Courage My Love

Courage My Love is still the Kensington Market vintage shop people mean when they say the street has a centre of gravity: Stewart and Patricia Scriver's room at 14 Kensington Ave, open since 1975, with Cece on the ledge in the window. Official couragemylovetoronto.com frames it as fifty years of hand-picked denim, Scottish cashmere, 1950s selvedge and workwear, occasion silk, leather, and the bead-and-button counter that gave the shop its name : Java, Mexico, Venetian glass, Mexican silver. The $5 rack on the sidewalk is a literal Kensington institution; inside, jewellery cases, coloured glass, cowboy boots, and oddities sit beside the clothing. This is not a Y2K streetwear drop: it is a treasure hunt with museum-grade curiosities. Dig the cashmere and the $5 rack first, then the bead room if you sew. Prices run from coffee-money on the sidewalk to proper vintage on the hangers. 14 Kensington Ave, Toronto, ON M5T 2J7. (416) 979-1992. Instagram @cececourage.