Where to buy gear in Toronto?

[louise67]

I'm looking for a new bag, travel clothesline, packable daypack, viscose towel and a whole other bunch of specific travel gear and clothing. Does anyone know of any good travel stores in Toronto? I know the main ones are MEC and Tilley's--where else?

Thanks.

[mrzeszow]

On the same street as MEC downtown you have a few other stores, like EuropeBound (great gear but pricey, their whole basement was filled with packs), Marathon Outdoor Adventure and Taylor's Outdoor Gear (can't comment on these two since I generally don't shop there). I do tend to do most of my shopping at MEC.

I bought my pack at Le Baron in Mississauga (1590 Dundas Street East). They are more of a hunting, camping, portaging store, but they had a great selection of travel packs for much less than EuropeBound.

Similar to Le Baron there's also Al Flaherty's (2066 Dufferin St). Never been but friends tell me it's similar to Le Baron's.

For gear and clothes, I also like Bass Pro Shop at Vaughan Mills Mall (they have a large selection of clothes and shoes).

Hope this gives you a starting point. Cheers.

[DanielBMe]

I don't think Marathon and Taylor's are still around, or at least not on Kings St. I work on King and John and have never seen those shops while walking to MEC.

[mrzeszow]

Wow, I guess it's been that long since I've shopped there. Thanks DanielBMe.

[Reditor]

For chain stores Coast Mountain Sports offers some decent items as well. There is one at Eaton Centre....they're part of the same group that runs Sportchek, but are geared more to outdoors, adventure, camping and travel gear.

[PaulTeolis]

TNT army surplus at lakeshore and islington, north west corner

unbelieveable stuff, good quality end run clothes and such.
always worth a look, real cheap too.

[louise67]

Just want to update and thank everyone for the replies.

I've been all over the city looking for a pack and ended up getting one at Al Flaherty's on Dufferin. Strangely, I didn't have any luck at the places that had way more selection (MEC and Europe Bound). Al Flaherty's is more of a hunting/fishing place and I actually used a 25 pound bag of lead shot as a weight while trying on the pack.

I went to the Le Baron in Markham rather than MIssissauga, and it had a great selection of clothing for travel. No luck with the packs there either, but there was a lot of camping gear.

To the list of stores, I want to add The Travel Shop on Cumberland near Bloor and Avenue Rd. It's small, but it had some travel accessories I hadn't been able to find elsewhere.

I also had some luck finding clothing at Coast Mountain Sports, Threads, Tilley's and my personal favourite: Value Village.

[sinecure]

Thanks for the update!

Sinecure