De-gentrification

I always wondered how neighbourhood after neighbourhood could gentrify without any places going the other way. Even a city as big as Toronto only has so many rich people and hipster doofuses to go around. 
 
I used to live near the Annex (Sussex-Ulster, actually) back in the mid-nineties, and I still go back every few weekends to have a coffee at Future's or a patio lunch at Pauper's Pub (these aren't recommendations -- I just like the places for what they are). I even bought some towels at Honest Ed's last month when I was on my way to Bathurst subway. Yet I never really thought about the empty store-fronts until this article brought them to my attention. I think the Annex strip will still be a hotspot for years to come if only for the nearby UofT crowd, but unless there are a few new non-eatery institutions to replace inevitable outgoers like Honest Ed's, the best the area will manage is to become a junior club district similar to what's on Richmond Street West. And no one in their right mind wants that.

http://www.davemcintyre.ca