The owner of a cafe-grocer in Toronto’s west end who fought for — and won — the ability to sell coffee on the residential street is walking away from the two cafes she opened in the city after she says the rent at one was set to rise substantially.
Yana Miriev and her husband opened Martin Espresso Bar on Bloor Street West in the Junction and Finch Store on Dewson Street near College and Ossington in the spring of 2022.
Finch Store, which is in a residential neighbourhood, had been in the spotlight several times since 2024 due to a zoning dispute with the City of Toronto over permissions to sell espresso drinks at the shop.
Miriev finally received confirmation she could continue operating as a cafe earlier this year — something she said she needed to keep the business afloat — after the city voted in 2025 to allow corner stores and cafes on residential portions of some major streets citywide and designated “community streets” in Old Toronto and East York.
But at the end of August, four and a half years after opening, the couple shut their doors and said goodbye to Toronto after Miriev says the landlord at the Junction coffee shop doubled their rent.
Miriev said she had been considering leaving Toronto for some time, but getting a rent increase made it “impossible” to keep either business going.
“Finch was existing thanks to the work of (Martin Espresso Bar),” Miriev said, explaining Martin’s profits were supporting both businesses. “It wasn’t sustainable for a long time.”
Reached by the Star, the landlord declined to comment.
Rent increase ‘the last trigger’
Miriev said she had previously considered moving to Squamish, B.C., to be near her daughter, the mountains, ocean, and tourism that could lend itself to more business.
She had previously tried selling the two businesses and the assets to someone who might be interested in taking over the lease, but had no luck finding buyers.
“I was weighing all options,” she said, but the rent increase was “the last trigger.”
“At this price, we can’t afford even the only employee we have at the moment,” Miriev said, referring to the full-time barista who worked at Martin Espresso Bar, while Miriev’s husband managed full-time.
Meanwhile, Finch Store often couldn’t sustain itself due to low foot traffic on the residential street and competition against a new No Frills on College Street, she said.
“Even having the licence and selling the coffee, it still wasn’t sufficient to maintain the business in a positive balance,” she said. “We were just kind of dragging.”
Just before their lease expired, Miriev said she and her husband sold their Toronto home with plans to downsize. They hadn’t yet bought a new home, “and then the rent came up, and we made a very quick decision,” she said.
The couple decided that with the money from the sale of the home, they would buy a commercial property in Squamish, and move Martin Espresso Bar there.
“No one will raise my rent for me,” Miriev said of the property. “It will be a secure mortgage payment.”
And instead of buying a new home, they will move into a rental.
“I’m a little bit excited too, for the change,” she said. “I still hope it’s gonna be for the better.”
A deal to leave Finch Store
With seven months still remaining on the Finch Store lease, Miriev said she made a deal with the landlord to leave equipment and transfer the ownership of the business to him in exchange for getting out early.
Dan Seljak, who first brought attention to Finch Store’s dispute with the city over the ability to serve coffee through a social media post in 2024 and who advocated for Miriev, said the rent increase story is “disappointing, but not surprising.”
Commercial rents aren’t regulated in Ontario, Seljak noted, making operating a small business even more challenging for entrepreneurs who also face rising labour and food costs.
“I don’t think in the current environment in Toronto, most people are shocked when a landlord of a commercial property doubles the rent and kicks out an otherwise beloved business,” he said. “I think that is a story we have all heard dozens of times.”
