T H I S S E R I E S E D IT E D BY G R AC E C A M E R O N, E D ITO R A N D P U B L I S H E R O F JA M A I C A N E ATS M AG A Z I N E PHOTOS BY: SELINA MCCALLUM (@SHOTBYSELINA)
C elebr at in g B I P O C Bu s i n e s s O wner s Annie Cao Owner, Queens Fruit Market and Plants, 564 Queen St. W.
trying to get to know me. I thought he was a nice guy who worked hard at his job as a roofer, plus he was Chinese and we spoke the same language.
I am one of the lucky ones.
I appreciated this because when you work in a convenience store, there is no time to go out. We were open from 8 a.m. to midnight and sometimes until 2 a.m. (back then) because Queen is a night street where people like to hang out, so I could only meet people through the store.
I have a supportive husband, four sweet kids, amazing parents and a business where everybody knows our names. My father Li Cao came to Canada first as a refugee from Canton province, China. It was the late 1980s and I remember that I was in grade 2. It would be another eight years before I would see him again when my mother Ying Yee, my younger brother and I joined him in Toronto in 1996. We got the shop in 2003 – back then it was just a convenience store where we sold grocery items and candy along with fruits and a few plants. Our family also lived in the small apartment above the shop. In 2005 my husband (to be) Fay Zhu came in to buy lottery tickets. He didn’t win but kept coming every day to buy stuff. He would hang out for long periods and tried talking to me when there were few or no customers around. He talked about different topics,
Fay and I dated for six months and then got married. We had our son Casey in 2006, followed by another son Justin in 2007. We also have two daughters, Tiffany and Moon, the youngest. The shop is very much a family affair as all our memories are here. During my four pregnancies I worked, with my big belly, up to and including the days I gave birth. All the neighbours know the names of my kids, which creates a feeling of family. I love that. I also remember when Casey was about two or three and would ‘help’ us to close the shop at nights, grabbing and bringing in fruits and other items that were on display outside.
When Casey was born my parents were so happy and started to plan their retirement because they were getting old and wanted to take care of their grandson. I took over running the shop in 2007 and they moved to Markham. Fay and I, along with our two kids, followed soon after when a building across the road caught fire. It got us thinking that because the buildings on Queen Street are so close together, if one went up in flames, others might too. Plus, the apartment above the store was getting cramped for a family of four. We moved in with my parents until we got our own place, also in Markham. It was convenient because the boys stayed with their grandparents while I went to work at the shop with my brother and my husband did his roofing job…and also helped out at the store. Things got tough about 10 years ago when the Loblaws supermarket opened. It was a challenge meeting the rent and I thought about giving up. My husband persuaded me to hang in there because, after all, it was the place where our sons were born. Instead, he promised to work harder at his roofing job to earn extra money to make up the rent. In the meantime, we had to figure out how to remain in business. We decided to focus on flowers and plants along with a small number of items like fruits, candy, drinks and cigarettes. We now sell more than a hundred different plants, our business is stable and we’ve been able to remain open during COVID. A lot has changed over 20 years and many businesses have changed owners. The older ones who’ve remained are like aunts and uncles to us. We’re like a family who look out for each other. We call when we don’t see each other.
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I’m happy I didn’t give up because I enjoy working here every minute. #LONGLIVEQUEENWEST | QUEENSTREETWEST.CA
