I’ll be back working in this industry again at some point when this is all over. But this business? It’s finished,” Altrows said.

CANADIAN JEWISH NEWS, 1960-2020 (1750 Steeles Ave. W., Concord, Ont.): After 60 years of documenting Canada’s Jewish community, the CJN published its last edition April 9.

The paper and its website, like many media outlets, had struggled since a brief, two-month hiatus in 2013. With advertising and subscription revenue already dwindling, the economic impact was simply too much to survive, CJN president Elizabeth Wolfe said in a note to readers.

“The economic devastation striking our community has also affected The CJN. The CJN suffered from a pre-existing condition and has been felled by COVID-19,” Wolfe wrote, adding that it was a difficult, emotional decision to shut down for good.

“Please know that we have done everything in our power to continue The CJN for as long as possible. It is with tears in my eyes that I conclude: It had a good run. Everything has its season. It is time,” Wolfe wrote.

VESUVIO PIZZERIA & SPAGHETTI HOUSE, 1957-2020 (3010 Dundas St. W.): It was a Junction mainstay for 63 years, and the first place to offer New York-style pizza in Toronto.

Ettore Pugliese, the last surviving brother of four siblings who opened it in 1957, told the Star’s Karon Liu that COVID-19 made it difficult to survive. And with no idea of when things will get back to normal, he made the decision to close for good.

“We have a fantastic delivery service, but a lot of people are cooking at home and there’s no one outside. When you also look at rent, taxes, wages, it’s a long chain … I can’t see this going for another two, three, four months. I don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s too distant,” Pugliese said.

WOODLAWN PUBLIC HOUSE, 2018-2020 (1276 Yonge St.): This cosy Rosedale-area gastropub closed in early April, after owner John Oakes gathered his 15 staff members and told them COVID-19 made it too difficult to continue operating. Under previous ownership, Woodlawn had been known as The Monk’s Table, and had one of the top selections of craft beer and single malt in the area.

Woodlawn (and The Monk’s Table) had also hosted popular monthly open mic story-telling nights.

If you know of a business in the GTA that has permanently closed due to COVID-19, please email business@thestar.ca