First stop, a market classic, is DE JAVU at 56 Kensington Ave: a vintage emporium with mountains of garments hanging from racks and rails, walls and ceiling. There are fashions from the 1920s onwards with an emphasis on the 60’s. A ‘fancy dress’ hot spot. Reasonable prices.

Further aflutter down Kensington to #42 is BUTTERFLY, a shop devoted to accessories by the bucket load! If you love plastic, this is your shop! Funky, bright, sparkly, spangled, beaded plastic fun for hours and hours. Highlights are the excellent range of bracelets, earrings, necklaces and rings. My fave is the groovy array of retro-coloured & shaped sunglasses. Also worth mentioning is Butterfly’s distinctive selection of cloth decals [patches] and belt buckles.

New in the hood is C-PUB at #24. A lot of Asian street-inspired new clothes for women. C-Pub has its stock tidily displayed - convenient for the shopper who just wants to go in, see what they want, and buy it! Good choice for cowboy boots, and an excellent range of sexy, slouchy purses in trendy metallic finishes. Great prices!

A long-time favorite shop on Kensington is COURAGE MY LOVE; a family run store in the business for 30 years. Really more like a museum than a shop. Prepare to dwell within these doors for a good long time in fascination at all the exotic jewels, bowl hats, proper ladies gloves, buttons, purses, gowns, jackets with tails and neckties. You can travel back in time 100 years. It is pretty much exclusively vintage clothing, but there are some lovely soft re-made cashmere and felt jumpers and hats made by Courage My Love family members.

I must comment on the indonesian button wall. It is fantastically original. Who thought buttons could be so fascinating?! I was there for ages just staring at them. You can get replicas of buttons from the 1910’s, 20’s and onwards in fiberglass or natural materials such as wood & shell. Some of the buttons are even silk-screened and hand painted. The price range is also fantastic. A card of 4 buttons between $1 and $5.

If you are more world beat fashion than vintage, you can also find some joy here at Courage with an array of tribal jewelry from Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. Overall rating of this store is 10 out of 10. The prices are also so reasonable and what an experience it is.

Another new kid on the avenue is the King Of Kensington at #35. The King offers a fun, clean array of mens and womens clothes and footwear from the 1940 to '80s. They have a super vintage dress collection at very fair prices. The dresses are nicely placed on the racks, not all jammed in so you can really browse and enjoy the experience. Lots of cowboy boots, sheepskin and leather jackets if you are a man with tastes running to rugged, sexy & manly. Another bonus with the King Of Kensington is that it has on-site t-shirt printing. Sweet!

It is all The Rage to some at #13, especially for owner Sarah Campbell who is doing well showcasing one-of-a-kind local designer’s talent in her cute as a teacup-sized boutique. The Rage has been on the street for almost one year now and Sarah is adamant about supporting Toronto designers – all her stock is women's wear, brand new retro. No re-constructed or vintage in site. The jewelry and handbags on offer here are totally unique! If you want your accessories to be conversation starters shop here! Must mention the hot fur wrist cuffs, the pins made from bottle caps, and the 80’s kitch earrings by Rat Girl.

Kensington Avenue is the main shopping drag just due to the concentration of shops here on one street. But don’t neglect walking around the whole market to find other hidden away shopping havens.

Or you will miss gems like BUNGALOW at 273 Augusta Ave. Bungalow offers sophisticated vintage home furnishings and mens & womens vintage fashions from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. For women, there's a super collection of vintage heels and handbags in good condition. I have personally bought some lovely [never worn] vintage ladies leather gloves here. For gents, I must say they do have a healthy selection of trousers, t-shirts, shirts, coats and men’s things.

Blink and you might miss it: check out the fab stock at D’LIGHTFUL @ 202 Augusta Ave. for one-of-a-kind, locally designed accessories. Owner Diana has selected super unique and stylish pieces for her store to stand out in a watershed of vintage shops. Highlights would be the gorgeous handmade leather belts by BritBoutique and BeamIndustries. Also in stock, unique patchwork scarves by Poor Boy. As well a small but darling range of jewelry made with natural materials. D’Lightful stock tops and bottoms for women brands like, Dekker and Kenzie Gal, in small numbers to ensure exclusivity.

Don’t let the name scare you but POISON at 6-160 Baldwin St, kept me busy for ages poking around wanting to try on everything. Totally funky and stylish retro-brand new ‘street’ apparel imported from Hong Kong and Korea is on offer at excellent value. Girls will go mad in here shopping! Great selection of knitwear, including a knit mini dress with fur capped mini sleeves - too cool for school! Super shiny selection of shoes, mainly ballet flats, and an awesome array of funky boots. Footwear all brand new, and prices very good ranging from $20 to $60. Poison also has a great selection of stylish handbags and totes, as well as an unusual selection of funky jackets and coats. This shop really rocks!

If you need to shop for a good cause....I always thought it was about me…then look no further than PLANET AID on Baldwin St. Planet Aid is a unique retailing concept, which allows a portion of the profits from the store to be donated to two African charities and various aid programs. Planet Aid stocks a massive amount of mens and womens vintage and second-hand clothes, as well as some custom re-made pieces created by the talented staff. It’s a fun and thrifty atmosphere. The sort of place you could dig forever, looking for a brilliant piece of cloth, to flash around town.

Also good for digging around in is Exile, Dancing Days and Flash Back.

Whether you want brand new, retro, re-made, local designers or vintage, Kensington Market offers it all. You just have to have the time to find it.

It is hard work but bargains do abound here. I find that the vintage in the market is just that wee bit more affordable Queen Street West. But you can’t put a price on love can you…..

Sonja Andic