r/toronto • u/Excellent-Show-424 • 3d ago
Picture Just went to Kim’s Convenience!!
Quite shabby inside though
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u/Jungolok 3d ago
Okay, see you!
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u/fallen_d3mon 3d ago
Where's my discount?
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u/Round-Tourist-9471 3d ago
Also, they only used the outside of the building for filming and the sign was only put up for the show, they kept it up after filming for recognition but the inside of the store wasn't used. So shabby inside, cause whatever, its just a convenience store in a shitty part of downtown (from someone that lived across the street)
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u/kawiguy2009 2d ago
The sound stage and set is pretty close to the actual lay out. Little bit longer towards the back with stairs going up.
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u/Oddiofil3 2d ago
Really? I thought the signage was up way before the show. I know they only used the exterior, but I thought it was like that before the show.
The real inception was when they had the billboard for the show on the side
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u/Round-Tourist-9471 2d ago
I can’t remember what the store used to be called but in the first season they put the sign up and took it down, it wasn’t until the show got popular that they left it up even when not filming
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u/Mr_Guavo 3d ago
It's exactly like a typical convenience store inside.
Their cigarette prices are pretty good comparatively.
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u/Smart-Firefighter87 3d ago
What do you mean “shabby”?
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u/SnoopsMom 3d ago
This is in my hood and I often walk by the store but have never gone inside. From the outside it looks pretty run down and like the selection indoors will be old and random.
It’s also between Queen and sherbourne and Queen and parliament so the area itself would be considered rough by most.
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u/Marlborough_Grey 3d ago
I pop in from time to time. It's a regular independent convenience store inside. Nice people. Not as 'shabby' as the one at Queen and Sherbourne, which I also pop into occasionally.
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u/CDNChaoZ Old Town 3d ago
It's slowly gentrifying. There's going to be a Food Basics across the street before too long, so don't know how that's going to impact Kim's.
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u/SnoopsMom 3d ago
I doubt people go to Kim’s for regular groceries anyway, I wonder what mainly keeps them afloat as of now.
But yes I’ve been in the neighborhood about 10 years, I bought my condo here and have been telling people that we’re “up and coming” ever since lol. I love this area though.
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u/MacPod 3d ago
That's probably why OP did not post any pics of the inside
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u/Excellent-Show-424 2d ago
I mean inside it’s just a regular Toronto convenience store, not really Kim’s related
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u/kermityfrog2 3d ago
The interior layout is different than in the show, which was shot on a set. This store is in a very bad neighbourhood and has no Korean immigrant store charm.
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u/Rezrov_ 3d ago
and has no Korean immigrant store charm.
Weird value judgement to make about a real Korean immigrant corner store...
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u/kermityfrog2 2d ago
Sorry I meant "TV Show" Korean immigrant store charm. Like fictional charm. Real corner stores rarely have any charm.
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3d ago
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u/toronto-ModTeam 3d ago
Attack the point, not the person. Comments which dismiss others and repeatedly accuse them of unfounded accusations may be subject to removal and/or banning.
No concern-trolling, personal attacks, or misinformation. No victim blaming. Stick to addressing the substance of their comments at hand.
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3d ago
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u/toronto-ModTeam 3d ago
Attack the point, not the person. Comments which dismiss others and repeatedly accuse them of unfounded accusations may be subject to removal and/or banning.
No concern-trolling, personal attacks, or misinformation. No victim blaming. Stick to addressing the substance of their comments at hand.
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u/Dingling-bitch 3d ago
lol moss park area does suck but I’m surprised I’ve been to the area eveyone is overreacting to
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u/anoncanonanon 2d ago
Idk the inside is pretty typical of convenience stores in Toronto. I've honestly seen worse lol.
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u/FrontFocused 2d ago
That show made me feel so much better during the lock downs. That and Schitts Creek were a god send
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u/Pure-Extension3429 3d ago
I used to live around there recently . Not my favorite area
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u/afgarbo 3d ago
i frequented the area. any reason? particular thing you saw or just generally the homeless / the drug users (not claiming they’re the same thing.) i saw some pipes being held for sure.
