BLUE BUTTON SHOP 1499 Dundas West, 647-606-3270, bluebuttonshop.com
Every time a friend comes back from Japan, he or she brings me those little rolls of masking tape printed with bow-tie illustrations and multicoloured stripes. I’d never seem them in Toronto until I walked into Blue Button Shop last week and found boxes of the perfectly packaged Shinzi Katoh Stationery rolls mixed in among the store’s almost exclusively Made in Japan merchandise.
Cute office supplies aside, the Dundas and Dufferin store is mostly stocked with unisex clothing and accessories that range from reinterpreted workwear (heavyweight shirting by Heller’s Café, Eternal and Momotaro Jeans) to quirky “Tokyo” totes featuring animal faces wearing extra-surprised expressions.
There are also smart Digawel sunglasses that mash up oversized black frames with tortoiseshell acetate arms.
Blue Button Shop picks: Superior Labor bags are both big in scale and, apparently, big in Japan, $369 an Omnigod parka looks crisp in white with black fasteners, $309 a selection of tailored aprons hanging at the back of the shop includes a denim version with a tan leather pocket, $99.
Look for: 20 to 50 per cent off spring and summer buys.
Hours: Monday to Saturday noon to 7 pm, Sunday noon to 5 pm.
