The second-oldest gay and lesbian book store in the world (established 1970), Glad Day is a pain to find and no fun to browse (the second-floor space is quite cramped), but it...

The epitome of la-di-da, Holt Renfrew is a glittering temple for high-end attire and pampering products. The Canadian retail dynasty, which owns Brown Thomas in Dublin and...

The upmarket twin of Chapters, Indigo is the better looking of the two huge book outlets, with a clean colour scheme and snazzy design. Still, rummaging through Indigo is like...

For those who pair fashion with fitness, Lululemon's line of yoga-ready sweats, pretty Ts and snug jackets are something of a local uniform

A handsome pastiche of a traditional English bookshop, Nicholas Hoare offers the most intelligent selection in town. The books are stacked right up to the ceilings and accessed...

A sea-blue monstrosity in an industrial area on Toronto's northern fringes, the Pacific Mall is North America's largest shopping centre selling Asian goods. Indeed, it could...

A Queen West bookstore with a Queen West sensibility. Its strengths are art tomes, obscure magazines and quirky postcards. Staff are savvy, and likely to be poets or novelists...

It keeps a veritable library of Japanese mags and weird-looking videos, but you're more likely to leave Sanko with a jar of miso soup or a wad of seaweed. Kids are kept...

Behind elaborate window displays, the interior is dark and clandestine, the vibe avant-garde and underground. On the main floor, there are graphic novels, mini comics and...

Situated on the cool Queen West shopping strip, the Silver Snail is an atypically smart comic book store, with modern decor and high ceilings on two floors. Staff are suitably...

One of Toronto's top tourist destinations is, ahem, a shopping mall. Long frequented by bargain-hungry Americans spending their super-charged bucks, the mall still draws the...

In an era of big box retailing, it's refreshing to see a quirky independent store claim its own turf. Stocking titles that reflect its West Queen West neighbourhood (design,...