{"id":4508,"date":"2023-12-04T17:04:03","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T17:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/?p=4508"},"modified":"2023-12-04T17:04:05","modified_gmt":"2023-12-04T17:04:05","slug":"beyond-window-shopping-uncovering-five-treasures-along-ontario-street","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/2023\/12\/04\/beyond-window-shopping-uncovering-five-treasures-along-ontario-street\/","title":{"rendered":"BEYOND WINDOW SHOPPING:\u00a0UNCOVERING FIVE TREASURES ALONG ONTARIO STREET\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BEYOND WINDOW SHOPPING:\u00a0UNCOVERING FIVE TREASURES ALONG ONTARIO STREET\u00a0<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

PREAMBLE & PHOTOS BY CHRIS TIESSEN\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leisurely activity of sauntering storefront to storefront, gauging shops’ wares through glass from the promenade of a bustling thoroughfare \u2013 downtown Stratford’s Ontario Street is built for this. In this festival city that caters to upwards of two million out-of-town visitors each year, the proprietors of small businesses along Ontario (and so many other walkable streets in and out of Stratford\u2019s downtown core) have perfected the art of dressing windows. Building out themes. Tying colours together. Communicating the language of style and fashion and alluring aesthetics through framed panes of glass. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In late October the TOQUE team traveled to Stratford for a day of delving into the centre of a handful of Ontario Street shops \u2013 each one representing a particular facet of what downtown Stratford\u2019s incredible boutiques have to offer. We came to the realization that while the exquisite window displays along Ontario might satiate a certain materialistic lust in Stratford\u2019s flaneuring hordes looking to fill an hour or two between performances at Festival Theatre, it\u2019s what\u2019s inside these shops that truly deserves attention. Like some sort of Faberg\u00e9 egg, each shop gets more beautiful the further inside you get. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We visited WERK-SHOP \u2013 a wonderfully- curated haven of Herschel toques, Japanese denim, Swiss army knives, G-Shock watches, Fjallraven bags, and other hip-centric kit. And Watson\u2019s Chelsea Bazaar \u2013 a fourth-generation family retail business that specializes in exquisite tableware, houseware, and gifts of all sorts. We also made our way into La Osa Jewelry + Vintage \u2013 a destination boutique that offers the funkiest jewellery, vintage clothing and footwear, and Canadian-made goods. (When you visit, by the way, make sure to check out the shop\u2019s mind-blowing ornate wooden ceiling.) We darted to Got It Made Stratford \u2013 a cozy boutique featuring over seventy-five Ontario creatives\u2019 hand- made wares. (Don\u2019t sleep on the crocheted infant high-tops.) And, finally, we checked out Wills And Prior \u2013 the most delicately scented, fantastically comfortable mecca of fashionable home and lifestyle commodities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next time you\u2019re in Stratford, don’t miss dropping into these five boutiques \u2013 among so many more. Because while window shopping might briefly interest you, there’s a richly textured world brilliantly poised to charm and delight you inside.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WATSON’S CHELSEA BAZAAR\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
84 ONTARIO ST, STRATFORD <\/em>
WATSONSOFSTRATFORD.COM\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

LA OSA JEWELRY + VINTAGE\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
34 ONTARIO ST, STRATFORD <\/em>
LAOSAJEWELRY.COM\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

WERK-SHOP\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
11 ONTARIO ST, STRATFORD <\/em>
WERK.SHOP\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
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GOT IT MADE\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
27 ONTARIO ST, STRATFORD <\/em>
GOTITMADESTRATFORD.COM\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WILLS & PRIOR\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
94 ONTARIO ST, STRATFORD <\/em>
WILLSANDPRIOR.COM\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEYOND WINDOW SHOPPING:\u00a0UNCOVERING FIVE TREASURES ALONG ONTARIO STREET\u00a0 PREAMBLE & PHOTOS BY CHRIS TIESSEN\u00a0 The leisurely activity of sauntering storefront to storefront, gauging shops’ wares through glass from the promenade of a bustling thoroughfare \u2013 downtown Stratford’s Ontario Street is built for this. In this festival city that caters to upwards of two million out-of-town […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[122,93,2,138,7,119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-little-out-of-the-way","category-business","category-community","category-issue-22","category-lifestyle","category-stratford"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-04-at-11.56.02-AM.png?fit=1416%2C1944&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8KDF5-1aI","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4508"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4517,"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4508\/revisions\/4517"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}