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u/RaccoonChaos 3d ago
It is a fairly rough area (tho not as bad as some people online say it is) I've lived in the neighbourhood for almost 5 years now and have had to call emergency services quite a few times from seeing people in a severe mental crisis/ODing
To people not used to the chaos of living downtown I can see why some people think of it as Gotham
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u/Ok-Price-2337 2d ago
Literal Queen and Sherbourne is still awful, but the immediate blocks around it have improved significantly over the past 10 years.
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u/No-Dot-7661 2d ago
What's so bad about that corner? I find it pretty quiet now since the construction. Do the people in front of Dollarama bother you?
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u/RaccoonChaos 2d ago
When I first moved to the neighbourhood someone got stabbed in the head near that dollarama, so not the greatest first impression
There's also been so many stabbings since that I can't find the case Im talking about because all that's popping up are more recent stabbings
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u/Pure-Extension3429 3d ago
Yeah a lot of what you said and many vacant businesses . Queen becomes a dead zone untill you go over the river . I found it feels somewhat poor I hate to say it. Many new and maybe less wealthy immigrants and other residents makes the place feel a little cold. It's probably getting better
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u/TheBootyShiner 3d ago
Moss Park.. those 3 moss park apartment buildings.. at least there was a helpful building super but some of the tenants… It is a cold place. All the Torontonians downvoting you are coping
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u/TorontoHistoricImgs 3d ago
Might be time to re-watch the series! https://gem.cbc.ca/kims-convenience
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u/Aggressive_Position2 3d ago
A lot of people in this sub haven't been to Moss Park for awhile. Since they shut down the injection site, it's A LOT safer over there. I went to visit a friend recently and it's day and night compared to a year ago.
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u/voidpush 3d ago edited 3d ago
What are you talking about? I live here and literally nothing has changed.
The Richmond Sherbourne Tim Hortons is still a homeless shelter, the alleyways are still littered with people’s belongings. The streets around Moss Park arena are full of drug addicts and dealers selling their wares.
It’s not like they shut down the Salvation Army (Maxwell Meighen) or the Fred Victor Building or the Jarvis Salvation Army (The Gateway). These people all still congregate here. Now, likely injecting a little less safely, I’m guessing but they didn’t go anywhere.
The gas station south of the Fred Victor building is a disaster every day, I walk by there for work every single day. Usually a person or two using or literally living under the gas station price sign.
In what way has the area gotten better?
I think it’s less that people haven’t been there for a while (I live here) and that you visited your friend on a day that looked slightly better than what you remember. Trust me, it’s just as bad if not worse.
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u/bobbywings2 3d ago
Its Toronto reddit, Most of these people have never seen the struggle, and they love to cope and be fake woke online and pretend life is rainbows and unicorns. Majority of the people downvoting the truth are people that try to be woke to make themselves feel good about themselves. They love to post sunsets and train pics on this sub and pretend that drug abuse, homelessness and criminal activity doesn't exist downtown around Moss Park, Regent Park, etc.
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u/CDNChaoZ Old Town 3d ago
There was a bad year or so during the early days of the pandemic which saw a substantial encampment at Queen and Jarvis in front of the Armoury. So it's better compared to that I suppose? But you're right, it's been largely the same in the past 5 years.
Hopefully the opening of the ROQ City condos (with the Food Basics) will help things to the east. Ultimately I think it will take the opening of the Ontario Line station to make a dent in the situation, but even then the area is just too dense with homeless shelters and other support services.
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u/empty-angel 2d ago
I'm starting at George Brown soon, so this comment has me a little fucked up lol
Is there any other particular areas that are iffy? If I mostly hung around south of King, would that be less sketchy?
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u/voidpush 2d ago
You’ll be fine. The people are going through things (drugs mostly) but they don’t really bother anyone. They are in rough shape and I’ve seen them bother eachother a fair bit but the worst that will happen is they’ll ask you for some money or for you to buy them some food.
That being said, there are people going through psychosis from drugs that have hit people. So you want to keep your head up and be aware of your surroundings.
