Baum's Fruit Market
61 KENSINGTON AVENUE
Baum’s Fruit Market, opened in 1951, saw the Market transformed over the course of its lifetime, as new communities moved into the area. Baum’s was located on Kensington Avenue, one of the first streets in the neighbourhood to be developed for business in the 1910s. Baum’s moved into the market at a time when many Jewish businesses were relocating north. By the mid-1980s, Baum’s was one of the last remaining Jewish businesses left in the neighbourhood, offering fresh produce to an every-changing clientele.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the influx of immigrants into Canada was reflected in the Market’s demographics: Kensington was becoming the multicultural neighbourhood we see today. By the 1980s, it had become a popular area of settlement for new Canadians from China, Jamaica, Portugal, the Philippines, and dozens of other locations around the world.
The Jewish residents of Kensington, who began leaving the Market to move northward in the 1940s and 1950s, had also been immigrants: The majority had emigrated from Eastern Europe, fleeing persecution in their home countries. Kensington may have lost its identity as a predominantly Jewish community, but it has remained a hub for newly arrived Canadians who have brought their own traditions, cultures and cuisines to the neighbourhood.
