The Gift Shop, a pop-up immersive art gallery at stackt market, is a gift to local Toronto artists packed with love from founder Imani Dominique Busby.

It comes in unconventional packaging — a tricked-out shipping container — but what's more important is what's inside.

The gallery holds art for sale by over 35 local up-coming visual artists, including names like Ehiko Odeh and Kaya Joan. It's also a temporary space where artists can learn, work, and play.

Record-painting is one example of the chill activities hosted at The Gift Shop, while concerts go off weekly on Friday evenings with sounds that reflect the cultures of the city.

Photo courtesy of Imani Dominique Busby.

It's not just fun and games, though. Professional development workshops teach artists the business skills they need to know to get that bag. Your pockets will love this one — participation is free, but donations are accepted.

Pop-ups like these are popular these days in Toronto, especially because many long-term, rough-around-the-edges artist hubs keep getting knocked down in favour of luxury rental buildings

Another artist pop-up that opened in 2023, It's Ok* on Queen Street West, took over a city-owned building to create "a welcoming space for diverse and marginalized artists and musicians."

There's a clear need for spaces that support racialized artists in Toronto, and that's exactly why Mississauga-born Busby put The Gift Shop together.

Imani Dominique Busby. Photo by Vonny Lorde.

From behind the scenes of working in commercial art galleries, Busby peeped how some (read: racialized and/or queer) emerging artists were missing out on exposure to different opportunities. She came up with The Gift Shop as a way to fill in the blanks.

"I want to help put people on the path of engaging with art," Busby explains — "giving [people] opportunities to support [artists] economically."

The store's first home was at Square One Shopping Centre. Their current pop-up at stackt market opened in September, and Busby had less than a month to put it all together.

"There was this one day where I couldn't sleep," she remembers. "I just walked around my neighbourhood for 45 minutes or so, just thinking through every possible thing that had to get done and what could go wrong."

Photo courtesy of Imani Dominique Busby.

But with the help of a few friends and artists who were excited about the idea, Busby made it happen. They helped her set up the interior design, facilitate workshops, and find other artists to sell art or play tunes.

For the weekly concerts, Busby was able to secure funding from SOCAN, a company that provides services to musical artists like royalties management.

She runs the store mostly by herself, so if you stop by and visit, you might see her laying out new art for sale. The pop-up runs until February 28 and regular opening hours are from noon to 8 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Imani Dominique Busby.

Be sure to follow The Gift Shop on Instagram and visit in person at 28 Bathurst Street. At the shop's closing event, presented by NOHA Collective, DJs will be spinning and swapping records.