Harbor Offers Sophisticated Activities

Toronto’s attractive Harbourfront on Lake Ontario is growing fast, offering a rich variety of entertainment, including great shopping.

The best collection of shops is in Queen’s Quay Terminal, built as a waterfront warehouse in 1923. The sizable building was renovated and reopened in 1983.

Sixty million dollars was spent in transforming Queen’s Quay Terminal into a magnificent entertainment complex, housing select retail shops, the Premiere Dance Theater and fine restaurants offering patrons splendid, unobstructed views of Lake Ontario.

There are boating activities to watch, and small aircraft take off and land at the Toronto Island Airport directly across the water.

The complex boasts 100,000 square feet of shopping space, with wide aisles providing lots of room for shoppers to wander around in. The atmosphere is light and airy, with greenery everywhere, and lots of windows provide views of the lake front.

On Several Levels

About 50 sophisticated shops on several levels carry a rich variety of attractive fashions, home accessories and handcrafts.

Most of the clothes are casual or sporty. Kettle Creek Canvas, for example, has outfits made of various weights of canvas. There are safari clothes in appealing tans and olives, and country club and trendier styles in bright, appealing colors. These clothes are refreshingly different, and are widely distributed in other stores. Jackets cost about $40, slacks are about $50.

Quayside Clothing has racks full of men’s and women’s casual wear suitable for deck parties, backyard barbecues or leisurely evenings around the fireplace. Front Runner offers handsome men’s and women’s activewear for sports. Sportables has designer casual clothes, including outfits by Ralph Lauren and other fashion names.

De Femme has dressier clothes, mostly made by talented Canadian designers. An outfit of salt-and-pepper separates by Lorraine L’Anglois costs about $185, and the shop also has reasonably priced dresses with ruffled high collars (about $200) or skirt-and-top sets of convenient cotton blends by Ariane Carle. They’re distinctive, good-looking additions to a travel wardrobe.

Lower-Priced Luggage

Queen’s Quay Terminal has a large Bree outlet for attractive leather accessories and luggage. Bree bags are sold in the United States, but prices in Canada are about 25% cheaper.

The Cinematographer’s Bag, a combination briefcase and backpack, is roomy for carrying papers or purchases, and their natural leather wallets and agendas make great gifts. Men’s accessories, including silk ties, handsome sweaters (about $75) and leather goods are sold in Signor Angelo.

Madame Angelo provides handbags, hats, scarfs and sweaters (about $60) for women. Asian jewelry, including silver and amber, and colorful silk shawls are sold at Barkhor. Spectrum specializes in colorful plastic hair and beauty accessories by B & D of Copenhagen. The brand is popular, and Spectrum has an extensive variety of items priced at about $3 to $10 each.

There are shops for children, too. South Street Kids has terrific wearables for tots, including the arty Kidaroo ensembles by Toronto designer Mai Aru. Tops cost about $18, pants about $25. The shop also carries Peanut Power play togs. Just Kidding has casual and dressy clothes for children.

Arthur’s Wooden Toys has handcrafted pull toys (about $10), hobby horses (about $180), swan rockers, cars, trains, airplanes and boats. There are also puzzles, puppets (about $6), baby pianos (about $25) and bicycles. These are beautifully made playthings with rounded edges for child safety. Prices are reasonable.

The gift shops are particularly appealing because they are unusual. One, for example, looks like a palette of pinks. It’s called Hogtown, and describes itself as “the only pig store in town.” The stock is a mixed bag. There are pig teapots and caddies (about $17), stuffed pigs that squeal when squeezed (about $3 to $35) and men’s boxer shorts with hand-painted pigs (about $20). The store is great fun.

Papers and Stamps

Paper Trends has a fine assortment of pens and stationery, and the gallery of cards exhibits good taste and good humor. At Great Impressions you can have a customized rubber stamp made of your thumbprint or name and address. Ready-made stamps with cartoons or pithy sayings cost $2 to $8.

Helium Hi’s customizes balloons of all colors and sizes with your name or a slogan of your choice. Another unusual shop is Boxxes Boxxes, with decorative plastic, cardboard and wood boxes and organizers, as well as functional accessories for kitchen, bathroom and workshop.

The Manfred Gallery exhibits beautiful Canadian handcrafts, including sculptures, paintings and prints by Inuit and Iroquois artists. The gallery also publishes lovely post cards with Inuit themes.

In addition to the shops, Queen’s Quay Terminal has pushcart retailers with lots of little gift items, kitchen gadgets, silly hats, children’s clothes, costume jewelry and other trinkets. The pushcarts give the environment a festive air.

Queen’s Quay Terminal is easy to get to from downtown Toronto. A free shuttle bus provides frequent service between Union Station and Queen’s Quay Terminal. Retail shops are open daily, including Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Queen’s Quay restaurant hours vary.

Across a broad patio from Queen’s Quay Terminal is Harbourfront arts and entertainment complex, with exhibition halls and theater spaces. And at a fascinating collection of studio workshops artisans practice their crafts while visitors watch.

Handcrafted Wares

The wares they produce are sold in Bounty. There are lovely, one-of-a-kind handcrafts to select from, including hand-blown glass vases, large and lovely ceramic platters (about $17 to $80), teapots, basketry, hand-dyed and painted scarfs (about $45) or articles of clothing.

Sunday shoppers are also treated to the weekly antiques flea market. It’s informal, with tables set up under a tent on the patio outside Queen’s Quay Terminal. Dealers offer memorabilia, old post cards and photos, lace, jewelry, small pieces of furniture, books and other collectibles.