Introduction
In neighborhoods with a high percentage of visible minorities and newcomers, local ethnic businesses serve as a prominent form of economic activity, employment opportunity, and a constituent of community identity. Food, in particular, serves an important function in linking newcomers to their cultural roots in a foreign land (Komakech, 2016). Since the redevelopment began, Regent Park has undergone drastic changes in its residential and commercial profile. In response to this, this media and research project hopes to understand the relationship between Regent Park’s foodscape and its unique community identity amidst the rapid social, economic, and physical transformation. The project is formulated around two research questions:
RQ1: How do local food businesses adapt and position themselves within the changing social and physical landscape of Regent Park due to these developments?
RQ2: What role do local food businesses play in the evolving social and physical landscape of Regent Park amidst new developments?
Through a series of video interviews and qualitative research methods, our goal is to add to the narratives surrounding Regent Park’s local ethnic food businesses by examining their past histories, current circumstances, and future opportunities and challenges.
Methodology
Our project was preceded by a series of qualitative research methods, with a particular focus on semi-structured interviews and mapping.
Video Interviews
With our research questions in mind, we formulated a list of interview questions as a team prior to our interview process began. These questions served as a framework that guided each of our interviews, however, new questions and topics were welcomed during the interview depending on what the interviewee decided to share.
The recruitment of interviewees was mostly done in-person. The only criteria to the selection process is ethnic food businesses located in close proximity to Regent Park’s official boundary. The ethnic composition of the interviewees includes two Asian, one Latino, one Afro-Caribbean, and one Middle Eastern.
After receiving consent from the interviewees, the video and audio gathered in the process are used to produce videos that present the story behind these businesses to the audience.
Figure 1. List of Video Interviews
Mapping
Aside from semi-structured interviews, mapping played an important role in our research process by offering a narrative on the relationship between Regent Park’s food businesses and their geographic location. As seen in Figure 2, the local ethnic food businesses, denoted in yellow pins, all locate on the boundaries of Regent Park; while big franchise businesses tend to locate in the neighborhood’s center.
Figure 2. Map of Regent Park’s Food Businesses
Media Format
One of our primary objectives is to deepen civic engagement by effectively connecting with the community. We decided that videos would be the best format for this purpose. Through the video interviews, we were able to engage with the community by presenting their perspectives to the public and promoting their businesses. This format also allows us to present authentic voices and real perspectives of the residents, which is vital for engaging an audience deeply with the issues at hand.
Our project is being presented on a website that serves as an archive of information relating to Regent Park’s foodscape and a form of promotion for local businesses. The website featured the video interviews with business owners, a Regent Park food directory, and additional information.
Findings
Social Dimension
As of 2016, around 70% of Regent Park residents are visible minorities, surpassing the city-wide average of 51% (Statistics Canada, 2016). However, what distinguishes Regent Park beyond the number of visible minorities is the remarkable diversity within this concentration (Figure 3). Rather than being dominated by a single ethno-cultural group, the neighborhood consists of a rich tapestry of ethnicities. As a result, Regent Park is typically viewed as a multiethnic neighborhood, instead of being classified by a singular ethno-cultural group such as Chinatown or Little Jamaica.
Figure 3. Regent Park’s Demographic
A recurring theme voiced by all our interviewees is the remarkable diversity among their customer base. While the owners recognize most of their customers are Regent Park residents, they tend to come from a variety of ethno-cultural backgrounds. Given the absence of a predominant cultural group in Regent Park, the preservation of this diversity emerges as crucial to the vitality and success of local businesses. This diversity, as seen in both Regent Park’s community profile and its ethnic businesses, has the potential to preserve and stabilize the existing neighborhood. The cultural significance of Regent Park, embodied through its physical landscape, commercial activity, and community identity, cannot be replicated or “engineered” through planning. Rather, it is an organic product of the neighborhood's extensive history.
Economic Dimension
One of our interviewees, Shinji Yamaguchi owns a Japanese restaurant located on the intersection of Gerrard and Parliament, which falls under the administration of Cabbagetown. During the interview, Shinji mentioned the support he received from Cabbagetown BIA and other private institutions, including a grant that allowed him to commission a mural on his storefront. In our interview with the other four Regent Park business owners, the mention of institutional support was not evident. Instead, they place greater emphasis on support from local residents and within their own ethno-cultural communities. In Regent Park, there have been several initiatives that support local entrepreneurs since the revitalization began, such as Daniels Corporation’s Community Commercial Program and Regent Park’s Social Development Plan (SDP) (Lorinc, 2018). These initiatives aim to counterbalance the increasing presence of franchise-driven establishments in Regent Park, which fails to adequately reflect the neighborhood's rich cultural diversity (Martinovic, 2024). One of our interviewees, Ines Garcia now runs her own business at the Regent Park Cafe, which emerged as an initiative funded by the SDP and the Employment and Economic Development (EED) Working Group to provide entrepreneurial opportunity for local residents.
Institutional support is crucial for small businesses as they tend to face a higher rate of failure, especially for business owners that are newcomers. As Regent Park undergoes rapid transformation in its residential and commercial profile, local retail businesses find themselves at a critical juncture. Many of our interviewees discussed implementing new strategies such as digital marketing to navigate these changes. For instance, the owner of Ticana mentioned many customers came to her store after seeing African recipes on social media. This shift in business dynamics reflects broader social and economic changes at the macro level, as well as transformations on the neighborhood level. Like how Shinji mentioned in the interview, small business owners have to constantly adapt and problem-solve to remain viable in this shifting environment. While most owners don't view the influx of new franchises negatively, there's a growing awareness of their potential to alter the neighborhood's traditional rhythm and way-of-living (Joassart-Marcelli, 2022). As the local entrepreneurs employ new approaches to adapt to the new circumstances, it’s hard to tell whether this is a form of progression or displacement.
