A push to add retail to Toronto’s alleyways

When Nadia Galati was growing up around Dufferin and Eglinton, they’d pay visits to their grandparents, Alfonso and Caterina, who lived in the heavily Italian-Canadian enclave around Grace and College. They remember the warren of laneways in that neighbourhood not just as a place to play, but also as a hub of informal commercial activity.

“My grandmother both told me stories, and I also have memories of making things and [neighbours] selling to each other in the laneways,” says Mx. Galati, who runs Saffy, a planning and environmental design company. Their grandfather was a master carpenter and he retrofitted the garage behind their home with electricity and gas so it could serve as a workshop.