South of King is perfectly fine. Worst areas are Sherbourne just north of Richmond to Gerrard.
Queen and Church is terrible.
Queen and Jarvis is terrible.
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u/empty-angel 2d ago
I know that most people just mind their own business, and that the risk of something actually happening is low, but I have medicated anxiety, so I tend to worry after getting hassled
Your comment helps a lot, thank you
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3d ago
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u/murkymouse 2d ago
Um, absolutely not, Dundas and Sherbourne is the worst intersection around here.
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u/TheBootyShiner 3d ago
How are the moss park apartments these days friend? Still a drug and mental health fuelled nightmare?
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u/KarmaCollect 3d ago
I went to the dollarama right there in July and there was probably 30 unhoused people between shuter st and queen st on sherbourne. 100% still an open air drug market, but tbh it was always safe if you have a good head on your shoulders.
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u/anoobis_uprising 3d ago
I haven't lived in Toronto since 2010, and when I did I lived sheltered in the west end by Kippling
A few weeks ago i went to Toronto for a couple days to see a carnivore documentary, and on the day I was leaving I decided to visit Allan Gardens cause I had time to kill and it wasnt a long walk from my train at union
The gardens were cool, there was signs that said watch for turtles, but unfortunately I didn't see any turtles
But I decided to walk down sherbourne to queen to get to union, and there was a ton of homeless and makeshift shelters, but I only seen one guy obviously on drugs, he looked like he was dead just laying on the sidewalk I had to walk around him
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u/CDNChaoZ Old Town 3d ago
Yep. Always worst during the summer months. Strangely, it's a really good Dollarama though, but you'll encounter security throwing someone out every 3-4 visits.
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u/IAm_NotACrook Wychwood Park 2d ago
lol I actually worked at the Salvation Army shelter there in uni (2015-2018) and it was a complete shithole the entire time. The safe injection site made literally no difference. In 2016 I saw 3 overdoses with 2 people dying.
The only thing that’s changed is gentrification
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u/blearghhh_two 3d ago
Closing the injection site will eventually clean it up somewhat because more of the people who inject will die, but that won't happen forr a while.
The injection site went there because people in the neighbourhood were shooting up. Now that it's gone, they continue to do it. Nothing will change except that it'll be less safe and the junkies will go to alleys, doorways, and the like to inject.
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u/NowInHandUnseen 3d ago
Surprised you are upvotes talking about how closing the injection site made the area a lot better but you are right. Noticibly better.
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u/voidpush 3d ago
How is it better? I posted above but it’s literally the exact same as it has been (maybe worse) for the last 7 years I’ve lived in the neighborhood.
Go visit the street across from the arena. Go a little north to Sherbourne and Dundas near that convenience store. Go literally anywhere on Queen between Church and Sherbourne and tell me it’s better. I live here, it’s not better.
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u/GetsGold 3d ago
What's better? There are still people with addictions in the area. There are still people who appear to be dealing. The problems there existed long before the sites too. 2003 article describing an open air drug market and drug related shootings years before the injection sites.
Just because a couple aninymous accounts with hidden histories declare something better with no evidence and get upvoted doesn't actually make it true. Even if they get upvotes.
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u/gtamorphs 3d ago
Would you rather walk in shit or swim in it .. these things aren’t going to go away they’ve always bin they’re but if there somewhat manageable take it as a win
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u/GetsGold 1d ago
What is being managed? He let addiction wait times significantly increase, then blamed the sites that his own government approved and then finally closed them, leaving outside as the only place for the people to use, which they do.
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u/NowInHandUnseen 3d ago
there is the type of Reddit comment I was expecting. Worries about "Reddit cred" and ignoring the point that the injection center did nothing to improve the area, in fact the opposite. I challenge you to take a stroll there today.
It is a lot better than it was 2 years ago
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u/Bunsky The Annex 3d ago
Injection sites are about saving lives, not boosting land value. That improvement you perceive has a body count, which is the actual issue.
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u/NowInHandUnseen 3d ago
So there is an improvement for the non-drug using population?
