Toronto's St. Lawrence Market launches new expanded hours, effective today

Toronto's St. Lawrence Market is seen on Saturday, June 2, 2012. (The Canadian Press/Chris Young)

St. Lawrence Market is expanding its hours of operation on Sunday.

Effective July 31, the popular international food market will now be open Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It will also be open Tuesday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Holiday hours may vary.

The City of Toronto recently made the decision to open the market longer as part of a one-year pilot project following a review of its hours of operation that included public feedback and an evaluation of how “operation improvement can better serve residents of Toronto and visitors to the city.”

“The revised hours of operation will make the market more accessible, with service hours that meet visitors' changing needs and preferences. The changes include having the market open on Sundays, and later morning opening times and later evening closing times on weekdays,” they said in a release.

“As the Toronto economy recovers, the market is now able to relaunch expanded hours of operation.”

The city said the outcome of this pilot will “inform a more permanent operating schedule for the remainder of 2023 and beyond.”

Merchants were given three months advance notice of these changes. Management has and will continue to work with merchants to help them find staff needed to “sufficiently operationalize the new hours of operation.”

In March 2020, St. Lawrence Market was in the process of launching a pilot project to expand its hours of operation, however that initiative was paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the market’s hours of operation were modified and actually reduced to align with COVID-19 health and safety measures.

“In 2020 we pivoted as COVID-19 impacted previous launch plans, now we are moving forward together with this exciting pilot. The new hours of operation pilot project modernizes the market's operations and ensures that more people – residents and visitors to our city - have the opportunity to experience this amazing, historic Toronto destination,” Mayor John Tory said in a release.

“It's very exciting that the St. Lawrence Market will be re-launching expanded hours of operation. I want to thank the many businesses who make the market such a special place.”

The St. Lawrence Market complex consists of St. Lawrence Hall, the South Market, and the North Market, which is currently located at its temporary home at 125 The Esplanade.