Searching for Toronto thrift stores typically brings up a large list of curated vintage shops (SO many curated vintage shops!)…. and Value Village. Neither of which is what i’m actually looking for when I say “thrift store”. Admittedly Toronto isn’t the best place to go for that cheap, thrifting experience. But there are a handful of smaller second hand stores in Toronto that are worth visiting. And certainly worth directing your dollars towards over Value Village.
First, here’s the list of best thrift stores in Toronto. I saved you from scrolling. But you know what really helps my website? You scrolling. And clicking around. Don’t be shy.
And here’s a map for those of us who are visual learners
For better thrifting: Head to Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington or Hamilton
For thrifting from the comfort of your home: A complete list of online thrift stores in Canada
BookEnds
Locations
- BookEnds North: North York Central Library, Concourse Level
- BookEnds South: Toronto Reference Library
BookEnds is a hidden gem. It is operated by the Friends of Toronto Public Library and has books, music CDs and DVD movies. Their stock comes from donations and from materials withdrawn from the library’s collection. Prices range from $.50 to $5.00 with the majority being priced at $1.00.
Market “By The Pound”
Location: 55 Orfus Rd Unit #4, Toronto
The Toronto bins is a true thrift hunt experience. Bring your AirPods and your hand sanitizer and be prepared to spend a good chunk of the day digging through used clothing bins. If you want any ease of shopping then this place isn’t for you. So why bother? $3.99/lb for everything, including shoes.
The bins are sorted by category (ie sweaters, dresses, pants) but you will need to dig through waist high bins in order to see everything. As with most thrift stores, quality is greatly varied and it’s obviously more difficult to do a visual scan and pick out things of interest. But if you are a diligent hunter you can certainly find garments in high-quality materials like wool, linen and silk. Bag your finds and weigh them. You can get quite a bit of stuff for $20, whereas $20 won’t even get you one outdated Forever 21 coat at Value Village.
YSM’s Double Take Thrift Store
Location: 310 Gerrard St E, Toronto
The Double Take Thrift store is a favourite for its cleanliness, organization and affordability. They have clothes, furniture and housewares and all their clothes are steam-pressed and linens are washed before being sold. The Double Take Thrift also has an element of community if you want to get involved in second hand clothes in an alternate way to just shopping. Definitely one of the best thrift stores in Toronto.
It also has a “feel good” element to it that you don’t necessarily get at Value Village. Because it is a part of Yonge Street Mission, all proceeds go back into supporting Yonge Street Mission’s programs.
Wildlife Thrift Store
Location: 67 Front St E, Toronto
Wildlife Thrift Store is definitely worth a stop if you are in the St Lawrence Market area. The shop is spacious so there’s lots of room to look around without being jam packed with other customers. They even have change rooms, which isn’t something that’s easy to find at a thrift shop these days.
The Wildlife Thrift store is a privately owned, for-profit business, that donates quarterly to charities in each store’s respective neighbourhood. Their key partners are Covenant House in Vancouver and Toronto, Coast Mental Health and The Gathering Place.
The Pegasus Shoppe
Location: 931 Kingston Rd
Out in the Beaches, the Pegasus Shoppe is another one of the best thrift stores in Toronto. It’s not huge but if you make a morning or afternoon out of it then it is well worth the visit. They have books, jewellery, vintage serving ware, art and clothing.
The Pegasus Shoppe in Toronto is a social enterprise community thrift store. Their proceeds directly support Pegasus Community Project.
Shmata Thrift Store
Location: Basement, 1959 Finch Ave W, North York
I know Shmata Thrift Store is technically outside of Toronto but are you really going to find 4500 square feet of thrift bins in the city?! No! You gotta go north of the 401 for that kind of a treasure hunt! This huge thrift store is filled with bins of clothes for men, women, children, and accessories, all quite easy to dig through (the bins are fairly shallow). The selection is pretty good, and at just $6.99 per pound, you can find a lot of cool stuff without spending much. The staff are really nice, too, and they’ll let you know about any extra discounts.
Tip: For every 10lbs puchased you get 1lb for free
Salvation Army Thrift Store
The Salvation Army Thrift Store is also another chain thrift store with a few locations close to downtown Toronto so you can get a fairly good thrift experience without leaving the city. The stores have a pretty decent variety and high turnover so you can visit frequently and always find fresh stock. Though they are quite picked over because very we are all doing the same thing, which is trying to find cool thrift store finds in downtown Toronto.
While prices have certainly gone up at the Salvation Army thrift stores in Toronto we still find them more reasonably priced than Value Village. So that’s good, I guess?
Locations:
- Parkdale: 1447 Queen St W
- Bloordale: 1219 Bloor St W
- St Clair: 665 St Clair Ave W
- Leaside: 60 Overlea Blvd
- Weston: 1675 Jane St
St. John’s Thrift Store [Temporarily closed]
Important note: St John’s Thrift Store is temporarily closed as they look for a new location. I’m keeping it on this list in hopes they reopen in Toronto soon!
This place is a gem in Toronto. The prices are great, the staff are friendly and there is a really good range of stock. The storefront isn’t huge so neither is the selection but it isworth a browse if you are in the neighbourhood.
The St. John’s Thrift Store supports St. John the Compassionate Mission, one of the very first non-profit organizations to adopt the social enterprise business model.
