The Best Shopping in Toronto

With a client roster that includes Kate Moss and Lady Gaga, Divine Decadence Originals clearly knows its stuff. Located in the tony Yorkville neighborhood, this vintage-couture boutique offers rack after rack of extraordinary garments, both big-name (think Valentino, Lanvin, and Chanel) and no- name (like a Bolivian embroidered-velvet jacket). No matter the piece, vivacious owner Carmelita Blondet knows its history and provenance. She buys from the original owners, not auction houses, so the items carry a special magic.

Design fans fond of minimalism and Marie Kondo can add another M to their repertoire: Mjölk. Swedish for “milk"—and pronounced mi-yelk—this lifestyle shop and gallery is all about simple beauty. Housed in a Victorian building in the Junction neighborhood, Mjölk brings Scandinavian and Japanese artists and artisans under one roof, offering everything from a Shaker-style peg rack to a silver sugar bowl to a rust-colored Arne Jacobson sofa. In addition to showcasing noted names, John and Juli Baker, the husband-and-wife team behind the business, have funneled their expertise into locally produced design collaborations.

This charming jewelry boutique on Ossington features one-of-a-kind pieces that incorporate both vintage sensibilities and modern styles. Finished items set with semiprecious stones are displayed alongside loose beads and trinkets that the owner will transform into craveworthy baubles. If you don’t know what to do with a broken heirloom, Anice will bring it back to life. Despite the mash-up of materials, the pieces are quite delicate and prove easy to wear or receive as a gift. The shop occasionally holds jewelry-design workshops.

In Portuguese, saudade is yearning for something that once was. And at Saudade, a lifestyle store smack in the center of Toronto’s Little Portugal neighborhood, the goal is to make the customer yearn for the old country (or wish a country as cool as Portugal were their old country). White walls provide the backdrop for a variety of handmade crafts and Portuguese products. Wrapped soaps from Porto, vividly colored ceramic pitchers, handbags basket-woven in rainbow hues, painted serving platters, and wooden racks displaying gorgeous textiles of cotton and wool fill the shop.

Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market is crammed with 120 vendors, butcher counters, bakeries, ethnic eateries, and seafood shops. But there’s one reason why most people come here: the peameal bacon sandwich, which is dished up at the Carousel Bakery. It’s not really bacon—or at least not the bacon you usually eat—but rather tender, thicker strips of pork, cut from the loin and then rolled in peameal (like cornmeal but made from peas), and served on a kaiser roll with a swipe of mustard. It’s a porklicious treat!

Grasshopper Records is a vinyl outpost on Dundas West well worth a look if you’re a sonic purist, or in the market for the best in Toronto indie music. The owner is a Toronto rocksmyth of some renown, but I won’t spoil the surprises for you here – better you experience Grasshopper for yourself.

Tempt fate at the Monkey Paw’s Book-O-Matic machine, where for the price of a toonie you’ll be delivered an archaic tome in the vein of Elementary Arabic, Vol. 3. I’ll let you know how my studying gets on. The Monkey’s Paw is an eclectic vintage bookstore on Dundas with a collection of unique books, vintage maps, and bugs preserved in Lucite.