Jesse Asido has lived in almost every corner of Scarborough, from Malvern and Agincourt to West Hill and Wexford. He has always wanted to build something for Scarborough. That something took shape during the pandemic when he started Scarborough Spots as a way to showcase local restaurants. Earning the community's trust and support eventually led him to open the first and only Scarborough Gift Shop, with its first brick-and-mortar store at Eglinton Square. In April 2026, Jesse Asido became the first Filipino inductee in the Scarborough Walk of Fame.
Jesse Asido, as told to Sid Naidu for Change Made
If they can do it, I can do this too
I used to go to Eglinton Square Mall as a kid because my grandparents were just up the street. When you were bored in the 90s, you didn’t have phones, and we had one TV in the house. So sometimes we would ride our bikes or even walk to Eglinton Square. My cousin worked at the Foot Locker there. I didn’t have any money to buy anything, just dreams of one day getting those shoes. I always came by to check out the new shoes, and I think the first pair I ever got was when I started making my own money working at McDonald’s.
My parents used to make longanisa and tocino out of our apartment building. We used to sell it in grocery stores in Scarborough. So I have a background in the food world from when I was a little kid. We didn’t have much, but that didn’t really matter. We didn’t even know we were poor.
Back in the 80s and 90s, there was an ice sculpting competition which the City of Toronto held in downtown Toronto at Nathan Phillips Square, where the winners would be announced during the New Year’s countdown. My dad had a background in wood carving. He’s from a village called Paete, which is the woodcarving capital of the Philippines. So when he came here, I think a friend told him he should do ice sculpting because the skill translates. My dad had never seen ice before coming here, but he learned it and figured it out. He ended up winning, which is crazy, because this is a guy who’s never seen ice for his entire life, and then comes over here and he actually wins this contest a few times.
I’ll never forget the memory at my grandparents’ house with all my family. The house was packed; it felt like 100 people in the room, and we were all watching TV. When I saw my parents win, we were all clapping and so happy. They hoist up the trophy, and I’m just like, holy crap. I remember just being so stunned, like, we’re on TV, and these are my parents. They were the first Filipino people I saw on Canadian TV. How is that even possible? My parents are from a place that doesn’t have ice. How are we on CityTV on the New Year’s countdown, and they’re on this big stage?
These were my parents. They’re the people that I live with and who raised me. If they can do it, then man, I think I can do this too. I actually didn’t even realize that this had such an impact on me. I’m only realizing this now in my 40s.
This should be a slam dunk
I think I was 22 or 23 when I opened my first business. The 10 years that I ran Mega City Basketball were basically my college and university, because I never went to college or university. It was a business of passion where I just really loved the game, but towards the end I felt that I wanted to do something different.
Fast forward to 2019. I decided to move on from that and start fresh, but I didn’t know what that would be. I still had my full-time job, so I decided to look for additional work. That’s just who I am, always trying to keep busy and work. I went to Eglinton Square, and I saw that the same Foot Locker there was hiring. They’re looking for a part-time sales associate, and I’ve been doing sales and marketing for a really, really long time. Like, this should be a slam dunk.
I was in my mid-30s; most of the people there, except for the manager, were maybe in their 20s. So I kind of felt like, am I too old for this? But I kind of ignored that and said, you know what? I can do this. Maybe this will be a full-circle moment for me, where it’s like, I used to come here as a kid, and now I work here.
And then one week I walk by, and I see that the sign is removed. They’re like, “Oh yeah, we’re good now; we’re not hiring anymore, thanks for applying.” It was kind of like a humbling moment where I said, “shit, not even the Foot Locker wants me.”
So it might have been a blessing, because I want to say six, seven, eight months after that, that’s when I started Scarborough Spots.
I’m going to make sure our memories don’t get buried.
I always thought of building something for Scarborough. It was the summer of the pandemic, and I was still working my regular 9-5. There was this kind of void, this desire to build something.
Seeing the news, seeing all these restaurants closing down, I wasn’t seeing anyone promoting Scarborough restaurants or businesses. So that’s kind of where it started. If people travel to Scarborough for anything, it’s for food.
Before I started Scarborough Spots, we relied on Toronto outlets, and they never shared anything about our childhood or how we grew up in Scarborough; it’s as if my history had been erased. So the mission was that I’m gonna bring it back; I’m going to make sure our memories don’t get buried.
In the beginning, we were just another account on Instagram. You have to put in the work for a little while for people to really gravitate to what you’re doing. About a year later, I started selling t-shirts and merch, and about three years later, we opened up a holiday pop-up shop at Scarborough Town Centre for one month, which was a massive success.
It’s been so amazing; the community sends me photos and videos, and it feels like we're all enjoying it together. It’s like I’m in a movie theatre with people bringing me VHS tapes and CDs to play, and everyone is out there enjoying it. All I am is the vehicle to get that memory from a shoebox to everybody.
I used to go into that store as a kid dreaming
I saw that the Eglinton Square Foot Locker had closed down, and I saw a leasing sign. So right away I called, I emailed, whatever it took to get a hold of somebody. The lady who worked there at the time knew who I was and made it happen. I decided to take the leap and open up a store that would function as Scarborough’s first gift shop, and only gift shop. A couple of months later, we opened that store, and it was a full-circle moment for me. I used to go into that store as a kid dreaming, and now we have our own store.
When my wife and I first saw the store, we walked in, and it’s kind of like a long rectangle; right away we thought, this could be a subway. My brother Mario is a painter and an artist, and I knew he could execute the vision we had in our minds. He went on a tour researching, taking photos, and sketching subway stations across Toronto, but with a Scarborough flavour. We created the Bluff station, Malvern station, Rouge station and Eglinton East.
We customized the flooring by flying a drone over the RT tracks, which were still there at the time. We were really going for making every customer and every person who walks in there feel like they’re in a fictional subway station. The only thing that’s missing is an actual subway. We get feedback that our store is a destination and that people will travel to great distances to get to our shop because it is unique. I can’t tell you how many times people have said, I haven’t been to this mall in like 30 years.
You kind of build a family relationship at the mall, especially with the mom-and-pops. They’ve become our neighbours, and I want them to be just as successful; we’re all trying to succeed. We started curating markets in front of our store to help bring additional traffic, while also giving opportunities to other small businesses. It’s hard for me to imagine this happening after I started this six years ago.
For that little kid who’s watching
I think I need to be that guy, that role model for that little kid who’s watching. Any immigrant kid, and more specifically, for my son, my nieces, my nephews, for that generation to see someone who looks like me achieve their dreams and be proud of it.
The belief that a kid from Scarborough can achieve anything and I think in some ways I am living proof of that.
The foundation that we’re built on is that we care about Scarborough and we’re going to celebrate Scarborough, period. It was never the intention to just be an Instagram page. We always evolve and change.
If you know anything about me, I’m always doing something. I’m always building, I’m growing and going in different directions, like trees and branches. One branch going this way and one branch going that way. But we’re all rising.
There’s so much more to do, so I’m gonna be busy.
This is testimonial journalism: Jesse’s story in his words, as told to Change Made, comes from two interviews and a day spent documenting him in March 2026 before he was inducted into the Scarborough Walk of Fame as the first Filipino inductee. On October 02, 2026, Scarborough Spots announced that it would be closing it’s store at Eglinton Square to make way for a new location before the holiday season. We sharing this testimonial to celebrate the legacy of Scarborough’s first and only gift shop and the Scarborough kids that built it.
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