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Black Market Vintage Clothing
Category: Shopping Fashion Used, Vintage & Consignment Used, Vintage & Consignment [Edit]
256 Queen St WToronto, ON M5V 1Z8
Neighbourhoods: Entertainment District, Queen Street West, Downtown Core
(416) 599-5858
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 11 am - 7 pm
Sat 10 am - 7 pm
Sun 11 am - 6 pm
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- No
13 reviews for Black Market Vintage Clothing
13 reviews in English
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Review from Giselle g.
Toronto, ON
12/28/2010
Black Market has gone through a few incarnations in the last 20 or so years. It used to be on Kensington Ave and was also an upstairs shop on Queen West.
I really like this location. Aside from the Black Market shop, there is a Mod shop, a hippy shop, a barber, a record store. It's a one stop counter-culture shopping mall!
Black Market specializes in screenprinted T-shirts. They have a wide selection of cool prints, I just bought a Zap Comix T-shirt for $2. -
Review from Ayesha A.
8/24/2011
I liked this place a lot more 10 years ago.
As it's gotten popular it's gotten kinda not as good BUT the stuff you find there is much much much more diverse.
Example: I used to go there in high school with one friend every other week and we would split the 3 t-shirts for $30 and get punk band t-shirts.
There were so many options that it was almost hard choosing just one or two and waiting for the next trip.
They used to also do prints onto blank shirts and there was a massive (and awesome) collection of options.
Now, not so much.
You can find all sorts of other stuff there including a small record shop, an organic fair-trade weird clothing place called Fairy's pyjamas, there's a bunch of vintagey clothes and a hair dressing place, but the silk screening they only do in wholesale now (big fat thumbs down) and the options for band shirts and tanks kinda blows.
It's also a tad creepy going down to the dark basement on your own, which sounds lame perhaps, but...get over your fear and go, but personally I'd prefer it if they had a time-machine that transported you to that same exact location but 5-10 years ago.
They didn't even have a t-shirt of The Clash whereas 10 years ago there was about 10 different Clash types of shirts.
sniff sniff -
Review from Jarvis E.
Toronto, ON
9/4/2011
Tonnes of hidden GEMS here....just look. I used to go here every Tuesday for 50% off everything day! The Prices are super cheap and a great selection. They also design and print their own designs. More than JUST T-shirts...they also have great vintage jeans, jackets accessories and more. BTW there is a barber shop located within where the owner The MAD-ONE specializes in artistic designs shaved carefully on your head. You have to see this place -
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Review from Joy S.
Woodbridge, ON
7/25/2010
I love the Black Market but going alone is a little scary..
You start by walking down a dark poster covered stairwell. The smell of vintage stores are all the same, kinda musty. This one is very musty. The store is big with lots of racks of clothing. In the back there are a few different stores and even a barber shop. This place is great beause they do have old/new items!
Personally, I go to check out their handbags/jewlery!
Sometimes they have good finds.
Because it is downtown Toronto and is a very famous spot, there stuff goes quick so its hard to find anything!
Its a fun store to go with friends or to browse and see if you can find anything neat.
And don't be scared if you see a homeless man almost inside the door asking for change. I think he like lives there, everytime i go here the same man is outside the store bugging people.Listed in: HIDDEN HIDEAWAYS
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Review from Rich K.
9/3/2011
The thing that makes this boutique so special is that they have one of the most ridiculous collections of T-shirts I've ever seen. Icing on the cake is the in-house barber shop! Sick!
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Review from Mike S.
Toronto, ON
10/3/2008
I had heard a great deal about Black Market Clothes and that always makes me wary. If too many people like a clothing store it probably means that it tries way to hard to be cool. In some ways this is the case with Black Market Clothes, but strangely enough when I went to the store the overall feeling for me was slight terror. The store is littered with amputee mannequins all sporting various new fashion trends. The store attempts to blend new and used clothes to mixed results. The clothes they offered didn't really impress me that much, they were your usual hipster garb, a touch of irony here, an obscure eighties reference there. Unless this sounds like something you would like I wouldn't recommend Black Market Clothes because they try too hard and it just will put you off.
Like the review? Check out the link to my blog on my profile. -
Review from Dardana M.
ON
1/30/2009 1 photo
I probably haven't been in this store in a couple years. But more than a couple years ago, boy-oh-boy, how I loved this place!
