The Toronto Reference Library’s new shopping bag exhibition is gloriously nostalgic
Today’s mundane minimalism could never
To be a citizen of Toronto is to grow accustomed to your favourite places closing. How many of us wistfully pass by the condo development where Honest Ed’s used to be, pining to roam the legendarily all-inclusive department store one more time? As the Bay auctions its art collection to recoup some of the millions owed to creditors, what we’d give to experience a formerly thriving Eaton’s.
Alas, we’re left with only memories, which the Toronto Reference Library has used to curate a nostalgic new exhibition.
Related: Eleven remarkable photos from the final days of Honest Ed’s
On until January 11 and free to the public with tours offered on Tuesday afternoons, the library’s Retail Retrospective exhibition showcases a range of vintage shopping bags, with much of the collection dating back to the 1960s.
In an announcement posted to Instagram, a library employee is seen opening a trove of archival bags—wearing gloves, of course; these are historic artifacts. The exhibition includes the Honest Ed’s 1967 confederation edition and charming holiday designs, as well as archived bags from shuttered department stores Eaton’s and Simpsons.
Some of the bags were previously featured in a 1966 exhibition called Art of the Shopping Bag at the Toronto Central Public Library. Nearly 60 years ago, a librarian tracked down 100 bags from around the world.
The library’s gallery and exhibits curator, Alicia Cherayil, told Toronto Life that they “continue to see the value in collecting bags as they are not just vessels for carrying goods but can reflect moments in time and changing design aesthetics and are a record of long-lost institutions.”
Even if you weren’t in the city (or alive yet) to shop at these landmarks, the exhibition is worth it for the lore. Things used to look cool!
Related: Simons is about to debut at Yorkdale and the Eaton Centre. Can it succeed where Nordstrom failed?
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
