Revitalizing Mount Dennis, one cup of coffee at a time

In the heart of Mount Dennis where there is a dearth of independent coffee shops, Cassandra Nicolaou decided to open up supercoffee at the corner of Weston Road and Eglinton Avenue.

“It just seemed like a perfect opportunity,” said Nicolaou, who isn’t a stranger to the former city of York.

In the heart of Mount Dennis where there is a dearth of independent coffee shops, Cassandra Nicolaou decided to open up supercoffee at the corner of Weston Road and Eglinton Avenue.

“It just seemed like a perfect opportunity,” said Nicolaou, who isn’t a stranger to the former city of York.

Her father, who owned the building since the early 1980s, had previously run it as a sub shop where Nicolaou spent time helping out. He would later close the business and lease it to other tenants and business owners over the years.

When the space became vacant again, Nicolaou thought of running her first coffee shop there.

“Let’s do something I’m passionate about,” she recalled saying. “Let’s do something in a neighbourhood that really deserves it.”

It became a family affair with her father and a carpenter friend of his renovating the whole store. Her sister helped with the design and her brother works alongside Nicolaou at supercoffee.

“It was a labour of love. It was a very long project,” she said.

Now opened since May, the independent coffee shop Nicolaou dreamed of has been getting more and more attention from residents and politicians.

During the recent provincial election campaign, candidates would stop by to show their support for small business. Residents also started to walk in for quality coffee and pastries.

For both, supercoffee was a welcome sight to the community in need of revitalization after going through years of economic decline ever since the former Kodak lands closed for good.