Toronto's first new BiWay store is finally opening this fall
Consumers tend to get a bit nostalgic in times of political and social unrest; it's a well-documented phenomenon. The good old days felt kinder, brighter, less complicated... they were definitely cheaper.
Hence the excitement, perhaps, for the grand return of BiWay after nearly 20 years of existing only in our memories (or in bootleg form.)
Nineties kids were thrilled in 2018 to learn that the beloved Canadian discount chain, which shuttered the last of its 250 remaining locations in 2001, would be resurrecting itself in the form of a huge new "concept store" in Toronto.
We were told at the time that the all-$10-everything BiWay would reopen in August of 2019. That never happened.
In early January, the brand's 91-year-old founder Mal Coven announced that his new "BiWay $10 STORE" would open this August within a newly-built commercial complex at Orfus and Dufflaw Roads.
"BiWay is back!" proclaimed an Instagram account called @waybackbiway, which has a bio that reads "CELEBRATING BIWAY CULTURE & NOSTALGIA."
The account linked to another, more official-looking Biway $10 Store page, which initially promoted the store's existence with a flurry of posts in January but has since remained inactive.
[UPDATE: One day following the publication of this article, BiWay made its new website live.)
With just over a week to go before August 2020 hits, we decided to check in on the new BiWay's status.
While Coven himself wasn't available for comment, all signs are now (literally) pointing to a fall 2020 opening.
You'll find the new 15,000-square-foot concept location, which will operate under a dollar store-like model, just a few blocks southwest of Yorkdale Shopping Centre, boarded up with signs that read "FALL 2020" and "biwaystore.com."
The URL leads to a website that is not yet available to the public.
Five more BiWay stores had originally been planned to open by 2020, but this seems unlikely given the COVID-19 pandemic and anything else that may have delayed the new $10 store on Orfus from opening as scheduled next month.
Whenever it does launch, the store's owner can rest assured that people will come and shop — even if only for old times' sake.
With locals reminiscing about the chain almost every single day on Twitter and multiple full-on fan accounts in existence, one would think there's no better time than now for BiWay to rise from the grave and reclaim its spot as one of Canada's favourite bargain troves.
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