Store Guide: Frank and Oak, the online menswear retailer’s first Toronto flagship
Name: Frank and Oak Sells: Menswear Contact Info: 735 Queen St. W., 647-930-8711, frankandoak.com Hours: M-W, Sa 10-7, Th-Fr 10-8, Su 11-6
Toronto guys may already know Montreal-based retailer Frank and Oak from its popular online shopping site, which has been selling monthly collections of menswear basics (button-downs, parkas, wool cardigans) for the past three years. Now, the brand has opened its first physical shop in Toronto at the corner of Queen and Palmerston, giving shoppers a chance to browse the relatively affordable apparel in person.
The label’s co-founder, Ethan Song, says the new retail space was designed to replicate the experience shoppers have on the site. “We wanted to bring aspects of the online experience, like talking to our style advisors, to the physical shop,” he says. Instead of live chats, customers can make appointments with in-person advisors, who will preselect clothes and accessories for them to try on when they show up in the space. Those who’d like to linger in the store can sip a cappuccino at the posh café by the entrance (which is one of the only places in Toronto to sell Portland-based Stumptown coffee), browse the selection of coffee-table books (or Frank and Oak’s own quarterly magazine, Oak Street), or even get a cool haircut at the beautifully designed barber shop in the back.
