Style & Decor Blog

For years, Anthropologie’s been at the top of my list of “American stores that should open Canadian locations”. It’s nice to know that someone’s been paying attention to my listmaking.

Scheduled for a grand opening on April 22, Anthropologie’s first Canadian storefront — at the new Shops At Don Mills outdoor shopping centre in Toronto (which my friend Janine Falcon likens to The Grove in L.A.!) — is generating not so much a buzz, as it is a deafening drone. I mean, it’s impossible to overstate how big of a deal this is. Whereas we used to only be able to order “small, gorgeous things” from Anthropologie’s website (glamorous knobs and cabinet hardware, sweet stitched monogram table linens…), we now have full access to big, yummy lighting, rugs and furniture that we’ve drooled over in each issue of the Anthropologie catalogue, but couldn’t order due to shipping restrictions. 

There’s no sneak peek at the store interior itself (the image at top is from one of Anthropologie’s 121 already-existing U.S. locations), but my peeps at Anthropologie H.Q. say the 8,000 square foot store will have “a rustic modern feel, realized with reclaimed materials and work by artists and artisans, such as surfaces hand-crafted from plaster, paper and fabric”.

In this gorge shell, Anthropologie’s famed visual merchandisers (they’ve actually hired a full-time TEAM of visual merchandisers!) will be crafting creative and innovative window and store displays “that possess a sense of surprise and discovery.” Their theme for the store launch?  Bees!  ”The store’s bee-themed windows will reflect in abstract ways upon their role in our world. Bee-related iconography like hives and honeycombs will be recreated with unexpected materials and whimsy.” For a store that’s generating so much buzz, it’s hard to imagine anything more appropriate. ;) 

Anthropologie, Shops At Don Mills, 1090 Don Mills Rd., Toronto

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Images courtesy of Anthropologie

If I could have awarded a booth at the 2009 Interior Design Show with a big red ribbon reading “Most Inspirational”, it surely would have gone to Snob. Almost as if we were drawn there magnetically, Samantha, Lynn Spence and I converged on Snob’s uber-exotic show space at the same time, and I’m sure anyone around us thought we were nuts. (Yes, there was that much “ooh-ing” and “ahh-ing”!) Snob is a Toronto retail destination that specializes in past and present African design — a HUGE trend that’s poised to peak this summer, methinks — and the booth was a vertitable trove of owner Denise Zidel’s truly stunning finds. Above, you’ll see just a few of the African artefacts on display during the show, arranged on a new shelving system that Denise has designed. Imagine that unit in a small apartment or condo being used as a barely-there room divider! Ooh! The stitched hide rug is also so beautiful — and that’s saying something, because normally I’m not the biggest fan of hide.

Here’s Snob’s iconic “Cow Chair”. I love the webbed seat!

This floor lamp was a showstopper as well.

Check out more of Snob’s trendsetting treasures by visiting online or at the Toronto retail location!

Snob, Toronto, 388 Carlaw Ave., Unit 202F, 416-778-8778

The CGTA comes to town this Sunday, but they’ve already doled out the gold! The Canadian Gift and Tableware Association’s prize for 2008 Canadian Retailer of the Year goes to… Acheson’s Fashion Gifts & Home Decor! If you’ve ever been to Orangeville, Ontario, you’ve surely stopped in at this 5,000 square foot decor destination. They popped onto my radar a few years back when I was on the hunt for a black Christmas tree (quite controversial at the time, as it was the first year for that as a trend! And yes, they had them in stock!), but as you can see from the store shot above, they’ve got some great vignettes throughout the store, and have really earned this distinction. Congrats! Definitely a store to pencil it in for a summer daytrip!

I’m off to browse the 1,100 exhibitors the CGTA myself on Monday… Gotta find some comfy shoes…

Acheson’s, Orangeville, Ont., 519-940-4719; Harriston, Ont., 519-338-3230