OUT IN THE RETAIL WILD - Toronto 2025 🇨🇦

Juanita Neville-Te Rito
1 day ago
5 min read

Retail in a City of Many Cultures.

Toronto’s Mosaic in Motion

Toronto moves differently. Beneath the surface, The PATH connects the city like a living organism; above ground, old industrial bones are reborn into buzzing neighbourhoods. It’s a place redefining the rhythm of urban life - and retail is right at its heart.

This year’s Ebeltoft Group Assembly was hosted by our Canadian partners JCWG - a consultancy that, interestingly, feels culturally closer to New Zealand than to its mega-neighbour to the south. (Think: 60 million people vs. 600 million, plenty of self-deprecating humour, and a pragmatic get-on-with-it approach to retail.)

Over three days we tackled some pretty chunky topics:

the commercial realities of experiential retail,
the role of AI in creating smarter, faster, more human experiences, and
the ever-present tension between purpose and profitability.

And of course, we hit the streets (and tunnels!) to see what’s working - and what’s not - in one of North America’s most diverse retail markets.

The Highlights

Toronto’s retail is a fascinating blend of heritage and reinvention… from century-old markets to mixed-use mega projects. Our itinerary took us from the historic St Lawrence Market to the futuristic The WELL, with plenty in between:

Queen’s Cross Food Hall – a chef-driven mix of concepts, a reminder that great food halls are about curation, not chaos.

The PATH – the world’s largest underground retail network; a lesson in how convenience and connectivity still win in a vertical city.

The Distillery District – where adaptive reuse meets indie retail. Highlights included Spirit of York, The Ordinary and Balzac’s Coffee — each proving that story-rich, human-scale retail is still magic.

The WELL captures Toronto’s spirit in one sweeping development — a purpose built mixed-use design where people live, work, and play. It’s not just retail stitched onto real estate; it’s an ecosystem built around daily life.

Yorkdale Shopping Centre – Canada’s luxury HQ, from Aritzia to OVO and Holt Renfrew, showing how department-store service meets flagship energy. I was so delighted to be there for the relaunch of Michael Hill's new concept store. A touch of Kiwi right in the heart of the centre.

Then there’s Kensington Market - messy, multicultural, and absolutely magnificent. It’s the antidote to the master-planned precision of The WELL. Here, the buildings lean a little, the signs clash, and the smells shift every few metres.

The secret to its survival? The locals literally bought the block back. The Kensington Market Community Land Trust quietly acquires properties to keep them out of the hands of developers, protecting affordable spaces for butchers, bakers, and vintage traders who give the area its heartbeat. It’s living proof that sometimes the best kind of “urban planning” comes from people refusing to let their neighbourhood be planned for them.

Canadian Institutions That Stood Out

Ted Horton is one of those names that comes up whenever people talk about the retail heart of Canada. He represents the classic Canadian blend of pragmatism and ambition, a retailer who understands that good businesses are built on consistency, credibility and a deep feel for the customer. His influence sits in that sweet spot where operational discipline meets genuine retail intuition. You can see echoes of that philosophy across Canadian retail today: stores that are tidy, dependable, quietly confident and customer led. It is a reminder that strong fundamentals still matter, even in a world obsessed with the next big thing. I was lucky enough to be wandering the Eaton Mall the day the Ted Horton Holiday Store opened - so a world first!

Canadian Tire is practically a civic institution and a total overwhelming experience for me. It is the ultimate example of a retailer built for real people living real lives. Part home, part garage, part sport, part seasonal, part “whatever problem you have, we probably have a solution for it”, Canadian Tire manages to be both heritage-rich and surprisingly adaptive. Think Briscoes + Mitre 10 + Repco + Rebel Sport + Baby Bunting all thrown in together with a touch of Kmart. Note the baby category was next to autoparts and there was a service centre for your car on this level as well as a place to renew your drivers licence - this is a business that adapts and grows as it sees necessary - perhaps not always meticulously planned.

Their rewards program is one of the strongest in the country, their category breadth is unmatched, and their ability to evolve while staying deeply Canadian gives them a loyalty most retailers would envy. For any ANZ retailer thinking about what true multi-category resilience looks like, Canadian Tire is worth more than a passing glance.

The other core retailers that stood out which are truly Canadian grown include Lululemon, Arc'teryx, Aritzia, Loblaws, Farm Boy and T&T, Shoppers Drug Market, Roots, Joe Fresh, Mejuri, Indigo, Sport Chek and MEC to name a few.

Themes That Stood Out

Across every visit, five themes rang true,,,, and felt right at home with what we’re seeing across Australasia:

Experience as currency – from miniature worlds (Little Canada) to massive ones (The WELL), retailers are building places to linger, not leave.
Curation over clutter – Canada’s best retailers are choosing fewer, better partners and giving them space to shine.
Sustainability through story – local provenance, adaptive reuse and visible values are embedded, not bolted on.
Technology with humanity – AI, data and digital touchpoints are enhancing, not replacing, the human connection.
Retail as ecosystem – collaboration between retail, food, culture, and community is where the real innovation sits.

On the Blue Jays, Baseball & Belonging

Outside the boardrooms and boutiques, I also became a newly adopted Blue Jays fan. How on god’s green earth they didn’t win the World Series is beyond comprehension. But after a week in Toronto I now consider myself something of an expert on double plays, curveballs, and just how cruel the game can be.

We didn’t fork out the $25k for tickets, but we did soak up the energy across the city and even had dinner in the CN Tower overlooking Rogers Centre during Game 4. Let’s just say the view was as high as the collective hopes that night.

Why Does Canada Matter?

It’s hard not to look at Canada and think, this could be us. I saw Rodd & Gunn, Michael Hill, and Cotton On holding the flag for ANZ retail … but that’s about it. For a market that shares our values, humour, and appetite for authenticity, there’s so much room to move. It’s a place that feels culturally aligned and commercially open - a genuine growth horizon for our part of the world.

I’ll be digging into that further in an upcoming STORiES, exploring the key stores, trends, and opportunities that deserve our attention.

Every Ebeltoft Assembly is a reminder that retail is local, but insight is global. Whether you’re in Toronto, Tokyo or Tauranga, the same forces are shaping our industry - AI, sustainability, the power of experience, and the human need for connection.

JCWG put it best: “Retail is still the beating heart of the city.”And after this trip, I’d say Toronto’s pulse is strong.

What is Ebeltoft and why are RX Group a member

For those who don’t know, the Ebeltoft Group is a global alliance of independent retail and brand consultancies working across more than 20 countries - people like us who live and breathe retail strategy every day. For over 30 years, the Group has been tracking global trends, benchmarking innovation, and helping retailers navigate what’s next through real-world insight, not theory.

Together, we collaborate on research and initiatives like the annual Retail Innovations study, now in its 20th edition, showcasing the most inspiring concepts from around the world and defining the themes shaping the future of retail.

As the ANZ member with an eye on Asia, RX Group connects our clients to this global network of thinkers, practitioners, and future-makers. It means the work we do here - whether it’s redefining a brand experience in Invercargill or reimagining a store format in Auckland, is grounded in the very best thinking from Toronto to Tokyo, Copenhagen to Cape Town.