The new Balisi location on Yonge St. north of Eglinton independently stands out in its new neighbourhood amongst area favorites Lululemon, Aritizia and Sporting Life – but the residents of midtown Toronto should be very thankful for the injection of uber-cool, exclusive brands and yet another excuse to stray from the ‘North Toronto’ look.

Recently opened, this is the fourth Balisi boutique in Toronto (others on Queen, College and Danforth). Proprieters and partners Rehlee Balisi and Cory Kierstead have been successfully doing their thing for the past four years which is buying and bringing mainly edgy European labels to Toronto, focusing on fearless footwear while growing their retail business in a time of retail uncertainty. Each shop carries slightly different items to match area shoppers, and is staffed by highly experienced stylists.

On Yonge Street, stylist Dale Hodder explained what shoes had memory foam insoles, how to wear what (in ways you wouldn’t figure out for yourself) and what psuedo-celeb clients are going for.

For this article, I tried to distinguish the most contemporary and exclusive labels – and realized it’s all exclusive. The selection of Brazilian, plastic Melissa shoes is off the chizzy, the Vivien Westwood’s for Melissa are plentiful, there are Fly London sandals ; avant garde United Nude, handcrafted Miz Mooz, and my favorite the expensive Neosens. For men, plenty of sneakers and denim. Also, a wall of handbags, mens fashions from Japan, affordable accessories and an interesting little book collection thrown in to the whimsy.

If you’re in the hood, definitely go see Dale:

Balisi
2507 Yonge Street (north of Eglinton), Toronto
416.487-7111
+ http://www.facebook.com/balisifashionsinc
+ http://twitter.com/balisi

Tags: Shoes & Accessories