The Danforth Past Main Is Open to Cars Again. Eastbound Buses Still Skip It.

An eastbound 113 leaving Main Street Station this week won't stop on the Danforth again until Victoria Park. Until 7 p.m. on December 2, eastbound 20 Cliffside and 113 Danforth buses turn south on Main Street, run east along Gerrard Street East, come back north on Victoria Park Avenue and only then rejoin Danforth, according to the TTC's service advisory. The overnight 300 Bloor-Danforth takes the same route. The advisory says it plainly: no eastbound Danforth stops between Main Street and Victoria Park Avenue are served.

The odd part is that the road itself is half reopened. The construction now covers only the eastern part of Danforth Village, while the bus detour still covers all of it. So the strip is easier to reach than the fencing suggests, as long as you come on foot or in a car.

Two halves of one street

The City of Toronto started rebuilding Danforth Avenue between Main Street and Victoria Park Avenue in February 2026. The underground work came first. The City's September 17 construction update listed the watermain installation, sewer installation, water service restoration and sanitary connections as finished. Milling and paving were scheduled for September 18 and 23 between Main Street and Dawes Road.

Then the work zone moved east. Transit Toronto reported that starting October 5, eastbound lanes reopened between Main and Dawes and closed between Dawes and Victoria Park. The 23 Dawes went back to its regular route the same day. Here's how the strip looks for the rest of the fall:

The City's September 25 closure notice says westbound traffic toward downtown stays open the whole time. It also says that if a property has two entrances, one will be kept open. Drivers heading east from Main get through the first stretch normally and meet the closure at Dawes. Bus riders lose the entire strip, and they keep losing it until the detour ends.

Why walking from Main Street Station wins this month

Route 113 normally links Main Street Station and Kennedy Station along Danforth, with stops at Dawes Road and Victoria Park Avenue. For now, the eastbound bus takes you away from the shops. The trip that works best starts at the subway exit and runs east on foot, and the best place to be on foot is the newly repaved section closest to the station.

Danforth addresses climb as you head east from Main. That makes the walk easy to plan as a list of street numbers, starting at the low end.

The walk, by street number

The Danforth Village BIA's directory lists 383 businesses on this strip. Below are the bakeries, grills and grocers spread along the walk, with what each is known for.

1. Danforth Village Quality Fruits & Vegetables, 2517 Danforth Ave. Produce, groceries and flowers, close to the Main Street end.
2. Pavillion Pastries & Café, 2554 Danforth Ave. Greek pastries and coffee. Its own website gives this address and posts daily hours.
3. Arya Bakery, 2622 Danforth Ave. Turkish and Persian halal breads, cookies, baklava and other sweets.
4. Eva's Bar & Restaurant, 2628 Danforth Ave. Asian, Greek and Canadian dishes, with breakfast served all day.
5. Grillies, 2632 Danforth Ave. Mexican food, burgers, veggie patties and smoothies.
6. Len Duckworth's Fish & Chips, 2638 Danforth Ave. Traditional fish and chips and seafood. The shop's website says it was established in 1929.
7. Jamaican Delight Caribbean Restaurant, 2708 Danforth Ave. A Caribbean restaurant in the BIA directory.
8. Rehoboth Cafe, 2737 Danforth Ave. Ethiopian coffee and tea, baked goods and café meals.
9. Danforth Variety & Fruit Market, 2742 Danforth Ave. Fruit, vegetables, meat and fish.
10. Mr. Tasty's Drive-In, 2743 Danforth Ave. Greek-fusion food, souvlaki and homemade burgers. Its website takes online orders and invites customers to dine in.
11. Kera Fresh Meat, 2749 Danforth Ave. A butcher that also sells fish, coffee and flours.
12. Shirley Restaurant, 2783 Danforth Ave. A casual bar and restaurant serving home cooking.
13. Double Sushi Japanese Restaurant, 2795 Danforth Ave. Dine-in, takeout and delivery.
14. Danforth Roti Shop, 2844 Danforth Ave. Caribbean food, including jerk chicken and shrimp.
15. Little Bangladesh, 2940 Danforth Ave. A family-run restaurant serving Hakka Indian food, with delivery and catering.
16. Makkah Restaurant, 2980 Danforth Ave. Indian and Pakistani food. The BIA listing singles out its naan.
17. Swiss Bakery & Fast Food, 2984 Danforth Ave. Breads, cookies, celebration cakes and halal food.
18. Ghoroaa Restaurant, 2994 Danforth Ave. Bangladeshi food for dine-in, takeout and catering.

The cluster from roughly 2500 to 2850 is the easy part of the walk from the station. You can buy bread at Arya, fish and chips at Len Duckworth's and produce at Danforth Variety in under an hour. The 2900s, with Little Bangladesh, Makkah, Swiss Bakery and Ghoroaa, sit farther east toward Victoria Park. Westbound buses aren't part of the detour, so riding back toward Main Street Station still works normally for the return trip.

What a slow fall has meant for these storefronts

The detour isn't a small thing for the businesses on this list. In September, the Danforth Village BIA surveyed 96 local businesses and asked them to compare March to August 2026 with the same five months of 2025. Beach Metro Community News reported the results: 95.8 per cent reported lower revenue, and 54.2 per cent reported revenue losses of 50 per cent or more. Just over 80 per cent saw customer traffic fall by 40 per cent or more. The same report listed lack of customer parking, trouble receiving deliveries, TTC access and storefront visibility among the problems.

"Access has been significantly affected, revenues have suffered, and businesses cannot withstand an open-ended construction timeline," the BIA's report said, as quoted by Beach Metro.

Mr. Tasty's appears in that story for a reason. Its owner told Beach Metro the restaurant has been on the Danforth for 46 years and has "served three generations." Those survey figures cover March through August, before the work moved past Dawes. Since October 5, the Main-to-Dawes blocks have been open to eastbound drivers for the first time since the paving.

What December is supposed to bring

According to the City notices, the work still left is surface work between Dawes Road and Victoria Park Avenue, plus sidewalks and bike lanes. Beach Metro describes the finished design as permanent cycling infrastructure, including raised bike lanes and curb extensions. The City's project page lists December 2026 as the expected completion. The closure notice says the timeline depends on weather and may change.

Two dates are worth putting on the calendar. The TTC's eastbound detour is scheduled to end at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, December 2, and the eastbound closure between Dawes and Victoria Park is scheduled to lift sometime in December. Until the detour ends, the station exit at Main and Danforth is the closest stop to the start of the strip, and Pavillion Pastries at 2554 is a short walk east.

If you own a home near this stretch and wonder what a finished Danforth, with new pavement, new sidewalks and permanent bike lanes, could do for its value, Blue Door Realty Group can run the numbers on your street. Request your free home valuation, and we'll base it on the block you actually live on.