I have a similar opinion as a lot of these guys when it comes to the "vintage" aspect. I don't think I have ever purchased any used clothing from here, cuz most of it just doesn't catch my eye. I pretty much used to just scan over those racks until I came to the- yes! lame silkscreened t-shirts. I have had so many of these guys over the years, but very few really stood the test of time in my wardrobe cuz the quality is usually not so hot. The Clash doesn't look quite so different from The Rolling Stones in these transfers. Oh, I kid...but only kinda.
With one exception: my sweet-ass George Michael blue-capped-sleeve iron-on shirt that I've had since I was fifteen. And that my roommate managed to pretty much wear out in the last year. That was from one of the *other* racks where the shirts cost about twice as much as the basic black. Thank God for those 50% off sales. -
Review from Joanna G.
Toronto, ON
3/18/2011
Really really meh. I've never felt compelled to by anything in here, despite stepping in every time I walk past on Queen Street. There's perpetually a sign that declares every item to be $10!!!! but I wouldn't even shell that out for their scratchy printed Gildan and Hanes tees. I don't know if their stock is just raided often (thus leaving only the meh stuff) or if it's just plain bad, but there's never anything good. Also it smells weird.
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Review from Melissa J.
Toronto, ON
12/10/2008
Even when I was in high school, and I wore gross band patches all over my clothes with ripped fishnets and Doc Martens, I didn't like Black Market. I didn't like it because it took bands that I liked, like the Clash and Black Flag and GBH, and mass-produced their t-shirts so all the prissy girls who shopped on Queen Street could wear their shirts and threaten my innate punk-ness.
Now I really couldn't care less about who's wearing what t-shirt, because God knows I won't be wearing any GBH t-shirts ever again. But I still don't really like Black Market. It may be a "vintage" store, but when it comes down to it, it's just mass-produced vintage -- ugly patchwork "revamped" items, and racks upon racks of silk screened t-shirts.
It's also important to note that every once in a while, they make everything in the store 50% off. Which makes me never want to pay regular price for anything in the first place.
If you want real "vintage", there are a million better places. If you just want a silly t-shirt, Black Market's got you covered. -
Review from Connie T.
Toronto, ON
Updated - 12/10/2008
Even though I wouldn't rate this as one of my top vintage shops, I seem to leave with a new item every time I go in that dang place. Just the other day, in fact, I came out with another dress and vintage golf shirt. Little by little, you are sucking my bank account dry, Black Market!
In comparison to the Warehouse across the street, the items seem a little less used, less musty-grandma-odour-like, and the same items that can be found at both are here in better condition (non-existent or fewer holes).
Luckily for my finances, but sad for nostalgic reasons, this Black Market store is closing, turning its focus on a more upscale vintage joint (Public Butter in Parkdale) and moving all of its inventory to the larger Black Market warehouse across the street. Makes more sense anyway; I never understood why there were two stores to begin with.Listed in: Toronto: On the vintage trail
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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11/13/2008
This place used to be stocked full of brand-new, fully tagged vintage jackets. Now, it's your best… Read more »
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Review from Amanda D.
Ottawa, ON
11/17/2008
This is a weird place with some rare good finds, but you have to really dig through the shrunken, smelly and odd fitting stuff first before you have any chance of finding a treasure. The clothing is cheap, usually deservedly so. I found a lot of the clothing was odd fitting, like short and excessively wide T-shirts. Through all my digging I managed to find a neat vintage skirt for $7 (on sale: 50% off). The store has a lot to offer other than clothing, including belts, eyeglasses, sunglasses, gloves, scarves, pins, jewelry, shoes, records, movies and CDs. There are a few branching shops off of the main section, including a music store, hippy clothing store and, for some reason, a barber. I was surprised when I came around a corner of jackets to find myself a metre away from a guy getting his hair cut.
This place is worth checking out, but don't get your hopes too high. -
Review from Anna V.
Toronto, ON
Updated - 10/17/2008
The south side, upstairs Black Market is filled with rare and funny finds from the 60s-90s. Teeshirts, hats, party frocks, belts and pants. There's lot to pick through. It's not my favourite vintage shop because it's generally a lot more picked over from the high volume of street traffic on Queen St.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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10/17/2008
The north side, downstairs Black Market it s cheaper than it's vintage counterpart across the street… Read more »
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Review from Kaija H.
Toronto, ON
11/5/2010
This is one of those places I keep going back to "just in case"...because I have found some great items here over time, including a $300 designer coat for $10 and a high-end pair of dress shoes for $9. There's a mix of secondhand and second, vintage and leftovers, but worth a look around at clothes and other items for men and women. The coats are my fav, though...
