31 Jul Get to Know a Neighbourhood: Yonge and Finch

Right at the edge of the TTC, Yonge and Finch has bloomed from a suburban neighbourhood into a highly diverse hub for urban life.  While it’s still eagerly growing, the conveniences of downtown are growing in fast—making it a great option for city lovers who appreciate condo living at a lower price.  So let’s get to know a new neighbourhood: Yonge and Finch.

The Essentials

First and foremost, we’ve got to eat.  Luckily, the Yonge and Finch area’s local grocery stores offer a wide range of late-night, full-service, and specialty options.

Metro at Yonge and Church Avenue, a few blocks south of Finch, is the local megastore.  Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it features a fish counter with live lobsters, Western Union service, a dry cleaner, free underground parking, carpet cleaner rentals, a pharmacy, hot food counters and event catering, and full-service butcher, bakery, and floral sections as well as a good vegetarian and vegan selection.  While the prices reflect the costs of running a large grocery store without closing times, it’s a solid location for one-stop shopping.

It’s rivaled by the neighbourhood’s local Loblaws, one subway stop south at Empress Walk.  Offerings include a wide selection of organic produce, full deli, bakery, seafood, and butcher counters, a cheese wall, coffee and hot food bars, an on-staff dietitian, dry cleaning, beauty products, Joe Fresh, and more.  While it doesn’t have the all-night options—it’s open 7am to 11pm daily—it’s an equally strong hub for groceries and household goods.

If you’re looking to cook more international, Korean grocery H Mart at Yonge and Olive offers fish, fresh produce, kitchen supplies, and a wide selection of Korean imports and grocery staples as well as a hot bar, food to go, and catering.  Open until 11pm every night, H Mart is one of the neighbourhood’s low-profile favourites.

North on Yonge, Super Khorak Supermarket is a source for Persian hot foods and groceries, including kebabs, stews, and fresh-made barbari and baklava as well as produce and imports.  It’s open from 7am until midnight, and is known for its hot foods counter.

Once you’ve got the pantry stocked, it’s easy to fill up the bathroom cabinets: Options for drugstores are right at your fingertips.  If you’re on team Rexall, the location in the North American Life Building is open weekdays from 7:30am to 6:30pm and offers flu shots, smoking cessation programs, and more.  Down at the Yonge/Church Metro, the in-store pharmacy is open 9am to 9pm, with slightly shorter hours on weekends, and the Loblaws in-store pharmacy offers the same hours all week long, with free delivery between 1pm and 5pm on weekdays.

For that case of the late-night barfs, though, the Shoppers Drug Mart on the southwest side of Yonge and Finch is open 24 hours, 7 days a week, and rolls out basically everything you could ask for in a pharmacy: a beauty section, light groceries, passport photos, and the closest Canada Post location in the neighbourhood.

If you’re looking for more specialized postal services, the Canada Post north in Newtonbrook Plaza offers PO boxes, Revenue Canada forms, and money orders.

It’s also a short walk to your local bank branch: There’s a Scotiabank on the northeast corner of the intersection, a TD Canada Trust on the northwest corner (which can help in you 10 languages!), a Royal Bank on the southwest corner, a Bank of Montreal just south of the intersection at Yonge and Olive, and a CIBC six blocks south on Yonge, at Norton Avenue.  There’s also a strong presence in the neighbourhood for more specialized banking options: The Korean Toronto Credit Union has a branch just west on Finch, DUCA Credit Union’s at Yonge and Ellerslie, and the Loblaws at Empress Walk has a full PC Financial outpost.

Finally, transit at Yonge and Finch is at the centre of the neighbourhood, with Finch Station not just connecting you to the TTC, but the attached York Region Transit terminal offering Viva Bus service into Markham and Newmarket, York Region transit buses through Vaughan, Thornhill, and Markham, and GO service to Oakville, Milton, Brampton, Keswick, and Oshawa.  It’s slated to grow, too, with a Finch LRT line planned to be complete inside the next six years.

Dining

Yonge and Finch’s dining options have historically been family-owned and homegrown, with a huge selection of Asian, Middle Eastern, and café-style restaurants to try.

Korean is a big draw in the Yonge and Finch neighbourhood, with multiple popular downtown Korean spots having a branch in walking distance of the intersection.  The flagship branch of Chinatown Korean favourite OWL of Minerva is located on Yonge south of Finch—and open 24 hours a day just like its downtown cousin—and Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu has a location just north of the intersection for fans of its bibimbap and soon tofu.

Bubble tea cafés are also big at Yonge and Finch, with a branch of both Sugar Marmalade and ZenQ along Yonge around the area, and a wide selection of both chain and independent coffeeshops for freelancers or caffeine addicts.

Fun

One of the most old-school ways to spend an evening at Yonge and Finch—ask anyone who grew up nearby!—is a few games at Newtonbrook Bowlerama‘s Cosmic Bowling nights.  Newtonbrook’s an old-school bowling alley, and on weekend nights Cosmic Bowling adds dance music, lights, and draws as well as the usual drinks and snack bar.

Yonge and Finch is also one of Toronto’s karaoke neighbourhoods.  Twister Karaoke is the only bar in town that has karaoke boxes—small group-rented private rooms—and serves up songs in nine languages, including Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and Korean.  With over 300,000 songs and a closing time that doesn’t show up until 4am, it’s an instant, ready-made night out with your friends.

If you’re more into nature, G. Ross Lord Park is a short ride west on Finch, just past Bathurst Street, and has over 4km of hiking and bike trails, rentable fire pits (yes, you heard me: bonfire party with smores), soccer fields, a dog area, and winter cross-country skiing.  It’s an intensely scenic space, and full on the weekends with birthday parties, families, and picnics.

Work out!

Hitting the gym isn’t a difficult endeavour at Yonge and Finch: If your condo doesn’t provide a workout room, just head up the street to the Goodlife Fitness on the northwest side of the intersection.  With hours that run to 11pm on weeknights, it offers a strong selection of classes and amenities, including some absolute lifesavers—like an active child care program.

For people who have more specific fitness goals, Fight 2 Be Fit, just west of Yonge on Finch, offers personal training, sports-specific workout plans, classes, yoga, and weight training.