It came as a shock to the regulars and store owner at the Hot Box Café in Kensington Market when they learned their 9-year-old establishment had been given the boot, with little warning.

The building will have a new owner starting Oct. 1.

“Hot Box Café is an institution,” said Dan Murchison. “Unfortunately, because the new owner doesn’t want it here, it has to move; it’s a shame, really.”

Murchison, 59, is one of many regulars at the café who could be spotted on a sunny afternoon on the back patio, smoking marijuana from a pipe. Diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2007, he said marijuana, which he has a medical licence to use, is his only medicine. He discovered the café in 2009 and comes nearly every day.

“This is the only place ... where I can come in, sit down and relax,” he said, “and know you’re not going to get hassled.”

This little haven for pot smokers was the first of its kind when it opened in 2003 on Baldwin St. But in early August, café owner Abi Roach found out the building has been sold.

“We asked the (previous) owner for enough time to get our licensing done at our new location,” Roach said. “Unfortunately there’s not enough time to move the entire business. But we’ll be OK.”

Roach said her lease ended in May and she has since rented on a month-to-month basis. Owner Bill Giaouris told her he wanted to see if he could sell the building by the end of July, and if not, she would be able to sign a new lease, she said. But she never heard back. She discovered the building had been sold when a BlogTO reporter approached her about it on Aug. 2.

Giaouris said the building had been up for sale for three years, and Roach knew about her month-to-month conditions.

“I didn’t want to renew the lease because I have the building for sale,” he said.

New owner Phil Morrison plans on bringing a branch of his Jimmy’s Coffee outlet, on Portland St. at King St. W., to the new space, so Roach said she’s had to put Hot Box Café on hiatus.

She has rented another storefront around the corner to make a slow transition, but won’t have licences and the new space ready until spring. Roach said it feels as though her “pot-positive café” — which has a strict policy against dealing and mooching — and its people are being pushed out of a community they have been part of for a decade.

“We’ve grown tremendously over the past years and have done a lot in the community,” she said. “It’ll be a loss to the neighbourhood.”

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Morrison couldn’t be reached for comment. But Max Water, manager of Jimmy’s Coffee, said the intention is to have the new branch operating by next year.

“We’re excited to be part of a new neighbourhood and get our chance to do what we can on Baldwin,” Waters said. “Next year, Baldwin is going to be a completely different place.”