Lee Valley Tools shuttered its last Toronto store, located in Scarborough, on Christmas Eve.
“Substantial increases in lease costs has made keeping the store open unsustainable,” reads an explanation on the retailer’s website.
“The real estate market has been highly disrupted and under tremendous stress putting pressure on landlords and tenants the past 18 months,” the company said in an email to blogTO. “As a result, we are faced with an unprecedented rent increase and location rationalization.”
Lee Valley continues to offer same-day delivery in the Greater Toronto Area from its Vaughan and Burlington locations.