Black Market was born in the early ’80s out of the hatchback of a beat-up Honda Civic.

Our founder, John Christmann, saw what everyone else missed: musicians looking for thrashed, broken-in, secondhand clothes straight out of the punk rock underground. Not costumes but real stuff. With a steady supply of well-priced vintage clothing and his AM radio screaming in the hatchback, John parked on Queen West and sold vintage straight out of his trunk.

OCAD students, artists, musicians and future musicians took note. Anyone who wanted to look like they meant it stopped to look. Word spread that the source for cool secondhand clothing was found at Queen and John in the blue Honda blaring tunes from the AM dial.

The car eventually turned into stores. A few addresses came and went—including a Kensington Market spot, and another off Queen called Style Zone. Black Market found its home in a basement on Queen West just down from the iconic MuchMusic building. It's the same spot we occupy today. Along with the upstairs store in the iconic Active Surplus location. It doesn't really matter whether you're upstairs or down, the music is still blaring.

We’ve been called one of Toronto’s biggest and best vintage stores, and sure, that’s nice. But the real win is the people who never stopped coming; the regulars who show up weekly. Along with those who drop by years later and tell us how important Black Market was to them growing up.

We appreciate you stopping by.

Photo credit: kaybee07-Toronto Architecture.