Owner of Yorkville tailor shop continuing long family legacy
Leaning over a sewing machine inside his tiny Yorkville shop, Mike Mouradian is continuing his family's legacy.
"When you've lost everything else, you will become very strong," he says.
The 27 year old is originally from Syria and he comes from a family of suit makers.
"My dad he teach me," he said. "Then I start to make jackets when I was 15 years old from scratch."
For nearly 70 years his family has owned a store in Aleppo fashion district. His family history in the suit business began after his great grandfather fled the Armenia genocide.
Coming to Syria he began making suits in 1922. From there, the business was passed on to Mike's grandfather, and then his father. Mike grew up in the store. They had manufacturing, and exported suits all over the world - right up until war broke out in 2012.
"The area we used to live, the ISIS take that area," Mouradian said.
Their manufacturing facility was damaged by bombing, with ISIS forcing them out.
"(ISIS) take everything else. They stole everything else," he says.
Once again his family was forced to flee, coming to Canada in 2016. Mouradian starting looking for a place to start again. Back in Syria, the family store had been located on one of the most famous streets. Mouradian wanted to find the right place in Toronto. One Sunday afternoon, he found Yorkville and was immediately taken.
"It was one of my dreams. When I first time I came to Yorkville. I said to myself, one day I'm going to open a shop here," he said.
Seeing high end stores like Chanel and Versace motivated him. In 2018, Mouardian bought a small shop on Yorkville Boulevard and opened 'Last Minute Alteration, Tailoring and Dry Cleaning.' His dream had come true.
The shop is a tiny space. About 30 feet long and 10 feet wide. Clothing hangs on two racks with a sewing machine located on either side. There are pictures of each generation of the Mouradian family looking over him. Mouradian will often work with a pair of scissors first used by his great grandfathers almost a hundred years ago.
As he holds the scissors, Mouradian says, "this is like an amazing memory from him to me."
Mouradian will at times work 16 or 17 hour days. He has become a Canadian citizen and says that this place feels like home. Now he is focused on growing his business to one day create his own custom suit store.
He says that it is all part of the work ethic he was taught.
"(Set) a goal, and then work on it, work very hard and then you will have everything else you are asking for."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.