Nathalie Atkinson's Retail Therapy column: It’s autumn, but with so many new retail ventures sprouting up around town, it feels like spring. And nowhere is the shop surge more apparent than on Queen Street West. While the real-estate fate of beloved MuchMusic and Speakers Corner that anchored early Queen West retail is still undecided, stalwarts like Lilith (541 Queen St.
W.), Peach Berserk (507 Queen St. W.
, peachberserk.com) and the relocated Brava vintage (533 Queen St. W.
) remain alongside the java joints and bead, fabric and bridal-supply stores between Spadina and Bathurst. And, thank goodness, Pages Books hasn’t gone anywhere, either. While the main shopping action is slowly creeping westward, there’s still a lot on the original shopping strip, and a lot of it is new.
Denim-based Italian labels Miss Sixty and Energie have opened a mini-store in Showroom (278 Queen St. W.) and Gap has spruced up its corner store at Peter Street.
In August, Mexx (364 Queen St. W.) opened a 4,600-square-foot concept store, done up in industrial style, offering both its men’s and women’s collections.
Scandinavian lingerie chain Change (315 Queen St. W.) has also set up shop, offering pretty specialty-size bras and swimwear (from A to J-cups) at affordable prices, in a store staffed with fit specialists.
Quiksilver (399 Queen St. W., 416-205-0000), the just-opened boardriding-culture store, stocks its own line, plus Roxy, as well as kids’ and teen clothing in its gleaming new space — sure to be a draw, especially with the after-school and outdoorsy crowd.
Vero Moda, the Danish contemporary fashion brand with more than 700 shops around the globe, opened its first Canadian store, called Moda, (632 Queen St. W.) on the street a couple of weeks ago, too, aimed at trend-conscious young professional women.
If, for nostalgic, independent spirits, it feels like the independent Queen West of yore has been colonized by mall rats — the roster does read like a Mall of America tenant list — there are also antidotes. Two new independent boutiques have opened with a more renegade spirit. The first, Next Door (433 Queen St.
W., 416-593-6267) comes from Due West owners George and Sofia Moumouris and has an eco-chic Canadiana vibe (designed by Jane Son). It boasts labels like McQ, Dsquared, Jack Spade and MM6.
Once upon a time, Comrags (654 Queen St. W.) a block west of Bathurst, was the last stop before the shopping wasteland leading to Trinity Bellwoods Park.
But the flagship of the independent Canadian label is celebrating its 10th anniversary this fall — and around it, a mostly independent retail landscape has sprouted up. Most recently — open just a couple of weeks and an instant hit (clearly, the scruffy denizens of Parkdale have more pocket money than I thought) — stylish twentysomething Jaclyn Genovese’s store, Jacflash (1036-38 Queen St. W.
, 647-408-4451, jacflash.net), is a happy addition to the many galleries and moody bars. Though its unfortunately cheesy monicker may suggest otherwise, Jacflash is actually a jet-set family and fashion affair (Genovese’s stylish dad, Geoffrey, is a partner).
Designed by Clayton Budd in matte black, chalk white and grey with twinkling silver tin ceiling and enormous chandeliers, the sprawling boutique (pictured above) is a hipster’s his and hers shopping emporium. Inside it’s a roll call of insider labels of the sort seen in the recherché Manhattan wardrobes of Gossip Girl: Alice+Olivia, Nicole Farhi, Modern Vintage shoes and Young, Fabulous Broke. Befitting the neighbourhood, there’s even a low-slung CD bar (and listening station) featuring a roster of appropriately unknown locals, curated by Toronto musician Matt Ross.
Also notable, for those uptown shoppers who don’t often stray outside their comfort zone (i.e., Yorkville’s borders), there’s the new, walk-down boutique UPC (128 Cumberland, 416-929-9209, upcboutique.
com), which opened in late summer. Unlike the name, there’s no generic bar-code fare here — instead, you’ll find names like French label Cacharel, Jovovich-Hawk, the always-in-the-news design gang Three As Four and 18th Amendment denim. That’s in addition to Rodnik, Opening Ceremony, Oliver Spencer (clothing and messenger bags) and Yigal Azrouel.
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