"Our beloved neighbourhood is facing a threat from conglomerates like McDonald's and similar large fast-food chains eager to set up shop on a prominent historical corner." That line comes from the petition the Riverside Community Group started in early September. By September 25, 2026, it had more than 1,000 signatures. The corner it describes is 709 Queen St. E., at the southeast side of Queen and Broadview. City documents show three approved permits there for interior alterations and retrofitting for a new McDonald's, and TorontoToday reported that the work already appeared to be underway.
The petition treats the McDonald's as a break with the corner's past. The corner's own record tells a different story. For more than a decade, every tenant at 709 Queen has stayed for less time than the one before it. Meanwhile, most of the independent openings Riverside has added this year are about a block east, in much smaller storefronts.
Four tenants, each one staying for less time
The Real Jerk is the name most people still connect with this corner. Ed and Lily Pottinger opened their first restaurant near Queen and Greenwood in 1984. In 1989 they moved to the larger corner space at Queen and Broadview, where the red-and-yellow exterior and the giant sun in sunglasses became a local landmark. After that, the tenants came and went faster.
| Tenant | Time at 709 Queen St. E. | How it ended |
|---|---|---|
| The Real Jerk | 1989 to 2012 or 2013, about 22 to 24 years | Moved to 842 Gerrard St. E. in 2013 |
| Brickworks Ciderhouse | About six years | Closed in 2024 |
| Duke's Refresher and Bar | About a year | Closed September 15, 2025 |
| McDonald's | Permits approved, work underway as of September 2026 | No opening date announced |
Sources give different dates for the Real Jerk's exit. blogTO puts it at 22 years with a 2012 closure. Beach Metro puts it at 24 years, with the move to Gerrard in 2013. Brickworks Ciderhouse then ran in the space for six years before closing in 2024. Duke's Refresher came next, a sister location to a bar near St. Lawrence Market. blogTO says it lasted less than a year.
Duke's gave its reasons when it closed. Executives at Service Inspired Restaurants Corporation pointed to "economic conditions and forthcoming 6-month closure of Queen Street." That was the TTC and City streetcar track renewal between Broadview and Davies, and Duke's sat right at the end of the work zone. The construction turned out to be shorter than planned. Transit Toronto reported on March 28, 2026 that the new tracks were in and buses were back weeks ahead of schedule. On April 27, the 301 and 501 Queen streetcars returned to their regular Queen East route. So the closure Duke's planned around ended about seven months after Duke's did.
The McDonald's isn't a small operation either. According to blogTO's reading of the building applications, it will seat more than 30 people, which could make it one of the chain's larger Toronto locations. blogTO also counts it as part of a broader McDonald's expansion across the city, with locations confirmed for the Junction, Mirvish Village and Yorkville.
The building has been corporately owned since 2016
The detail that explains the most here came from Jennifer Lay, executive director of the Riverside BIA. She told TorontoToday that 709 Queen St. E. has been corporately owned since 2016, and that decisions about commercial tenants are made between the private companies involved. The BIA doesn't choose who moves in. Lay put the BIA's role simply: "the goal is always to work with the businesses that come in."
Brickworks Ciderhouse's six years ended in 2024, so its run, the year Duke's spent there and the incoming McDonald's all fall within that period of corporate ownership. Both the petition and the corner's supporters are reacting to what is, in the end, a private leasing decision.
On heritage, the petition calls this "a prominent historical corner," and the group has asked the City's heritage planning division for an urgent review. The City says its Heritage Register map was last updated in September 2026. When we searched it, we found no listing for 709 Queen St. E. The Broadview Hotel sits across the intersection on the northwest corner.
This is the second campaign to save this corner
The 2026 petition has a precedent at this exact address. In 2012, former city councillor Rob Davis, a longtime family friend, helped the Pottingers organize a community campaign to keep The Real Jerk open. According to Beach Metro, that campaign and the community's support kept the restaurant at Queen and Broadview until it moved to 842 Gerrard St. E. in 2013.
