Introducing: Of A Kind, a record store on College that doubles as a clothing shop

By Fraser Abe | January 25, 2012

By Fraser Abe | 01/25/2012

Of A Kind, 1037 College St. W. (Images: Fraser Abe)

The place: Of A Kind is the latest in a string of openings on College (Virginia Johnson is opening her stand-alone store nearby in the spring and Rob Rossi’s new restaurant, Bestellen, is slated to open soon), and this shop combines vintage clothes with new and vintage vinyl (it’s an upmarket Black Market). It’s the brainchild of Robert Moseley, Storm Luu, Kyle Turner and Tamara Salpeter, all of whom have worked retail across the city. With the requisite exposed brick wall, hand-made display cases (indeed, the only thing in the store not handcrafted are the rolling display racks) and vintage accessories (jewellery displayed on an old sewing machine and a heavy typewriter sitting among the shelves), the decor hits all the notes required of a new store in Toronto. There’s a listening station for the vinyl to try before you buy, but our favourite feature is the adorable store mascot, Turner’s dog Raiden.

The stuff: Most vintage is priced well below $100, meaning you can buy someone’s old clothes for less than the typical Queen Street markup. The vinyl is a mix of old and new, with a focus on local artists like Promonium Jesters and DJ TLO. The albums are mostly 180 grams, which are more durable and long lasting than the usual 90-gram records sold elsewhere. The price tags are made with pages from the Robertson Davies novel The Rebel Angels, which the team describe as “a sexy Christian novel.”

The shoppers: The store only had their soft opening on Friday (with a come one, come all party slated for the 28th), so it’s mostly been neighbourhood traffic so far. The group tells us that people visiting The Common have been asking about it. Neighbours even offered to pitch in with setup. Once the store gets running, expect—we hate to say it—hipsters, there to pick out cheapo mink stoles ($70), Pendleton plaids and records for their latest DJ night.

Our favourite things: The black and yellow leather varsity jacket for $52, midnight-blue satin shoes ($20), the 1980 Dale of Norway sweater from the Lake Placid Olympics ($54) and a cute, sheer champagne-coloured lace skirt ($35).

Of A Kind, 1037 College St. W., 647-344-1091, ofakind.ca

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5 thoughts on “Introducing: Of A Kind, a record store on College that doubles as a clothing shop”

rick says:

January 25, 2012 at 11:43 am

I was in there on the weekend, place looks great! the dog is very friendly…enough so to follow me into the fitting rooms….awesome vinyl collection, see you again soon!
stella bella says:

January 25, 2012 at 11:44 am

Nice shop! I brought my coffee over from the common and got to jam out on the public turntables! amazeballs!
sw says:

January 25, 2012 at 11:46 am

Why would you “hate to say” that this place will be full of hipsters? Who are you talking to there? All the non-hipsters who are excited for a record shop/vintage clothing store? Because those people don’t exist.
adub says:

January 25, 2012 at 1:45 pm

Promonium Jesters are so rad!
Jahyu says:

January 29, 2012 at 2:44 pm

DJ TLO’s album “Rough Water” is an AMAZING album, it’s my personal soundtrack for rainy days… BIG love to the whole O.A.K. family, the store looks amazing! Congrats! +++

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Introducing: Of A Kind, a record store on College that doubles as a clothing shop

5 thoughts on “Introducing: Of A Kind, a record store on College that doubles as a clothing shop”

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