Toronto is a great spot to be if you’re a sneakerhead. As the biggest city in Canada, Toronto has many great sneaker stores to choose from. No resale or consignment stores on this list. You can pick up your pairs for retail at any of these shops. Let’s take a look at a few of the best.
Livestock
Livestock is one of the more well known sneaker boutiques in Toronto. They have two locations in Toronto. 112 Spadina Ave. and 406 Roncesvalles Ave. They carry a wide variety of brands including Jordan, Nike, Adidas, Converse, and Reebok. They also have plenty of streetwear apparel.
Livestock gets nearly every hype sneaker release. They have a mix of first come, first served (FCFS) in-store and online releases, as well as raffles held in-store and on their instagram and website. If you live in Toronto, Livestock is a staple for sneaker releases.
Size?
Size? Is a well known sneaker and streetwear chain in the U.K. They expanded by opening a store in Toronto in July 2021. This provided the city with another option for streetwear, and more importantly, sneaker releases. Size? Gets many hype sneaker releases just like Livestock. They offer FCFS releases in-store and online. They also do raffles in-store and through their instagram and website, a similar format to Livestock. Size? Toronto is located at 1000 Queen St W.
Groovy Shoes
Another excellent boutique option in Toronto is Groovy Shoes. They currently have two locations downtown, one at The Well, and one on Queen West. Groovy offers all the big sneaker brands you would expect along with a smaller selection of streetwear. They get quite a few hype releases and will usually hold raffles on their instagram. They often announce in-store shock drops on their instagram as well. You can browse their website here.
Capsule Toronto
Very centrally located in the heart of Yorkville, Capsule is a perfect option for sneaker releases. They always have a great in-store rotation of Nike’s and New Balance. Capsule gets just about every major sneaker release. They are not known for doing many FCFS releases in-store but they do happen from time to time. They will also drop FCFS releases on their website. Raffles on their instagram are more common, but they also hold some raffles in-store. Capsule Toronto is located at 69 Yorkville Ave.
JD Sports
Everyone knows about big chains like Foot Locker and Champs Sports, but Toronto got a new, smaller chain recently. JD Sports is a sneaker and apparel chain in the US. They expanded to Canada for the first time in November 2021 with a location at Fairview Mall in Toronto. They have since opened many more locations across the GTA. While they don’t have any locations in the downtown core, they are still a great option for sneaker releases.
JD Sports doesn’t always get every sneaker release, but they will almost always get the big ones. Because they are more of a chain and not a boutique, you have a much better shot at picking up pairs in-store. They release pairs online as well. They will sometimes do raffles through their instagram but not as often. A list of locations can be found here.