The 2012 campaign was about keeping one particular business. The 2026 petition makes a wider argument. "When chains move into main streets, commercial rents rise," it reads. "When rents rise, independent businesses are squeezed out." TorontoToday reported on September 25 that the group was getting ready to submit the petition to City Council. We haven't found any later coverage of the petition's outcome or an opening date.
Some neighbors support the McDonald's, and TorontoToday quoted several of them. Ava Zein owns Ava Elite, the bridal wear shop right next door, and said she's looking forward to more foot traffic: "People come and get food in the area and it gets busy." Micheal Fitzgerald, who has lived in Riverside for about four years, said he doesn't expect a McDonald's to push rents up. Chains are already part of this stretch. There's a Pizza Nova at 714 Queen St. E., directly across the street, plus a Pizza Pizza, Ali Baba's, Subway, Dollarama, Pizzaiolo and the Value Buds dispensary nearby.
The Real Jerk is still in business. Its own site lists the restaurant at 842 Gerrard St. E. with weekly dining hours. In 2016 it was the backdrop for Rihanna and Drake's "Work" video, and photos from the shoot are still on the tables. Beach Metro's March article describes the restaurant as East Toronto's "family dining room," a place where a lot of people got their first restaurant job.
Where this year's independent openings actually landed
The petition worries that independents will be pushed out of Riverside. This year's openings have mostly been happening a few doors east of Broadview, in narrow storefronts with numbers in the 700s. The Riverside BIA's spring and summer 2026 "What's New" roundups list these additions:
- Lamoon Thai Kitchen & Coffee, 730 Queen St. E.
- Hogtown Vintage, 734 Queen St. E.
- Bailey Nelson, 747 Queen St. E., Unit 102
- Knick Knack Paddywhack, 768 Queen St. E.
- Glass House Garden Centre & Cafe, 771 Queen St. E.
- El Cazo, 780 Queen St. E., and Hume, 782 Queen St. E.
A little west of the corner, the Toronto Star says Elvira's opened in April at 639 Queen St. E. The BIA lists Elvira's at the rear of that address and Archie's at 106 Broadview Ave. The roundups didn't give exact opening dates for most of these, so check before making a special trip.
The vintage shops on this block have also formed their own cluster. On Friday, October 2, the Fall Edition of the Riverside Vintage Crawl ran from Fevers Vintage at 732 through Hogtown Vintage at 734, St. John's Eco Market at 740, The Vintage Hall at 754, Common Sort at 760 and Arts Market at 790, with an outdoor pop-up market hosted by Glass House at 771. The participating shops covered the HST on in-store purchases during the event. All of that fits within about 60 street numbers, starting a short walk from the corner the petition is about.
On the Riverside calendar this fall
- BIA Community Pop-up, Wednesdays October 7, 14, 21 and 28 and November 4 at 1 p.m., at the Queen and Saulter corner beside Glass House Garden Centre & Cafe at 771 Queen St. E. These are weather permitting.
- Riverside Family Halloween Fest and Dog Costume Party, Sunday, October 25, at Joel Weeks Park, 10 Thompson St. Free family activities run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., including pumpkin decorating, face painting and music from DJ Stevie Kicks. The dog costume contest runs from noon to 2 p.m. At 3 p.m., the Candy Crawl and Costume Parade sets off along Queen East, stopping at 10+ local businesses and wrapping up with storytime from the Queen/Saulter library branch.
- Riverside Holiday Market, Sunday, November 29, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., on the second and third floors of Ralph Thornton Community Centre at 765 Queen St. E. There will be Santa photos, live music, hot chocolate and kids' crafts.
The Halloween parade goes along the same Queen East sidewalks as the shops listed above. The holiday market is at 765, right in the middle of that block.
At Jenny and Shane, we keep an eye on what happens to the storefronts along Queen East, from the Broadview corner to the vintage block, because those changes affect what living on the nearby streets is like. If you'd like to talk about how changes on your stretch of Queen might affect your home's value, book a 15-minute consult with Jenny & Shane.