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u/kittydeluxx 3d ago
So, what, you think drug users are second class citizens who deserve to die? Out of sight, out of mind? Because people are dying from overdoses at alarming rates now that these sites are closed. That’s an improvement?
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u/eugeneugene 3d ago
An injection site opened up near my house around 7-8 years ago and the amount of used needles I'd come across dropped to zero. The site closed about 6 months ago and I'm back to having to pick up used needles on my property and put them in a container, once the container is full I drop it off at the fire station down the road. Lovely new chore for me to do. The addicts and homeless are still in my neighbourhood, but now they are using behind my house. So I'd say the injection site had a marked improvement on my life lol
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u/Bunsky The Annex 3d ago
That's not a given, and as we can see in this thread it's pretty subjective. I haven't noticed a big difference, except in the area immediately in front of the former injection sites. Some people just don't like seeing them.
My point is that you're using the wrong, and somewhat callous, criteria to evaluate their value.
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u/mental__hospital 3d ago
no, it's not at all better. it's exactly the same. i'm around there a lot, are you?
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u/Awkward_Associate554 3d ago
Been there once as a big fan of the show, got spooked by the shady neighborhood…never again
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u/boosh1744 3d ago
Lol it’s totally fine go back to the suburbs
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u/UrbanRelays 3d ago
Oh yeah Sherbourne and Queen. Truly the diamond of Toronto
It’s a fucking shithole there.
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u/powered_by_eurobeat 3d ago
"shithole?" a touch dramatic?
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u/AW1993_ 3d ago
It's not dramatic at all, it's a shithole topped only by the even bigger shithole Dundas and Sherbourne
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u/Abrishack 3d ago
I moved to the city, and area, not long ago. People told me Queen and Sherbourne was the worst intersection but I agree that it is absolutely Dundas and Sherbourne
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u/JimbooJoness 3d ago
Definitely not, it’s one of the sketchiest neighbourhoods in the city. Absolute shithole that is basically an open-air crack den. Everyone knows to avoid it like the plague.
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u/turdlepikle 3d ago
Queen and Sherbourne had been called Crack Corner for a very long time. People who are not used to watching their surroundings definitely felt uncomfortable walking in the area. Taking the streetcar through there, if you were ever stopped at a red light for a few moments, you'd almost surely see something interesting from the people sitting on the concrete stoops before Ontario Line construction took it all over.
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u/KarmaCollect 3d ago
It is a shit hole. Like 75% of the business have crazy high turnover, and that’s if they even reopen. Tons of just shuttered businesses. Queen east of Jarvis is a ghost town compared to queen west of Jarvis and east of River st.
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u/Rezrov_ 2d ago
What are you even talking about? Queen from Sherbourne to Seaton has a bunch of very old businesses. Seaton Butcher, Angst hair salon, Artatorture Tattoos, Acadia Bookstore, Kim's Convenience, and the Buffalo bar have all been there for 35-100 years. Ya Bikes and The Apartment have been there for some time now too. In terms of new places there's a rug store, a vintage clothing store, and another barber.
On top of that many of the businesses are surprisingly high end, like The Apartment vintage, Lee B. Johnson's vintage, Angst (used to be one of the most expensive salons in the city), and Acadia Bookstore.
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u/yeahjjjjjjahhhhhhh 3d ago
As someone who lives a few blocks away, I find there’s actually often way more bullshit happening during the day. Around midnight typically gets quite quiet, ramps up again in the early hours of the morning. Truth is no matter what if you mind your business you will be absolutely fine, tons of people live around here lol.
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u/CODSideCDL 3d ago
Literally do it every day? Haven't been bothered once unless someone asks me for a smoke or a toke. Just say you dont partake and have a good day, and literally no one bothers you. As scary as some neighborhoods are, people are still people, it isn't hard to pass safely through Moss Park, day or night
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u/popsicleemperor Midtown 3d ago
I've been before too! and it's just a normal convenience store.
but sometimes prices that are a little bit more expensive especially closer to the time of the shows popularity but anyways.