Bloor Street West in Toronto is lined with retail businesses for much of its length. After living in the neighborhood of Bloor and Bathurst for ten years, I noticed that the composition of the stores on the street was changing. To document these changes, in 1995 I started conducting an annual survey, in late August or early September, of the stretch between Spadina Avenue and Christie Street. In 2023 I extended the survey west to the railroad line just beyond Lansdowne Avenue, and since then I have extended the data for the Spadina–Christie sector back from 1995 using Toronto City Directories. On this site, you can explore the data, which is available in raw form on Github.
Some changes in the Spadina–Christie sector from 1995 to 2024
Description of the data
Presentation to Civic Tech Toronto, December 2024
Composition of businesses in latest survey
Show the composition for any year, or compare two years
Composition of businesses over time
Spadina–Christie sector
Years with no data are ones in which no directory is available.
Christie–Lansdowne sector since 2023
Arrivals and departures
Here's a chart showing, for the Spadina–Christie sector since 1995, for each year, the number of businesses observed for the first time and the number observed for the last time. For example, the number of businesses observed for the last time in 1995 was 39, and the number observed for the first time in 1996 was 43.
Show the numbers of arrivals and departures for specific categories (broad) or types (narrow) of business
Display businesses observed for the first time in any given year
Display businesses observed for the last time in any given year
Changing numbers
How does the number of businesses selling a given type of goods vary over time? Here's a chart for businesses selling prepared food (e.g. cafés, restaurants, bars) in the Spadina–Christie sector, the number of which increased steadily from the early 1970s to 2019, and then dropped and has subsequently partially recovered. (Years with no data are ones in which no directory is available.)
Show the trends for other categories (broad) or types (narrow) of business
Survival
Of the businesses operating in any given year, how many survived to the following year? To later years? Here's a chart for restaurants in the Spadina–Christie sector.
Chart the survival of other types of business
Estimated longevity
Of the businesses whose appearance on and disappearance from the strip occurred in the survey period, what is the distribution of longevities? How many survived 1 year, 2 years, ... ? This chart is for the Spadina–Christie sector and uses only data from my surveys.
Estimated longevity for all businesses: mode 1 year, median 3 years, mean 4.90 years.
Chart the estimated longevity of specific categories and types of business
Vacancies
What percentage of locations were unoccupied each year? The quality of the data prior to 1995, obtained from directories rather than my surveys, is uncertain.
I started surveying the Christie-Lansdowne sector only in 2023.