Spatial and Physical Dimension
Through the examination of three Toronto neighborhoods with a notable presence of ethnic retail establishments, Zhuang's (2017) study revealed ethnic retailing’s pivotal role in transforming a neighborhood’s social, economic, and physical dimension. For example, Zhuang noted how ethnic retailers shape the physical landscape of their surroundings through physical means such as signage, window displays, street arrangements, and architectural styles, thereby expressing their ethno-cultural identity (Zhuang, 2017, p. 16). This finding aligns with our observation of Regent Park’s streetscape. Most ethnic businesses are located in the Victorian-style buildings on Parliament St. They adorn their storefront with signage in their native languages. These signage, just like the banner that’s being put up in Daniels Spectrum, are significant because they are a representation and a component of the neighborhood’s image and identity. The small businesses stand in stark contrast with newer, larger storefronts which are often occupied by bigger enterprises, situated in new glass-wall buildings. Additionally, Zhuang underscores the significance of spatial capital in the development and operation of ethnic retail. Many retailers will maximize spatial capital by concentrating their businesses in one area (Zhuang, 2017, p. 16). Within these concentrated clusters of ethnic businesses, local entrepreneurs distinguish themselves by offering specialty foods and services. These dual forces of concentration and diversification foster both intragroup and intergroup interactions within the community, contributing to the cultural vibrancy of the neighborhood.
Discussions
Based on what we heard from the interviews, most owners see Regent Park’s new development in a positive light due to benefits like growing population, enhanced safety, cleaner streetscape, and increased funding in the neighborhood. In terms of challenges, they mentioned factors such as soaring food prices, difficulty attracting new customers, and the lack of support from institutions.
Upon analyzing our findings across various social, economic, and physical dimensions, it becomes evident that Regent Park's current landscape presents favorable conditions for the establishment of small ethnic food businesses. Factors such as the neighborhood's diverse demographic, close community ties, and recent influx of funding contribute to this promising environment.
Our interviews underscored the resilience of Regent Park's social dimension, which exhibits a strong inclination towards supporting local entrepreneurship that align more with Regent Park’s rich cultural tapestry over big franchises. However, the economic and physical dimensions, which are undergoing significant transformations, do not appear as conducive to the growth of local businesses. While new developments are bringing more potential customers for small ethnic food businesses, the rapid transformation in the physical dimension is posing significant danger to these businesses because the new spaces are not designed for them. The apparent lack of support in these areas poses a potential threat to Regent Park’s small ethnic food businesses, with far-reaching implications for the neighborhood's communal identity.
Limitation
Due to the time constraints and factors like Ramadan, we were only able to interview five business owners. While they represent a good variety of demographic, they are all businesses that established after the revitalization began. Spatially, the businesses we interviewed clustered in the northwest corner of Regent Park. The completeness of the project could be enhanced by including businesses from the southern part of Regent Park. Given these circumstances, we recognize that our research serves less significance in identifying the difference between Regent Park’s old and new. Instead, it is a snapchat of the current circumstances and an exploration into the neighborhood’s future trajectory.
Conclusion
Through our conversation with the local food business owners, we learned about the hardship of owning a small ethnic food business in Regent Park and how the broader economic circumstances are adding onto the pressure. Amidst these hardships, they expressed hopeful anticipation for the neighborhood's redevelopment to bring more potential customers and opportunities. However, this optimism may not entirely capture the broader implications of redevelopment. Historically, similar redevelopment projects in other areas have led to issues like gentrification. This process often increases property values and living costs, which can displace long-term residents, particularly in neighborhoods with a significant presence of low-income populations and visible minorities. Although Regent Park’s strong community ties are resilient against new changes, our observations on the physical and economic dimension of the neighborhood raised concerns on the future of these ethnic businesses. Given their significance as cultural assets, it calls for the need for careful consideration and proactive measures to safeguard their presence amidst ongoing transformations (Komakech, 2016).
The Off the Shelf team members are Tyrone, Wilma, Chanel, and Annette
References
Joassart-Marcelli (2022, September 13). How food became the perfect beachhead for gentrification. The Conversation.
https://theconversation.com/how-food-became-the-perfect-beachhead-for-gentrification-167761
Komakech, M. D., & Jackson, S. F. (2016). A study of the role of small ethnic retail grocery stores in urban renewal in a social housing project, Toronto, Canada. Journal of Urban Health, 93(3), 414-424.
Lorinc, J. (2018, August 15). Regent Park developer makes space for homegrown retailers. The Globe and Mail Inc. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/article-regent-park-developer-makes-space-for-homegrown-retailers/
Martinovic, D. (2024, February 9). Regent Park Cafe Arrives at the Daniels Spectrum. Community Media Portal. https://www.commediaportal.ca/web/en/media/regent-park-cafe-arrives-daniels-spectrum
Statistic Canada (2016). Regent Park Neighborhood Profile. https://www.toronto.ca/ext/sdfa/Neighbourhood%20Profiles/pdf/2016/pdf1/cpa72.pdf
Zhuang, Z. C. (2017). THE INTERSECTION OF PLACE AND ETHNIC ENTREPRENEURSHIP: THE ROLE OF ETHNIC ENTREPRENEURS IN THE MAKING OF THREE TORONTO NEIGHBORHOODS. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, 34(1), 1–22.