Queen Street West / Part One

So this may be the most popular shopping destination in Toronto. Especially this side of the street, east of Spadina. Although all the really good stuff is not over here, but on the west side. The west side has all Toronto fashion retail greats like Sydney's and Jonathan + Olivia, and infamous art collectible stores like Magic Pony.

But that's for another time, because I had to travel east on the day I went down there so I could make my way down to the free NXNE concert going on at Yonge & Dundas Square. The retail experience you'd find in this area is closer to what you'd expect at a large Canadian mall, with some moderately interesting boutiques and eateries thrown in the mix.

One of my favourites in the area is Get Outside. It's essentially the best place, in my opinion, to pick up your original footwear classics. All those original, classic heritage series selections from G.H. Bass, Clark's, Sperry, Red Wing, Doc Marten's, Frye, Converse, Vans, and Keds.

Last year I bought my Red Wing 9012's from here, and this year the same very nice sales girl sold me a pair of the Ransom x Adidas Bluff shoe.

Another store that I never noticed last time is an interesting little boutique called "Nextdoor." It has a lot of awesome labels stocked there with friendly staff.

You can find a decent selection of John Varvatos, Rogues Gallery, Filippa K, Jack Spade accesories, Acne, Ksubi, Moncler, Woolrich, Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair, J Brand, and apparently Puma x Alexander McQueen stuff too.

A lot of the stuff was decently discounted as well, definitely worth a stop by.

I'll continue my little Queen St recap next post. There's a lot more interesting thrift stores, music boutiques, and skateshops I never have the time to cover during my visits there. But if you're ever in Toronto, Queen Street West is an important shopping stop and there's a lot more to see there than what I put down in my blog posts here.