6 Best Shopping in Toronto, Ontario

Packed with galleries, interesting shops, and two cafés, this beautifully refurbished industrial building is an essential component of Toronto's contemporary art scene. Check out YYZ Artists' Outlet, which holds consistently engaging shows, or Gallery 44 for contemporary photography. There's also the respected artist collective Red Head Gallery. Don't miss well-stocked Swipe for books on all things design and Spacing for stylish Toronto-themed T-shirts, prints, and knickknacks.

Paul Wong, an artist and dealer from Vancouver, started this gallery, which is directly across the street from the Art Gallery of Ontario. The paintings and sculpture are a window into contemporary Canadian art, featuring both emerging and established artists. Just a few steps down at 324 Dundas Street West is Bau-Xi Photo, which shows Canadian and international fine art photography.

Founded in 1979, Corkin Gallery is one of the most fascinating in the city with its mission to showcase art spanning the 20th and 21st centuries. The gallery’s unique, industrial space complements the experience of viewing its roster of artists, such as Barbara Astman and David Urban, and spanning media from painting to photography, sculpture, and mixed media.

Browse traditional, as well as contemporary and even avant-garde art from the Canadian Arctic—a far cry from the traditional whale carvings and stone-cut prints you may expect—at this family-owned gallery founded in 1961.

This intimate gallery in an old Victorian house almost exclusively exhibits representational historic and contemporary Canadian painting and sculpture, and specializes in 19th- and 20th-century Canadian artists.

The collection of roughly 30,000 photos focuses on historical and contemporary Canadian photography, with ongoing exhibitions.