Travel Articles

1. Yonge & Dundas Square

This is where people are shopping when they say they have gone Downtown Toronto. This shopping neighbourhood stretches a few blocks along Yonge between just south of Queen and just north of Dundas. It is home to the famous Toronto Eaton Center but has plenty of street level stores as well such as Urban Outfitters, Homesense, Levis and Forever 21. If you are looking for fashion forward boutiques you should shop elsewhere in Toronto because this tourist favourite neighbourhood is all about mall stores and national chains.

2. Queen West

Once the place to find independent boutiques and new trends before they were trendy, Queen West has gone commercial in recent years. While most of the independent boutiques and local designers have moved further west and east or just somewhere with cheaper rents, Queen West is still a hot spot for Toronto shopping. Look for Mendocino, Aritzia, Rudsak as well as more commercial favourites like the Gap, Roots and Zara.

3. Bloor St

This is where the fashion flagship locations can be found in Toronto as well as all the designer labels you can imagine. From Chanel to Prada, Louis Vuitton and Guerlain your designer dreams can come true. Do not shy away however if you are strapped for cash, Bloor Street is quite diverse offering many price points. You can find the Club Monaco and Gap Canadian Flagship stores as well as H&M and Winners. Don’t forget to pop into Holt Renfrew even if you are just window shopping or taking in a free make up application, this upscale department store is a must visit.

4. Yorkville

If you prefer boutiques to the big designer flagship stores along Bloor, just mosey back into Yorkville. Still focused on designer shopping you can find Hugo Boss and Betsy Johnson amongst the independent boutiques and Canadian designer darlings (Andy The Ahn). One of the citys best known jean boutiques (Over the Rainbow) just got some competition with the opening of the Diesel flagship recently. Even if you can not afford to shop Yorkville it is worth it to wander through the tree lined streets, perhaps spotting a celeb or two while they are in town.

5. Shops at Don Mills 

A new addition to Toronto’s shopping malls, the Shops at Don Mills are also a new concept for mall shopping in Ontario. The stores are set up more like a planned community and are all outside instead of inside a big mall building. The other draw is all the one of a kind shopping. Canada’s first Anthropologie is here along with McNally Robinson Booksellers, McEwan and coming soon Murale. Look for the Shops at Don Mills at Don Mills and Lawrence.

Jane Martin is a new mom and a bit of a shopping addict. She is the publisher of a website called torontoShopoholic (http://www.torontoshopoholic.com). torontoShopoholic deals with shopping in Toronto providing visitors city guides to Torontos shopping neighbourhoods, store reviews and store sales alerts.

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