Vancouver-based luxury reseller Mine & Yours has expanded into Toronto with a storefront in the city’s affluent Yorkville area. The store opened last week and is already busy with customers.
Mine & Yours was founded in 2013 by Courtney Watkins with a store on Hornby Street in the city’s downtown core. The retailer has since opened two permanent storefronts in Vancouver’s downtown core on Howe Street and Davie Streets, and it now has a third location in the Toronto market. It also has an e-commerce site.
The Toronto store location spans about 3,000 square feet over three levels at 79 Yorkville Avenue. The retail space formerly housed retailer Free People which has closed several locations in Canada.
The new Toronto Mine & Yours features retail showrooms on the two upper levels, as well as a lower level transactional lounge where people can sell designer goods to the retailer. Renovations to the space added light wood herringbone floors and white marble trim in the space, including on a stairway leading to the second level.
The main floor of the Toronto store houses bags, jewellery and some women’s fashions, while women’s fashions and men’s fashions can be found upstairs. Women’s footwear also has its own section upstairs on a wall.
Last Week Mine & Yours hosted two opening parties to celebrate the new space, while at the same time engaging the community. Watkins said that as with Vancouver, private events and shopping parties will be an integral part of the Toronto retail experience. Building a community has been key to Mine & Yours’ success in Vancouver.
Watkins took months to find the retail space and considered various areas of Toronto for the store. She worked with Arlin Markowitz of CBRE’s Urban Retail Team to eventually find the 79 Yorkville Avenue space.
Mine & Yours joins another reseller on Yorkville Avenue — Russell Oliver, aka ‘The Cash Man’ opened luxury reseller Oliver’s across the street at 88 Yorkville Avenue in late 2021 and the store is said to be doing well in terms of sales.
Both stores carry a range of designer bags and jewellery from brands such as Hermes, Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Tiffany & Co. and many others.
Several full-priced luxury brand stores are located nearby on Yorkville Avenue. Next door to Mine & Yours is Italian luxury brand Isaia, which in December of 2021 opened its first Canadian storefront at 77 Yorkville Avenue. A few doors to the west is Christian Louboutin, while across the street storefronts for luxury brands include Balenciaga, Chanel, Versace, Brunello Cucinelli and Kiton among others. Youthful retailer John Elliott recently opened nearby and this fall, cult fashion favourite Kith will join them with a 10,000 square foot store at 78 Yorkville Avenue.
Toronto’s Bloor-Yorkville area is changing rapidly with new retailers being added. Various mixed-use developments will also add nearly 10,000 more residents to the area in a few years, including in some new buildings where residential condominium units will average over $5 million each. The expanded wealthy population is expected to benefit the area’s retail, restaurants and other businesses.
Mine & Yours’ expansion this year will continue with another location opening this fall at 2061 W. 4th Avenue in Vancouver’s Kitsilano area, which will be the fourth location for the retailer. We recently reported on the street which is seeing the addition of new national and international retail brands. We’ll follow up on this article with Watkins, including how the Toronto store is doing post-opening as well as further details on the Kitsilano store opening.
Love this store! Exceptionally curated. Bought a Boyy bag from them last fall – and its amazing.
Boyy has some very cool bag styles. I’m loving Mine & Yours as well, the first time I met Courtney was in her first store back when the brand started, and its progression to (soon) four stores has been remarkable.