European Quality Meats and Sausages, a stalwart butcher shop in the heart of Kensington Market, will close in the spring, yet another harbinger of the old immigrant quarter’s fast-changing façade.

The store, with the fire-truck red sign and striped awning, has stood on Baldwin St., near Kensington Ave., for more than five decades. The company now has locations in Etobicoke and Brampton and ships meat to the U.S.

Rumours circulated earlier this year that the shop was put on the market for $1.8 million. While Larry Leider, son of founder Morris Leider, would not discuss specifics of the sale, he confirmed the Kensington branch will shutter April 7.

“We came back with an offer we couldn’t refuse,” the younger Leider said, adding that the new occupants will definitely not be meat purveyors.

Morris Leider, 79, a Polish Holocaust survivor, bought the store for around $6,000, and opened the meat market on Nov. 15, 1959. None of the company’s other properties will cease operation.

In Kensington, European invoked a neighbourhood long dead, lost to suburban migration and gentrification. A thriving Jewish marketplace throughout the early 20th century, Kensington eventually became a cauldron for Caribbean and Asian immigrants after World War II.

Through it all, the store cut veal and pork and turkey, cased sausages and sliced salami. The smell of blood and beef, wieners, wurst and kolbasa filled the 823-square-metre space as customers grabbed a ticket before placing an order at the counter.

But Larry Leider said rising downtown property values and the market’s shifting demographic — drawn to locavore stores and chi-chi restaurants — compelled the company to sell. European’s departure, he said, will “take its toll on the Market.”

“(European) was the cornerstone of the market,” said Peter Sanagan, owner of nearby Sanagan’s Meat Locker. “It’s bitter to see them leave.”